Rocky Mountain National Park

[Kokopelli]

Left Durango 5 days after the Colorado rally ended and headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park for a 7 day road trip to see the colors, do some hiking, and watch the Elk rut. For those who were at the rally, you’ll recognize this view of Silverton and see how the colors have progressed and more new snow on the high peaks.

Drove to Peonia State Park and camped for the night. Had the campground entirely to ourselves.

Picked up a hitch hiker the next morning and headed north.

Waved at mtn-high as we drove through Edwards and then followed the Colorado Headwaters Scenic byway to Grand Lake. This is a view of the Colorado from Inspiration point looking into Gore canyon and downriver from it. This is a popular section of the river for river rats.

 

[Kokopelli]

Wandered around Grand Lake where they were having a festival and even Smoky the Bear was there.

Guess it’s a sign of progress (?) when he’s made out of cans instead of fur. Camped near Grand Lake and in the morning noticed we’d had a visitor that night.

The East side of the park has been heavily hit with beetle kill and the normally forested Timber Creek Campground has taken a beating with most of the trees removed for safety of the campers. Notice how dark the back hills are. In some places it looked like 75%-85% of the forest was dead.

Headed up Trail Ridge Road to the Alpine Visitors Center at 11,796’ where we got some snow showers and blustery weather. The logs on the building are to keep the roof on in the high winds they can get up there.

Trail Ridge Road is the highest continuous paved road in the US reaching 12,183’. Plenty of big rigs and motor homes up here.

 

[Kokopelli]

I hiked up the ridge above the visitor’s center to get some exercise and check out the views. Saw my first evidence of Elk.

Started down into the valley below the visitors center and some movement caught my eye in the talus slopes:

These are Ptarmigan. They live above timberline with adaptations to keep them warm and dry. Their large dense body holds in heat and the feathers covers even their eyelids, nostrils, legs, and feet. Ptarmigan can actually gain weight in winter by eating nutrient rich willow buds. In the summer their color blends then into the rock fields where they live, and in winter they turn white to blend in with the snow. You can see some starting to change to white below.

I climbed down into the bottom of the valley, and saw lots of signs of Elk in game trails and droppings. I took a break, and something else caught my attention:

He was casually eating and drinking in the ravine and didn’t seem to be concerned with me so I walked a bit closer above the ravine for a better shot.

Climbed out the other side to the car and headed down to the East side of the park, stopping by some pristine meadows for a break.

Continued into the park where we say our first roadside Elk resting and doing their bugle calls.

 

[Kokopelli]

Set up camp and woke up the next morning to a light snow and an Elk herd in our backyard.

I heard a rustling and some bugling over the ridge by the next campsite and quietly walked over. Another bull was over there with his horns in a bush thrashing around. Practicing I guess. As he stood up he was left with a new hair piece.

We headed off in the snow/drizzle for a nice 2.5 mile hike through meadows and the fall colors to a nearby lake (Cub Lake) as the weather started clearing.

 

[Kokopelli]

Back at camp we settled in for the evening show and weren’t disappointed.

A large bull with a heard of about 30 cows was making his way through the meadow.

Another bull was hanging around on the outskirts trying to get a piece of the pie.

But the larger bull was pretty solid in his answer.

He was right in front of us and gave me this stare, after which as he took a few more steps towards us I grabbed the camera and backed closer to the truck.

There were little bulls running around the perimeter trying to figure things out and getting quickly chased away if they got too close.

The main bull chased the other larger bull around the side of us and he walked behind us to the other side of our camp and looked down at us.

Tired of being chased all the time, he decided to do some chasing himself and made a run for us. We quickly ran back to the truck, and being satisfied he continued on around our picnic table.

Enough excitement for one evening – time for bed.

 

[Kokopelli]

The next morning I took a hike to some of the lakes in the Bear Lake region of the park.

This old tree is making a good stand of it in the high altitude.

The small ponds were started to freeze up high and it was snowing lightly.

The cold weather was freezing the mud and ice was coming up out of the ground.

