At one location near the top, the Alpine Visitor’s Center comes into view. This is quite a place, where everything imaginable is for sale: expensive and probably made in China. By the way, much of the road looks like this, after you pass the treeline.
What goes up must come down (Yogi Berra or Einstein?) This is the view of a part of the previously mentioned roadway, taken from the parking area outside the Visitor’s Center. We are at 11,396 feet, and it is cool out. This place has been a zoo, yesterday and today, as it seems that half the World is visiting Rocky Mountain NP this week.
We began the descent down the mountain, stopping at the viewpoints, but frankly none of them fired us up. As we neared town we ran into an “Elk Jam”. At first I thought we were back in Yellowstone when it then dawned on me that Elk are big deal up here. So, we joined the jam and parked. We were able to crowd our way into the forest of viewers to get this picture of four of the girls, I think they’re girls.
After we arrived in town we went for a long walk, bumming the stores, and enjoying the River Walk.
On Tuesday we drove up into the Park and took the Bear Lake Road up to the Stop-and-Ride location. There is so much traffic in this area that the Park Service has provided shuttle buses, that run every ten minutes from the parking lot up to the Lake. So, we parked and took the bus. We walked up the trail a short ways to Bear Lake and relived a very precious moment. In 1958, Ethel and I took a six weeks trip out west, with Karen, four, and Craig, two.
At this very spot we took their picture, with Bear Lake in the background. Not sure where the picture is: was it a slide or a glossy? All I know is that I took the picture on my Rollei. Do any of you guys remember the Rollei? The Lake is as beautiful as ever.
There was quite a bit of color on the mountainside today, probably because we were at an elevation of almost 9500 feet. We considered walking the trail around the Lake but a number of 16 % grades were involved: 16 % at 9500 feet makes one consider Plan B; back to the trailhead.
Plan B became a half mile hike up to Nymph Lake. As it turned out, that half mile was uphill all the way, but it was worth it. Nymph Lake is quite small, was covered with lilies (I think), and those enormous peaks were in the background.
We worked our way back to the bus stop and were graciously driven to the parking lot. From there we drove back uphill to the parking area for Sprague Lake, which turned out to be a day maker. The lake has a half mile trail circling it and as we started out a man approached us to say that “a moose is feeding on the other side of the lake and a hundred people are watching”. We saw some activity, saw the moose, but took our time getting there.
Well sure enough, there he was. The trail adjoins the water and our friendly moose was standing no more than 30 feet from the hundreds (make that 20) people who were silently watching and taking pictures galore. This guys a beauty, eh?
Our new friend had a very simple diet. He was feasting on all of the green plant life that was floating around and once in a while he’d go down to the bottom and grab some fresh stuff.
We said goodbye to Mr. Moose and continued our walk around the lake. The day was very windy and the lake waters were kicking up quite a bit. I’d love to see this picture when the lake is a sheet of glass and the mountains reflected.
We finally left the park and headed back to the B & B. Sat out on the front porch until it got cool and then went up to the common room to hang out. There is a large picture window and the view is quite nice, so I’ll sign off this post with the view.
On Wednesday, we checked out and spent much of the day driving through some incredible areas. We started out by heading east through the Big Thompson Canyon, which was carved out by the, surprise, the Big Thompson River. We then diverted north a bit and took another windy mountain road up to the city of Glen Haven. There is a general store in town that sells home maid cinnamon buns. Because it was still too close to breakfast, we were forced to put the buns in storage for awhile. When we ate them later, the advertising was true; they’d give Cinnabons a good race. OK, back into the vehicle and follow the road back to Estes Park. We continued south, hooking up with the Peak to Peak Scenic Byway, which runs down to around Blackhawk. We didn’t take any pictures today because the incredible scenery was just too much to try to photograph. It was a rousing finish to our Colorado adventure as we have seen indescribable formations, rushing rivers, towering mountains, and much of what our Lord has provided in this state.
I’d like to close this 2010 blog with some of the words of a very well known hymn, as they certainly do apply to Ethel and I as we consider this wonderful state.
When through the woods
And forest glades I wander
I hear the birds
Sing sweetly in the trees;
When I look down
From lofty mountain grandeur
And hear the brook
And feel the gentle breeze;
Then sings my soul,
My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art!
How great Thou art!
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