Rocky Mountain Dreams!
Day 5 of my road trip continued, as I made my way across the plains of Nebraska and into Colorado. My destination was Rocky Mountain National Park! Now this park was not on my original itinerary for the trip but due to the weather driving me out of the Badlands early and some rare luck getting a campsite with recreation.gov, I got to go see some highlights of the eastern side of the Park! First stop was, of course, the National Park Sign!
Now, thanks to the camping reservation I was able to snag, I got timed entry into the park at 1300. So my first stop was to scope out my camp site and my second was to drive up trail ridge road. Now trail ridge road is the highest continuous paved road in the USA. Because of this height it gets ALOT of snow and the road was not fully open while I was there. You can see the wild amounts of snow still packing the roadsides.
The views from the vistas made the roads seem ever so small. I could not believe how lucky I was to be seeing this part of the world with my own eyes!
On my way back to my camp site, I pulled over to the shoulder of the road and see this moose. It was peacefully grazing away and enjoying it day. Huge shout out to the park rangers, who kept both the visitors and the moose safe by making sure that everyone kept a safe distance from this guy!
Not three miles down the road, I got to see this elk grazing away and enjoying his own dinner.
At the direction of the park rangers, I drove part of the way up trail ridge road again to try to watch the sun set and was rewarded with this amazing view of the fog rolling in. The drive back down to the camp site was very slow and careful!
The next morning, I rolled out of bed at 0400 to get to Sprague Lake for sunrise and to start Day 6 of my adventure! The hike was very short to the overlook and there was an inviting bench waiting for me and my morning cup of coffee. Watching the sun rise over the continental divide was the most awe inspiring way to start my day.
On the walk back to the car I saw two yearling moose and several turkeys!
My last bit of adventure was my hike to see Bear Lake, Nymph Lake, and Dream Lake. The hike took about two hours and was chock full of amazing sites! I got to see a Stellar's Jay and it posed for my camera! Stellar's Jay are a high altitude bird so it was my first time getting to see this gorgeous bird! The hike only had about 600ft of elevation change, but it definitely winded this relatively low altitude gal!
I was so proud to have made this hike! It was my first hike in real snow and it was so much fun. The peeps on the trail were also so kind!
I had a bit more time before I needed to head to the airport so I drove about a bit and took in the last glimpses of this amazing land before heading back to reality!
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