This morning we packed our lunches and off we went to Rocky Mountain National Park. Our first stop was the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center where we watched a movie on the park, visited the store, and got information on the roads. The Old Fall River Road is closed indefinitely due to the September 2013 flooding. Bummer!
More information on all aspects of the park can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Mountain_National_Park
http://www.nps.gov/romo/index.htm
The highest major highway in North America is the Trail Ridge road thru the park so that was were we went. The road at the Visitor Center is ~7800’ above sea level and it tops out at 12,183’ near the Alpine Visitor Center.
So up we went – with me driving the Tracker – can you believe it? Enjoy the views:
The ice/snow was melting and water was pouring down everywhere – many mini falls:
Looking down into Horseshoe Park – the whitish area to the left of the park is known as the Alluvial Fan.
This area was hit hard by the pine beetle – many of the trees are bare and dead – so sad. The cut in the mountain is the Trail Ridge Road:
Mummy Mountain and Roaring River in the middle of the picture:
We continued up above tree line into the tundra zone:
How about this cutie?
There are signs not to feed the animals but people do. There were many of these marmots coming close to people. (I wonder why – ???)
The views continued:
Yep, that is the road:
And, yep, that is a red light. I couldn’t stop laughing – 
Some short videos of the road:
We reached the top and it was very cold and windy. Lots of snow too! We checked out the visitor center and gift shop:
and saw this herd from the balcony. Many babies and pregnant cows (elk):
From there we went to the Medicine Bow Curve and had lunch. Our views:
Beautiful Elk:
What a nice surprise!
A short video: http://youtu.be/u9tmR-67z90
Our next stop:
And that is when my camera battery died –
Then guess who showed up!
There were two of them and the above picture was taken with my phone. Oh my!
Poudre Lake:
There is a trail that goes from the Alpine Visitor Center to this lake – all downhill! Sounds good to me. However it was closed at this end due to the heavy snowfall. Maybe next time.
Heading back:
We turned north at Deer Ridge Junction to:
Beautiful!
From there, we made a stop at Aspenglen Campground to check it out. They also had major damage from the floods but most of the campground is open now.
Our last stop of the day was the post office – both Sue and I were expecting more mail.
What a wonderful journey. We finished the day with a great campfire.
Enjoy today.
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