High in Rocky Mountain National Park

October 13, 2009


Bierstadt Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
After Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which figured prominently in my childhood travels, Rocky Mountain National Park is the one I’ve visited most often. New Yorkers head for Florida in the summer, right? Well, Texans head for Colorado. If you have to ask why, you haven’t lived through a Texas summer.

Just look at Bierstadt Lake. It’s utterly gorgeous, and it’s just one of many, many mountain lakes accessible on an easy hour or two hike in the park. My DH and I made an annual pilgrimage to scenic Estes Park and the Front Range of the Rockies for several years starting when our young children were old enough to hike. We’ve missed the last few years but look forward to returning again soon.

Like Texas, Colorado is renowned for its wildflowers.

We saw these in early summer one year.

Well-maintained trails lead you to sights like…

…thundering Alberta Falls…

…and mountains capped with snow even in summer.

I’m blissed out by mountain views.

If you’re lucky you’ll see some interesting wildlife. This golden-mantled ground squirrel placidly agreed to share a rock resting spot with us on a hike to Bear Lake.

Another time we spotted bighorn sheep grazing alongside the road.

And elk, though commonplace, will stop traffic while drivers scramble to get a picture.

One one hike, the kids and I made the somewhat traumatic discovery that cute little ground squirrels like this one—in fact, this very one—are lethal hunters. We’d stopped trailside to watch a pair of bunnies with their mother. The mother rabbit hopped into the underbrush, one bunny followed her, and suddenly this harmless seeming ground squirrel spotted and jumped the second bunny.

Our own surprised squeals echoed the bunny’s last, and I managed to get a rather shaky picture of the ground squirrel carrying off the body. Who knew they were carnivorous? Apparently it’s a squirrel-eat-rabbit world out there.

Bear Lake was always one of our favorite hikes with the kids. It is an easy trail for young children—parts of it are even stroller accessible—and just look at the payoff.

I could sit on this Zen-like bench and gaze at the view all day.

Another look at Bear Lake

The most scenic hikes always seem to include water: waterfalls, lakes, mountain pools, or rivers. One year we hiked Fern Lake Trail, which follows the Big Thompson River through a spruce and fir forest.

Children are fascinated by water, and tumbling mountain streams are endlessly watchable.

And rocks are endlessly climbable. Sometimes we could hardly get any hiking done for all the rock-climbing distractions.

Moraine Park, a beautiful, glacier-carved valley, greets you when you enter Rocky Mountain NP from Estes Park. The Big Thompson River flows here too, and we often saw fly fishermen casting their lines. What a gorgeous place it is.

We always take a trail ride when we’re there. Happy trails, Rocky Mountain, until we meet again.
This post is part of a week-long bloggers’ celebration of the National Parks. Please join in with a post about any park you’ve visited and leave your link here.
All material © 2006-2009 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

0 responses to “High in Rocky Mountain National Park”

  1. Cindy, MCOK says:

    Pam, you’re making me long for another visit to Colorado. My husband was working in Denver for a few weeks last year and I spent a long weekend there. We drove up to Estes Park one day but didn’t have time to make it into the National Park. I think we should remedy that next summer!
    I think you should too, Cindy. We Texans need only the barest of excuses to jump in the car and head for cool Colorado in the summer. —Pam

  2. Janet says:

    Wow Pam another great posting with fabulous photos! The lake pictures are postcards! I would love to visit the Rocky Mountain National Park. Maybe one day…. 😀
    Thanks, Janet, but it’s hard to take a bad photo of those picturesque lakes and mountains. There are postcard-worthy scenes everywhere you look. —Pam

  3. Pam, my husband has always wanted to go to Colorado and we haven’t yet done that. Your photos make me want to schedule a trip for next summer, but I know it won’t happen just yet. Too many other things going on next summer already. What a beautiful place that is!
    Our family always went to the Smokies when I was a child. My parents have a vacation planned with our entire family there for next September. I haven’t been there since our honeymoon, so it will be great to return.
    Well, you can’t go wrong with a vacation in the Smokies, Kylee! It’s beautiful in its own, softer way. Have a wonderful trip, but I hope you do make it to the Rockies one day. —Pam

