Rocky Mountain National Park

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Rocky Mountain National Park is one of the grandaddy parks. As you can see in the sign below, it's over 100 years old. We had spent a bunch of time in the Rockies by this point in our trip (much of it driving), but we were still excited to see one of the most popular parks.

Hello, sun

Oddly enough, I was also excited to see the town outside the park, Estes Park. This is because my phone has consistently been feeding me articles on elk sightings in town. We were there during the rut (mating season), so they were both more active and more agitated than normal. I was hoping we'd see some.

Sure enough, we came across two big bulls just lounging in the shade on a street corner! Life in Estes Park...


We timed this one right. A snowstorm was forecast to hit the park the next day, and they had already announced that the once road through the park would be closed for the season at 7 PM.

The weather was quite chilly the day of our visit, and the road gains quite a bit of altitude (as one would expect from a park with the word "mountain" in the name). In fact, it's the highest paved road in any national park. That led us to spend most of the day in the Jeep, only getting out at key overlooks and for a few short walks.

The continental divide... with its sign missing

The views are stunning. There's nothing I can write to do them justice, so I won't even try. Suffice it to say, this park is well worth a visit if you love majestic vistas.

I'm not resting; I'm sheltering from the 30 mph wind


The wind at the high altitude overlooks was fierce.


I was hoping to see my new favorite animal, the mountain goat, at this park. Alas, I did not. We saw a few elk in the park (in addition to the ones we saw outside the park), and that's it. We stopped to look for pikas at a spot where they are known to be but didn't spot any.

But it's all good. The scenery more than made up for the poor wildlife viewing.

Location: Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, USA

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