Birthday in the Rocky Mountains

Day 3  - 20th September 2019

Birthday Day! We both woke early - around 5.15 am - but it was only to be expected after going to bed around 9 pm. We decided we might as well get up and on with the day, but first we had to get down to the important business of opening the mountain of presents and cards, so many lovely gifts and well wishes.

We breakfasted on french pastries and before we knew it it was time to head to The Rocky Mountain National Park - the first of 3 National Parks we shall visit on this trip. It took about an hour to drive there, skirting Boulder and passing through the very lovely Roosevelt National Forest to Estes Park and the gateway to the Rocky Mountains.

By 9.30 am we had brought our 'America the Beautiful' pass, (entrance to each of the 3 parks we will be visiting is 30 dollars, the pass is $80 and valid until next September and will give us entry to National Parks, Forests and Battlefields).

From the Beaver Meadows Entrance Station on the East side of the Park we drove down towards Bear Lake, We hadn't travelled very far when we noticed a herd of Elk in the Moraine Park area, so we  stopped the car to take a better look. What a start to our visit, framed by wonderful scenery was a male Elk and his harem of around 20 females, keeping our distance we got out the binoculars and set up the camera for a better look. It was then we noticed another 2 Male Elk in the vicinity, alas a rut between charging bulls didn't happen but still a spectacular sight to witness.

Continuing on to Bear Lake notices informed us that the parking lot was full and to use the shuttle, well on reaching the shuttle parking we noticed the line queuing from the shuttle was heaving and one bus had just left. As much as we would have liked to have walked around the Lake doing it with so many people didn't really appeal - it was only a short half mile trail! - so we double backed on ourselves and pulled into Mill Creek Trail for a mile round trip walk. Wow the scenery is stunning!

Cracking open the trail mix we headed back towards the visitors centre and onto the 48 mile "Trail Ridge Road" through the Park. Connecting Estes Park on the East, to Grand Lake on the West, its the  highest continuous paved road in the United States, traversing forest of Aspens, Pine, Fir and Spruce, before climbing above the tree line and reaching alpine tundra and a high of 12,183 feet for views as far away as Wyoming and the Great Plains and into the heart of the Rocky Mountains. 

We stopped along the way at Rainbows Curve lookout to take in the spectacular vista, 10,829ft and just above the treeline looking over Horseshoe Park.

Journeying on gaining elevation, we witness the changing of landscape and begin to feel the temperature dropping - it is normally 20-30 degrees cooler then down in Estes Park - by the time we reach the Lava Fields pullout it is 10 degrees and rather windy. We could still see areas of ice that have remained all throughout the Summer.

We made it to the top of the Ridge Line and to the Alpine Visitor Centre where we were able to grab some light refreshments of coffee and a peanut butter bar, along with the obligatory postcards. 11,796ft up above sea-level and with conditions resembling those found in the Canadian and Alaskan Arctic, its rather splendid, Quite a view to have will your morning coffee!

We began the descent down towards Grand Lake, passing the most amazing views, we can understand why its been named ................ 

Not far from the end of the road we pulled in to another trail head, unfortunately there was no parking spots but we did see a beautiful female deer just near the entrance. Never mind it was only a few minutes before we were able to pull in and get out onto the Colorado River and Red Mountain Trail, a short hike through meadow, before a short pull upwards, continuing through forest before met the river then returning back to the car the way we came.

After driving onto the Parks West exit, we had a brief stop for toilet then turning a round took the Trail Ridge Road back again to the Park's East Entrance. We pull off at several places catching the odd glimpse of autumn coming through - we were probably and week to early sadly to see the spectacular colours. 

We drove back across the Continental Divide before making one last around Beaver Meadows area where we saw a lone Bull Elk laying by the trees, a magnificent beast with a very impressive pair of antlers - a male Elks antlers can be reach up to 4ft in length and weigh up to 40lb.

Time to head back, we had spent about 6 hours in Park and could have quite easily spent a whole lot more, what a way to spend my Birthday! 

We made a quick Target stop to grab a drink and some "essentials" dollar spot items before making a quick detour to the brewery we went to last night, someone had left his sunglasses there. Of course we had to pick up some beer, we chose the Silverback Weiss, it donates a portion of the profit to the Gorillas, we do like to do our bit to help! We finally got back to the Airbnb  around 6pm, feeling tired and in need of some proper food, we decided to freshen up and head out to 5280 Burger for an early dinner.

It was only a 5 minute walk away and we were quickly seated and toasting the day with a glass of Prosecco and a local Blueberry Wheat followed by a portion of fried pickles with ranch dip. We shared a house made quinoa and black-bean burger and a  power house salad. Delicious, just what we needed. We popped to the wholefoods next door to pick up some yogurt for breakfast, then back for birthday cake before heading to bed for another early night - I can see a pattern here!

Fact of the day - The Rocky Mountain Range represents a series of more then 100 separate mountain ranges.