Rocky Mountain National Park

In early August we headed west to Rocky Mountain National Park. We had reservations for four nights but ended up staying a whole week. When we arrived, the reserved camp site was unacceptable for our pop-up camper and the van so we found a great site in the unreserved section. That was fortunate because we could then extend our stay.

Our favorite campground is Glacier Basin with this wonderful meadow. Long's Peak is just out of the picture (on the left). The campground was closed last season for tree removal due to the pine beetle devastation. The area we were in still had trees but many were showing signs of beetle infestation and we are sure they will be removed soon. The sites just across the road from us were closed because a tree fell earlier in the season and the whole section was destined for tree removal. At a ranger talk we learned that the trees become very brittle and can fall at any time, without warning.



The shuttle bus system provides great transportation to a variety of trail heads. Only one hike we took the whole week required us to drive! The bus system allows us to do a great 9+ miles hike from Bear Lake to the Fern Lake trail head. We have done this hike three times now and each time we have hiked the last part in the rain.



As we hiked past Fern Lake, there were horses in the corral. The wrangler never moved a muscle as we walked right by! The rain and hail began in earnest within about five minutes and we hope he moved then!
When the hail started we thought we could wait it out under a tree. We both chose trees with lots of dry soil underneath but after about five minutes, we realized that it wasn't going to let up any time soon so we broke out the rain pants. This photo is pre-rain pants with lots of hail. The camera doesn't do it justice, but it was fun to see the hail that was passing by the lens!

The camera went into an inner pocket for the next hour or more as the the skies continued to open up. We felt like we were hiking in a stream and I wanted to get a picture. It finally cleared up enough for a quick pic, but it just doesn't show how much water was on the trail while it was really raining.

We had planned to visit the Snowy Range west of Centennial, Wyoming but began to have second thoughts. We had lots of rain, more than the normal afternoon mountain shower. We were fairly comfortable camped at 8,000+ feet but in the Snowy Range we would be at 10,000 feet and knew from past experience it would be a lot colder. That's when we were glad to be in the non-reservable campsite so we could just stay where we were!




For the first time we hiked up Deer Mountain. The views at the summit were wonderful. This view is south towards the Bear Lake and Glacier Basin areas. We could also see down into Estes Park. Watching the traffic driving into the park made us glad that we could utilize that bus system!

It is hard to beat scenery like this.... The Loch.