8:00a. Moraine Campground. Rocky Mountain National Park
We are a little bit smarter today. During our trip into Estes Park last night, we picked up some simple-to-prepare-and-eat breakfast foods (like bagels, pop-tarts, and fruit), along with paper plates and cups. This made our morning meal MUCH faster to eat and clean up.Yesterday, we also stopped at the RMNP Ranger's station/visitor's center. It has a really neat topographical model of the park, along with AWESOME flush toilets. I highly recommend it.
Anyway, we asked the ranger what we should do in the park if we only had one more day to spend. She recommended that we take Trail Ridge Road up and over the mountains. So that's what we are doing.
Trail Ridge Road will take us from our campground (at 8,160' altitude) to more than 12,000 feet above sea level -- nearly another mile of altitude. Should be interesting.
9:00a. Trail Ridge Road
According to the guidebook, as we've been climbing in elevation, we've entered a climate that is equivalent to the Arctic tundra. And sure enough, we are soon passing fields of snow every few minutes -- in the middle of July! The kids want to get out and play in the snow, but the signs and warnings and rangers have made it clear that we shouldn't be traipsing around this part of the park.9:15a. Trail Ridge Road. Snow Field
I guess some of the park rangers have driven vans full of complaining kids over this road a few times, because we just came across a snow field with a parking lot, a boardwalk, and a sign that says it is OK to check it out. So here we are, in the height of summer -- running across a field of snow. Geography is crazy, man. |
| The Musial boys race across the tundra. |
9:45a. Trail Ridge Road
In many ways, this road is an engineering marvel. On the other hand, it is kind of narrow and winding and often there are no guardrails on the shoulders that drop off thousands of feet. In other words, driving a top-heavy Ford Van up this road is TERRIFYING AS HELL. At one point, I said to my wife, "I don't want to alarm you, but this is super scary." And she replied, "yeah, I didn't want to say anything to distract you, but I'm really freaked out."At least I can say that going up is probably less scary than going down, so on we go.
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| Be sure to stay right. To the left is a 1,000-ft drop off. I don't think those 15-inch-high stones will stop the Big White Van |
10:15a. Alpine Visitors Center. Colorado.
We're at the highest Visitors Center in the National Park system. A couple of gift shops and a cafeteria, plus a short hike that takes you from 11,796 feet to just over 12,000 feet of elevation.
I'm feeling a little out-of-breath just from getting out of the van, so I head over to the cafeteria for a snack. The rest of the family hikes to the top of the rise, where they can see amazing vistas of the mountains, along with a lone elk hanging out. It's a beautiful place to hang out and take in the scenery.
11:00a. Alpine Visitors Center. Colorado.
As we are leaving the visitor's center, a handful of folks RIDING BICYCLES go past on Trail Ridge Road. And it's clear that they have actually RIDDEN THEIR BICYCLES THOUSANDS OF VERTICAL FEET UP THIS MOUNTAIN.Keep in mind that I barely had enough lung capacity at this altitude to get out of my car and buy some potato chips. I guess humans can be amazing. Just not this human.
11:45a. Trailhead to Adams Falls.
After a harrowing but otherwise uneventful trip down the other side of the mountain, we've arrived at the trailhead for Adams Falls. The hike to the falls is only 0.3 miles, but it's graded as a "moderately strenuous" hike.
Based on our experience yesterday, I estimate it will take us 17 hours to get to the falls.
12:15p. Adams Falls.
It only took us 20 minutes to get the falls; I guess we are getting better at hiking. The trail brought us to a small overlook that provides a neat view of the falls from above, but which also provides access to an unguarded and completely unsafe jumble of boulders that gets us even CLOSER to the falls. Of course, all the Musial boys want to climb up there and we have a little bit of an argument and then all climb up to the part that's slightly more dangerous than the overlook but probably not death defying or anything. Probably. |
| This is the safe location from which to view the falls |
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| This is the not-so-safe location from which to view the falls |
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| A moment after this picture was taken, I lifted my four-year-old up and began singing the opening bars to The Lion King. |
12:45p. Adams Falls Trailhead
We all survived and now it's off to find a place for lunch.1:30p. Grand Lake.
Just past Adams Falls is the town of Grand Lake. We've packed a picnic lunch, and we had hoped to eat at the small public beach, letting the kids play in the sand and the water while we ate. Unfortunately, the beach is packed and there's nowhere nearby to park the Giant White Van. We've ended up in a picnic pavilion on the town square, right next to a big green space and a playground, which is honestly a pretty nice place for lunch. The best thing: on the other side of the town square is the Grand Lake public library, which has a super comfortable and clean public restroom, with running water and flushing and everything.Grand Lake is a cute tourist town, with all of the storefronts sporting old-timey, log-cabin-style facades. There seems to be a higher ratios of bars-to-taffy-stores than Estes Park, but we're not planning on either drinking or eating taffy today, so it's kind of irrelevant.
2:30p. Back on Trail Ridge Road
After lunch, we start retracing our path back up and over Trail Ridge Road. We've heard that there's a good chance of spotting moose in and around Grand Lake, so we kind of dawdle on our way back out, hoping to catch a glimpse of a moose, but with no luck.4:00p. Sheep Meadow.
We've made it back to the eastern side of the mountain. The trip coming back was just as terrifying as the trip there, but we are safe and sound. Instead of heading straight back to our campsite, we take a slight detour to Sheep Meadow, where we've heard that Big-Horned Sheep like to congregate.In the parking lot at the meadow, we meet some nice Park Rangers who have some very interesting artifacts: Sheep skulls, horns, pelts, hooves, etc. Everyone gets a kick out of investigating these things, but unfortunately there are no actual sheep in the meadow. According to the Ranger, they usually visit the meadow between 7am and 9am in the morning. We only missed them by seven hours.
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| Checking out some hooves and horns |
4:30p. Estes Park
Our trip back to the campsite loops us through Estes Park, and as we near the business district, there is a GIANT ELK JUST HANGING OUT ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD IN SOMEONE'S BACK YARD. It's crazy: we've hiked and driven through some of the most open and majestic scenery I've ever encountered, but have seen very little wildlife. And it turns out, we should have just come to this dude's house and hung out on his back deck. |
| Yes, this is in someone's back yard. |
Evening. Moraine Campground
Our time in Rocky Mountain National Park is coming to an end. We make dinner (walking tacos -- a big hit), then start packing things back in the van. My youngest teenager has been wearing his hair long for a year, and today we've learned that having long hair during a camping trip can start to turn into dreadlocks. He and my wife spend an hour trying to comb out the tangles, a task that is not fun for anyone. |
| Nothing says "outdoor adventure" like Walking Tacos. |
We also take a drive over to "A-loop," where they have some a dishwashing station, modern restrooms, and also some outdoor stalls where you can use a "solar shower." A "solar shower" is a plastic sack filled with water that you let sit in the sun all day. Then you put it on a winch, hike it up above your head, and open a little spout. Voila! Vaguely warm water pours down onto your head. A few of us take turns washing the dirtiest parts of our bodies (hint: it's our feet), camping style, and then it's back to the campsite to call it a night.
And so ends Part One of our great camping adventure. We've only been here 48 hours, but we've already learned a lot about camping (and hiking), and we've seen some amazing geography and even a little bit of wildlife.
Tomorrow is a 500+ mile trip to Yellowstone. It's time to call it a day.
