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Wednesday (7-14) & Thursday
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Wednesday morning we were awoken by the distinct sound of a bugling elk. He must have been practicing for the fall. We drove to the Alpine Visitor Center and joined in on a ranger lead hike on the Ute Trail. | ||
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The topic of the hike was the geology of Rocky Mountain National Park. The ranger was very informative and we enjoyed learning from him. We also enjoyed the clear views of the Never Summer Mountains shown in this picture. The middle portion of this mountain range experienced volcanic activity in the past. | ||
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The ranger lead us off trail to the destination of our hike. This panoramic image shows the view fromt this point. Mount Ida is left of center in this picture and the Never Summers are to the right. Longs Peak would be just outside the left edge of this picture. | ||
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After the hike we continued on Trail Ridge road, stopping at pulloffs and information displays. At one pulloff we spotted a Yellow Bellied Marmot scurring among some rocks. The high power zoom of our digital camera allowed Katie to capture this picture of the Marmot. | ||
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Also while driving along Trail Ridge Road we spotted several Big Horn Sheep. The camera's zoom was helpful again. | ||
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Leaving RMNP we headed to the Roosevelt National Forest to camp for the night. As is common along the Front Range, the mountain range that spring out of Colorado's eastern plains, a thunderstorm brewed up in the afternoon. The rain, lightning and thunder were in full force. It was the first rain we had felt in our entire trip. | ||
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Thursday morning brought sunny skies. We drove to a climbing area south of Estes Park called the Ironclads and thoroughly enjoyed several climbs on Punk Rock. | ||
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On the last climb we could see the skies darkening and another thunderstorm brewing just as it had the day before. We packed up the Jeep and drove south of Denver amid rush hour traffic. In the Pike National Forest we set up our tent for the last time of this trip. | ||