Rocky Mountain National Park - part 2

Photo by: Tim Bindner

Our first morning in Colorado was going to be a busy one.

We woke up, packed our suitcases, drove to the front of the hotel, and I went inside to check out. We bought 2 bottles of water and drove across the street to the Mountain Home Cafe for a wonderful breakfast.

Bellies full, we made our way to the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). A short drive from the restaurant down highway 36 past the Beaver Mountain Visitor Center and through the gate we were met with our first obstacle. The park requires reservations after 9am and since we got there a bit before 6:30am (8:30am my time); we didn’t experience any traffic, which was a good thing. However, they were doing construction and that meant the road was closed until 7am.

We were instructed to turn around by the Ranger and told we could take highway 36 back through Estes Park, catch highway 34 which would allow us to enter the RMP via the Fall River Entrance. We took that route.

The gate was open and no $25 entrance fee was required. At the gate I stopped and got a map, and drove down a scenic two-lane road into the park. 1/8 a mile in, I pulled off to take a picture of a mountain stream. My headache still pounding, I could drown it out by the luscious mountains surrounding me and the tranquil stream beneath me.

We moved down the road a few hundred yards, then saw a baby moose in a field next to the road. He was about 200 yards away didn’t notice us at all. He was eating grass in standing in knee high (his knees) water. Picture, if you will, a vast meadow of green, small moose in the middle and a backdrop of the Rocky Mountains. Yeah, I shot it.

We continued on spotting a large moose up the road, then we turned onto Endovalley Road. This again took us past another stream and the tree pictured above. The road ended in a campground, so we headed back to Fall River Road (36) and continued our loop through the RMNP. The road was paved until the end (remember the construction), and the views were spectacular. There were very few cars around, and an occasional biker. I imagine in a few brief hours this would be a different story.

We entered a pull off (40°23’47.9, N 105°37’09.3 W), and both exited the car. We had a stunning view of the valley floor with Fall River flowing through it, and Big Horn Mountain in front of us. The mountain had a big waterfall flowing off of it that fed Fall River. To our right we could see the sun peaking over McGregor Mountain and in the distance Dark Mountain provided depth and perspective to how tiny I was to these giants all around me. We both took a moment, all alone on this cliff, to admire the valley floor and vastness before us.

I stopped or slowed down whenever Marcie wanted a photo, and a few times I even pulled out my camera to grab a shot. While stopped, one time, I looked to my left and there were two deer laying on the side of the road just looking at us. They just stared at us and us at them. Quick snap and we headed on.

Our 16+ mile loop ended where we originally tried to enter RMNP. This time the construction workers were gone, and many cars were heading in a line up the hill opposite our direction. We were glad we came when we did. We felt (almost) like we had the park to ourselves. Keep in mind this was only a small part of RMNP but it certainly was beautiful.

Upon leaving, we continued back down highway 34 toward highway 287 and north toward Laramie, Wyoming. This would be the state we spent most of our trip in. Both highway 34 and 287 were paved two-lane roads. This was not the quickest route to Wyoming, but it allowed us the opportunity to view our surroundings and not deal with the business of an interstate highway. The mountains to all sides of us, the various terrain and the sights made this 2.5 hour drive seem like nothing.

Until next time,

Tim (Kilmer)