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Published: December 31st 2011
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We’re in the mountains and winter isn’t far away. The temp was 26 during the night and thank goodness we had a site with electric last night, the heater kept us from freezing to death. There is frost everywhere outside, painting a portrait of what is to come.
Oscar had breakfast and went back to bed. We had a quick breakfast, packed up and headed off to Rocky Mt. Nat’l Park which was only 3 miles away. There was a stand of aspens begging to be captured with a camera. Pictures….. A side note about aspens; they are called a stand because they share the same roots. That is why they grow in clumps or groups. When there is a forest fire the trees are destroyed but the roots survive and shortly after they shoot up new trees. Sometimes you see a group of trees all green and just a short distance away there is a clump that is orange or yellow, they turn as a group.
We stopped at the visitors center and got some info on wildlife hot spots and headed out in the search of the illusive moose. We stopped several times, took a hike in
the forest along the valley meadow but no moose. The road started climbing so off to the peaks we went. We climbed to 10,758ft. And just as we got to the timber line we spotted an elk and there was a pull-off right there. We watched for over 45 min as the elk meandered in and out of the trees. There was a big bull that was bugleling and trying to keep his herd where he wanted them but never showed himself. Then finally, he came into view. No wonder he was wiley, he was a huge target for hunters. What a prime specimen, I feel privileged to have seen him.
We headed higher, above the timber line to 11,796ft to the alpine visitors center. From here we were on top of the world, literally. There was a large herd of elk, Picture… and a beautiful panoramic view , snow included. The alpine visitors center was newly constructed and reinforced to withstand the fierce winds that are prevalent here. Picture…
As we headed further up the road the drop off was so scary and no guardrails, it was a white knuckle road.
Then we saw them. A
herd of elk fairly close to the road that were just posing for pictures. I couldn’t find a place to park so I just pulled over as best I could and snapped pictures across Dee out the passenger window. So exciting! Picturessss….
Our camping spot for the night was in Beaver Meadows camp ground, part of the park, and we got a beautiful site, not far from the restrooms, spacious and level. I made a fire, Dee cut up veggies and salad, we cooked chicken, broccoli and bread on the grill and wonderful cocktails. We invited our neighbor to join us for marshmallows and he came running. He was from FL and was about 65 years old and had never had a roasted marshmallow before, hard to believe for a camper. We stayed up late talking, but enjoyed straightening out his life. Poor guy didn’t know what he got himself into. Bed by 10:30.
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