Bird tracks could be seen in the fresh snow

 

[Kokopelli]

On down the snowy trail I went

To Glacier Gorge where it had stopped snowing and you could see large rounded boulders that the glacier had dropped in the middle of the valley as it melted.

Heading back down I got a nice view looking towards Estes Park

And enjoyed the colors along the trail

Passed pretty water falls along the way

And saw a chipmunk stuffing his mouth as big as his cheeks would let him

Alberta Falls

 

[Kokopelli]

The next morning the elk were back behind our camp but looking tired and dozing

We packed up and headed through Estes Park when we saw a crowd and more elk on the golf course

This guy was definitely tired. A ranger said the bulls can loose up to 20% of their weight during the rut as they are constantly herding, chasing, fighting, trying to attract cows, and tending to the cows they have. Some can get so worn down they don’t make it through the winter.

But this guy rallies to call off a few other bulls on the perimeter of his heard.

But for the moment they were tired as well

This shows you the golf course in perspective. It’s not in the middle of no-where, but right in town.

The elk are constantly sniffing the cows to see when they are ready to mate, as the window of opportunity is only about 10 hours.

Lisa stalking the Elk….

Bingo, got the shot

The greens keepers had to swing wide to go around the herd.

 

[Kokopelli]

Drove back through more snow and colors

To Buena Vista where we stayed at the KOA for a hot shower.

Over Wolf Creek Pass and more pretty waterfalls

To home and the end of a very interesting trip. Felt like Wild Kingdom. It was amazing how close you could get to watch the rut in action as the Elk are used to people. Highly recommended trip. We stayed at Moraine Park Campground in the park and it was right in the middle of the action. All night long you could hear the Elk bugling. A very nice campground with lots of space and an open feel, which allows the Elk to walk right through it as they go from here to there. Camper worked well and we learned a few more tricks as we do on every trip. Weather was cool, actually cold at times but we stayed warm and had fun. It was quite different from my Summer in Southern Utah trip, but that’s what wandering the west is all about!

 

[SunMan]

Another outstanding trip. Beautiful stuff. Thanks.

 

[CJ8Rockcrawler]

Beautiful pictures... thanks for sharing.

 

[chnlisle]

Love the pix thanks.

 

[HikerCook]

I've been over Trail Ridge Road many times in the past but have never seen the logs on the Alpine Visitor Center roof. Do you know if these are put up at the end of the season before the Center closes or are they a permanent fixture that has been recently added? Loved the pictures. Rocky is my favorite park in the system. Thanks.

 

[davinski]

Wow, more nice photos. Really cool write up. Thanks so much for sharing.



dave

 

[Marc]

Just Awesome. Thanks for posting that

 

[DirtyDog]

Wow that looks like a great trip! That KOA in Buena Vista looks pretty nice (for a KOA).

 

[Kodachrome]

I love Trail Ridge, it stays high up for quite a while. Looks like you had great fun and went at a good time, got lots of nice pics.

Do you know how long the Elk rut for?

 

[Ted]

Excellent trip report and photos. I like the way you present the story with the series of photos. you have added yet another must do to our lifetime list.
That KOA in Buena Vista looks pretty nice (for a KOA).
I thought the same thing about that photo.

 

[Kokopelli]

Thanks for all the postive feedback - it will keep me travelling, photographing, and posting trip reports!

Do you know how long the Elk rut for?
The ranger said the main rut lasts about 2 weeks. Then about 10 days after that there is another mini rut for the cows who got missed the first time around. He said the impregnation rate is almost a 100% for a cow thats mated.

I've been over Trail Ridge Road many times in the past but have never seen the logs on the Alpine Visitor Center roof. Do you know if these are put up at the end of the season before the Center closes or are they a permanent fixture that has been recently added?
Don't know on that one. We went over about 4 years ago and I thought they were there then, but I may be mistaken. They don't look like something they would take off during the summer, looked pretty permanant to me. They can get strong winds in the summer as well as the winter, so think the logs do their thing year round.