  4. rosey pollen says:

    Pam,
    We live within an hour an a half of Estes. And we have only been up there twice! I remember taking our kids to Bear Lake, it was pretty and you jogged my memory a bit with your great photos!
    Thanks for the reminder… my family and I really need to utilize this park more often.
    It’s a squirrel eat bunny world. ugg.
    Rosey
    Oh, you’re killing me, Rosey. To be so close to Estes and the park would be a dream for me and my husband. Isn’t it prime leaf-peeping and elk-bugling season there right now? —Pam

  5. Sigrun says:

    Beautiful photografs, I have no words. I found your blog in the moment and will come back! My husband also likes National Parks.
    Sigrun
    Thanks for visiting, Sigrun. If you would like to join in with a post about a national park in Germany (or anywhere else), please do. —Pam

  6. Nancy Bond says:

    Colorado looks like a beautiful state — the mountain views are so different from our own ocean views, but just as spectacular. My daughter just moved to Alberta and has sent many photos from her hikes through Jasper and Banff; the scenery is breathtaking.
    Wow, now you have a great place to go visit, Nancy—to see your daughter and the scenery! —Pam

  7. Phillip says:

    Incredibly beautiful views. I could sit on that bench all day too.
    It’s such a lovely spot, so peaceful. Unless, of course, you have kids with you who are ready to move on down the trail. 😉 —Pam

  8. chuck b. says:

    I’ve seen many beautiful pictures of this park recently. So green! I would love to see the wildflowers.
    I would love to see the columbines in particular. Someday we’ll time it right. —Pam

  9. Lisa at Greenbow says:

    One of my favorite places. Aaahhhh I can just feel the cool air and hear the rush of the stream scrambling over rocks.
    I hope we both get to feel and hear it again in person one day soon, Lisa. —Pam

  10. Rose says:

    Absolutely breathtaking, Pam! I haven’t visited in awhile, and when I saw Carol’s post on Cape Hatteras, I just had to come here to check it out. I’ve been going through your previous posts and oohing and aahing at all the gorgeous photos, not to mention your bravery in hiking and riding a mule into the Grand Canyon! We were in the Smokies this weekend for a wedding, and I was just thinking how there is so much beauty in this country to see that you could spend years traveling and still not see everything there is to see here. I am going to have to bookmark this page for future reference in vacation planning–excellent posts! By the way, one of my good friends loves Rocky Mountain NP and has it on her license plate; she also took a few days off from work to celebrate her 50th birthday there. Now I see why.
    Hi there, Prairie Rose. You are right—one could travel for years and still not see everything. But that’s one good thing about all these posts. They can help us pick and choose the parks we’d really love to see. —Pam

  11. Les says:

    Now you have given me even more places I need to see the next time I go to Colorado, not that I needed prodding, it is so beautiful. I have read of the efforts to reintroduce carnivores to the park to help restore the balance. Apparently the squirrels are stepping up to fill in the void – who knew?
    Ha—yes, it was surprising to us, that’s for sure. Colorado really is beautiful. Your recent posts gave me the itch to see more of it too. —Pam

  12. Jean says:

    What fantastic photos Pam! I was plotting my return to Colorado and the Rockies as I read your post. However, that squirrel-eat-bunny thing kinda freaked me out. Who knew? Although I think I’ve heard about their cannabilism. Anyway, thanks so much for doing this national park thing. We have so much beautiful park land to be grateful for!
    We really do. I’m so happy to be able to read about other people’s visits to the parks. Thank you too for joining in. —Pam

  13. Lola says:

    I’ve heard Colorado is pretty. Now I know as your pics have shown that to be true. I sure would like to go sometime.
    I hope you are able to, Lola. I hear the western side of Colorado’s Rockies is wonderful too, but we’ve only seen the east side. —Pam

