Rocky National Park finally is open!

Friday, September 20, 2013

Rocky National Park finally is open!

We had just left Grand Lake, 20 minutes outside of Vail when I check Twitter and I see Rocky National Park is now open. I can't believe it, they opened it an hour after we left the area. I really wanted to do the Trail Ridge Road so after a night in Vail we headed back to Grand Lake at 5:30am. It was a beautiful drive with a full moon and then a sunrise over the Rocky's.

We get to the park and are told that it had snowed over night as we could only go 16 miles in before the road is closed. Again Mother Nature is not cooperating one bit.

A few miles in we spotted a few herds of Elk. It is rutting season and the bull elk are rounding up their harem. We got to watch one bull doing exactly that. At one point a female wondered off and he was right on her trail bringing her back.

The real treat was getting to hear them bugle. It made the drive back worth it.

Bugling elk in Rocky Mountain National Park

We got to Milner Pass and sure enough road closed. We were told maybe open in an hour or 2 but a ranger just went to check on the road so we decided to wait a bit see what happens. Not long he came back and opened the road. Once again patience paid off.

From that point it was nothing but climbing higher with twists and turns taking us to the top of the snow cover mountain I photographed this morning.

George is afraid of heights and with no guard rails, visibility not good because of clouds, it was a white knuckle drive for a few miles.

When we reached this point once again we were happy we made the trip. It was amazing. This part of the park is the tundra and we are at the highest point 12183 feet. Just Wow!

Trail Ridge Road ends at Este Park and as we drove through the town it reminded me of what we looked like after Hurricane Sandy. All the damage piled up in front of the stores, airing out, and cleaning up. It is sad but they are getting back to business.