Rocky Mountain High

Up close with the elk.
There is a moose in there.

Quack, Quack!
Deer along the road.
Nymph Lake, notice the brown trees.
Dream Lake
Quzel Falls
Calypso Cascade
Tundra above the treeline.
Regrowth after fire 30 years ago.

Old Falls River Road
Trail Ridge Road

While at Mary's Lake Campground in Estes Park, Colorado we drove and hiked through Rocky Mountain National Park. We saw many animals including deer, fox, beaver, elk, moose and a variety of birds. We were able to get good pictures of some but others were just to quick. We enjoyed our last days in the high country with the great views of the Rockies. We took two day hikes into areas with high alpine lakes, streams, cascades and waterfalls. The drive started on Old Falls River Road, a nine mile steep winding one-way dirt road that at the top connects with Trail Ridge Road, the highest continuous paved road in America. Eleven miles of this road is above the treeline topping out at 12,183 feet in the tundra zone with only small plants and a few animals. The road continues over the Continental Divide to the west side of the park and the town of Grand Lake. One problem facing the park as well as all forests in the west is the pine beetle that is killing many of the trees. The reason this has become such a problem is that the winters have not been as cold in the last ten years and the beetles have been able to survive. It was really evident on the west side of the mountains where more then half of the pines are dead and brown. While at a stop along the road we began talking to a woman whose husband, Doug Plant, had family in Burgettstown where Nanc and I grew up. Another of those small world things. Even though we were in Colorado at the height of the tourist season (really against our normal plans) we found it was possible to find places that were uncrowded by just going a little off the beaten path. The pictures are small so for a better view just click on them.