  14. I was lucky to live near Rocky Mountain National Park for four years; thank you for sharing your great pictures! It truly is one of the most beautiful places on earth!
    Lucky you, Rose! I hope you were able to go there often when you lived nearby. I think we’d be there every weekend. —Pam

  15. Susie says:

    Thanks for the summertime views….we were there last fall. The first week of October was spectacular with the Aspens at peak fall color & the elk rutting. It was magical, a much overlooked National Park for sure.
    I’d love to see Rocky Mountain in the fall. My husband was lucky enough to get a business trip to Denver one October and came back with pics of golden aspens and tales of bugling elk. —Pam

  16. Pam, I had to laugh when I saw your first photo in your red jacket. Like you, I grew up going to Colorado frequently to get out of the heat. In my twenties, I purchased a red Eddie Bauer lined windbreaker, which was perfect for Colorado summers in the mountains. I still have it, and every single photo I’ve ever taken in the mountains – Colorado, Utah, Alaska, Seattle, Vancouver, you name it – I’m wearing that red jacket! When I saw yours, I really did a flashback. I even moved to Colorado for five years to get out of the Austin heat, but missed the weirdness and the vibe of the Republic of Austin. My favorite National Park is in Alaska on the Kenai Peninsula.
    Ooh, please post about that one, Robin. I haven’t seen an Alaskan park post yet. As for the red jacket, did you notice that it appears in two of my posts? Happily it has been retired since then. How about yours? —Pam

  17. Amy Emerick says:

    Beautiful photos! They made me homesick for Colorado. We lived in Highlands Ranch just outside of Denver. The mountains were only a quick drive away. You mentioned Estes Park and that is one of my very favorite places in Colorado. BEaUtIfUl!
    Lucky, lucky you to have lived in Colorado near those beautiful mountains, Amy. It must have been difficult to leave them behind. Or were you craving some heat? 🙂 —Pam

  18. Germi says:

    OH! That’s all I can say! Well, no – I’ll say more, of course – but these images can make even a blabbermouth like me totally speechless! What drama! Just when I was making kissy-kissy cooing noises at the ground squirrel and wondering if they’d make good pets – WHOMP! It goes and eats a baby bunny! THAT is something you can usually only see on Wild Kingdom or something (I just dated myself, didn’t I?)
    Your photos are ALWAYS lovely, but these are just beyond! BEYOND! Thank you for taking us along!
    XO!
    I loved ‘Wild Kingdom’ as a kid and watched every episode. So now I’ve dated myself too! I’m glad you enjoyed my Rocky Mountain tour, Germi. I hope you’ll join in with a national park post too. —Pam

  19. Wade Seymour says:

    Amazing photos, I did not see a fly rod in your hands in any of those pics. I would love to change that.
    I never have tried it, Wade. I love the look of it, but I don’t really like to fish. Something about pulling that hook out of the fish’s mouth… —Pam

  20. Looks like we missed out on a fantastic park, Pam – but is it really this beautiful? How can your photos make every natural spot be the place we want to be?
    BTW, remembering Marlin Perkins on Wild Kingdom won’t date you much…. you’d have to remember him on Zoo Parade to do that!
    Annie at the Transplantable Rose
    Haven’t you been to this one yet, Annie? It’s within driving distance of Austin, only 20 hours. 🙂 And yes, it really is beautiful. You and Philo have checked so many off your life list that you really need to add Rocky Mountain and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. I’ve yet to see the latter, but Rock Rose’s post has me wanting to see it too. —Pam

  21. One of my sisters lives at the edge of the Canadian Rockies. She hikes weekly between snows, loves ‘her’ Rockies but Grand Teton is her all-time favorite destination. As a geologist who loves nature, she says it has the best of every world.
    Lucky sister to be able to enjoy the parks so frequently! —Pam