Rocky Mountain National Park

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The morning was gray and chilly, but it wasn’t snowing! Gary, the RV repairman made his house or rather RV call by 8:00. He was familiar with the type of problem we had because his RV had thermostat problems too! So he ordered the part and we will need to return to Estes Park for installation on Friday. This will mean we stay an extra day in the area which isn’t much of a schedule disruption. Our first stops in RMNP were two visitor centers. We needed to get oriented. We decided to take the most popular hikes in the park after lunch. Bear Lake and Dream Lake are close together and short hikes. We enjoyed them. The weather was overcast and cold but not uncomfortably so. Snowflakes fell most of the day. Crowds were not heavy at all. The hikes offered some good mountain views (though the peaks were shrouded in fog) and pretty aspen. I had read Dream Lake was very photogenic, but I was not impressed. I think the white sky was the problem. Our favorite was Bear Lake. We headed to the Moraine Park campground about 3:30. On the way we saw a bull elk with his harem of cows. September is elk rut season. We heard the male bugle several times. It rained a little at the campground this evening. Warmer weather is due by the weekend.

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Photos

Dream Lake
It would have been dreamier with a blue sky instead of clouds.

Long's Peak View from Dream Lake
Long's Peak is a 14,000 ft mountain that dominates the area. The summit was shrouded in fog.

Elk at Moraine Park
The first herd we saw

Comments

[Mary Ward]

WOW
Wow, Deb, I was thrilled to just now receive the auto-notice that you were posting to your blog. So glad you're out there!! Incredible. CO was a favorite of mine, and how could it not be anybody's? Love the posts.

[Mary Jo]

hey
BEAUTIFUL shots! Too bad you missed Pike's Peak - will you try again on the way home or are you going back a different way? I was there once when I had to go to Denver for training. There's a beautiful spot at the base (you probably already know about it!) - called Garden of the Gods - if you're back by there. Lots of rocks - Frank would love it!!