Vacation Day 10 (Rocky Mountain National Park)

Thursday (August 1) – Trip Day 10 (Rocky Mountain National Park) – I have long wanted to visit this park and was not disappointed in the least.  If you don’t stop you can drive from Estes Park (where we are staying) to the top of the Rockies in under an hour.  Of course, we made the trip with several stops.  We entered the park at the Fall River Visitor’s Center (8240 feet) and continued on to Sheep Lake where we saw…sheep

We then continued up a steep windy road called Trail Ridge Road through first pine forest and then, as we ascended into mountain tundra and passed the two mile high point of the road. 
 This is a classic example of a meandering stream flowing through a meadow.

 This is HIGH country and rising.  We are still in the forest.

 Passing the timber line and in the background are three cirques (glacial carved valleys on the side of mountains.

 This is classic tundra.  The land is frozen solid up to 5 months a year.  There is a lot of vegetation here but it is mainly small plants that are very fragile.  The rocks are worked to the surface during the freezing and thawing cycle each year.

 This is a classic U shaped glacially formed valley.

 We traveled higher but this sign tells it all - HIGH.

 Another glacial landscape at over 12,000 feet.

 We passed a whole herd of elk grazing along the highway.

 Also there was a little marmot sitting right at the side of the road.  He let us walk right next to him.  He was probably waiting for a handout.

 The top of the Rockies - all these mountains are over 12,000 feet in elevation.

Eventually the road topped out at 12, 183 feet.  Yes, walking up here takes extra exertion.  The Alpine Visitor’s Center is unique as it has large logs attached to the roof to catch snow to keep the shingles from blowing off in the winter as the winds can reach 150 mph. The logs also help to stabilize the structure.

We continued down past the continental divide to Lake Irene where we had a picnic lunch and then retraced our route back to Estes Park

 What are the tall poles?  They are snow poles telling the snow cleaning people where the trails are.  They have to be tall, tall, tall here as the snow can get to be 35 feet deep.

 One last picture - why the piles of dead trees in the forest?  The Pine Bark beetle is killing millions of pines in the western United States.  The only way to control them is to cut down the dead and dying trees and burn them.  So everywhere you see piles of dead wood waiting for the winter when they burn them and avoid starting a forest fire.