Drove through Colorado on Interstate 70 from Grand Junction. The road passed through the mountains with the Colorado River right beside it. I was amazed when we passed by the big ski towns of Vail and Copper Mountain that the towns were so small. They had to fit in the limited space between the interstate, the river, and the mountains, so the villages were long and narrow with mostly condominiums, a few houses, and the obligatory golf course.
Just before we arrived at the west entrance of Rocky Mountain National Park, we came to several beautiful lakes next to each other with narrow canals connecting them, near the towns of Granby and Grand Lake. We found out later that the Colorado River was once called the Grand River, so several things in the area have Grand in the name. Grand Lake was a cute little mountain town that has been around since the 1800s.
When we got to the park, we were on the Trail Ridge Road which runs through the whole park and is only open in the summer because it passes over the mountains at over 12,000 feet. The range of mountains there is called the Never Summer Mountains, and specific mountains have specific names. The pine trees have been affected by the pine bark beetle which carries a fungus that kills the trees. When you look at the forest, you see lots of red trees because the pines have died and the needles have turned rusty red. It's very sad, and probably in just a few years there will be very few pines trees of any size left in the park.
We toured an historic set of cabins left from the 1920s when rich people came to the mountains for the summer. Then just as we were about to take a hike, it started raining, so we decided to drive through the park on the 50 mile Trail Ridge Road. We stopped at the Alpine Visitor Center which is located at about 11,000+ feet to look at some of the exhibits. While there we noticed several cars stopped on the narrow, windy, one-way road that ends at the visitor center. It seemed like they were stopped to let animals pass in front of them, so we investigated further, and saw a family of moose – father, mother, and 2 babies. They were high on the tundra by then, as this area is above the tree line.
Then we went a little farther along the road until we were at the highest point, 12,000+ feet in altitude. We started walking on the path through the tundra wildflowers, but stopped when Bob started complaining of feeling sick from the high altitude. We continued on the road, enveloped in the clouds, through the rain. Finally we were at a low enough altitude that the sun was out, and we had a much better view of the far vistas.
When we got to the entrance of the one way road, we decided to take it back up to the Alpine Center in hopes of seeing some wildlife. The road was very narrow with many switchbacks. Bob had to turn, then back up, and turn again on a few of the sharpest corners in order to get our RV around them. We passed through the aspen and pine forests, by rushing streams, and then through the Englemann Fir and sub-alpine fir trees as we passed the tree line. Then we, like the group we had seen previously, had to stop for animals in the road. This time it was 5 huge bull elks.
After that drive, we went to our campground which is devoid of pine trees because the pine bark beetle is destroying the beautiful forests here. So many of the trees were diseased that they were cut down, and a few young trees were planted. At the campground we met a woman who used to live in Corning, and found out that she and her husband loved to travel as much as we do. They are on a 7 week trip from Georgia where they live now.
The next day was beautiful and sunny, so we first went moose “hunting”, looking in the areas around the campground where moose are known to be, and were rewarded with the sight of a huge bull moose having his breakfast in a grove of willows. Then we continued up the Trail Ridge Road again, seeing things more clearly today in the nice weather as opposed to the rain of yesterday. We went to a few areas that we had not been to previously, including the Bear Lake area which was so crowded we couldn't find a place to park. This is the area of the park closest to the cities of Boulder and Denver, and more accessible than other areas, so it fills up fast.
We headed out of the park about 2 PM so we could get to niece Saralyn's house to visit with her and her fiance, Tom. We all had a great time catching up since we hadn't seen them in about a year. Of course we also talked a lot about wedding plans! In the evening we took them to a neat restaurant Bob knew about in Denver called the Buckhorn Exchange. It has been a restaurant since 1893 and is now on the historical register. The walls are covered with the stuffed heads and bodies of all kinds of wild game, old rifles and guns, Indian artifacts, and pictures of famous people who have been there. The bar was built in Germany in 1857 and shipped across the ocean, then brought to the Denver when the restaurant was built.
Sunday evening we met up with Bob's cousins Micah, Annie, and Marc Russell in Denver, and also had a nice visit with them. Now we're headed to St. Louis to visit with Nancy's cousins George and Eleanor. Son Rob will also be there for a conference, so we'll see him on Wednesday. Then we'll head on toward home to arrive Friday after 6 weeks of a wonderful trip!.