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September 5-6, 2001 |
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| We started out early in the morning and drove from Boulder to Estes Park and to the entrance of Rocky Mountain National Park. We drove up the Old Fall River Road and made our first stop at Chasm Falls. It is a short walk down to the falls which is a moderate cascade of water down a chasm. We then continued our trip up the road, which at times was treacherous because of the ruts in the roads and the sharp turns (this was a dirt road). Once we neared the Alpine Visitor Center we saw about a dozen elk out in the subalpine tundra. After a brief stop at the Visitors Center we hiked up a trail from the parking lot to an overlook at 12,005 feet. The view from the top was awesome as you could see forever. It was windy and cold even though the sun was out. Afterwards, we got back in the car and drove down to Timber Creek Campground to set up our tent. |
| Once we had our camp all set up, we drove down to Grand Lake. We stopped and had lunch in town and then drove to the Adams Falls trail head. This is a short hike to Adams Falls which is a short series of cascades that cuts through the rock. We snapped a few pictures and then got back in our car and drove to the Tonalaulu/North Inlet Trailhead. We got our backpacks on and headed towards Cascade Falls. We first passed the Summerland Park about one mile down the trail, but we did not see any wildlife. At about half way to the falls we rounded a bend to find an animal standing just ten feet away. It actually was only a couple of mule deer, but they scared us just the same. We finally made it to Cascade Falls which is really an interesting site because there are many large rocks and boulders that make up this riverbed, thus creating the cascade. After some pictures and a short break we headed back to the trailhead, only to pass by a few more deer before we made it to the parking lot. As we were walking to the car, we spotted some movement down the road. It was a female moose and it was walking in our direction. We just stood there as it walked within 20 feet of us and continued on its way into the forest. This clumsy animal paid us no mind as it was looking for greener pastures. We got in the car and drove back to our campground for dinner. |
| We had Chicken and Rice for dinner (Backcountry dried meal) and a few triscuits. As we were sitting there eating two elk had walked through the campground to the east of us. So after dinner we walked down a trail that led south to a meadow where we found approximately 20 elk grazing in the field. There was one large bull elk that was leading the heard along. They were walking slowly and occasionally eating while the male was periodically bugling. This was an awesome site. The bull elk would also run to the back of the pack to make them move and it looked like he even encouraged the young ones to keep moving. They were oblivious to many spectators watching, or at least they did not care. We went back to the campground and watched a ranger led program on bears (the slides were the only bears that we saw on the entire trip), then we went to bed. During the night, coyotes and elk were frequently heard. |
| The next morning we woke up early and packed up our gear and headed north. We stopped at the Crater Trailhead for a short hike. This is a moderate hike, but it goes uphill the whole way up (and downhill the way back of course). As we were hiking through the woods we saw several bull elk, they seemed like they were almost following us. We finally hiked through the forest to a tundra like area and the trail led up to the ridge. As we neared the top, the wind was getting increasingly fierce. At the moment we crossed the ridge to view the other side of the mountain the wind hit us like a brick wall. Our eyes were watering and our faces we cold. The Crater is known for being a Bighorn Sheep breeding ground and we actually spotted about 5 or 6 of them on the mountainside. We quickly took a few pictures and headed back down the mountain for some tree cover. This is a great hike with great views because you can see more of Specimen Mountain and the Never Summer Mountain Range. We made it back to the car and then drove to the Glacier Gorge Junction Trailhead after stopping by many overlooks. |
| We were lucky to find parking at the Glacier Gorge Trailhead since that area is very busy. I would recommend taking the shuttle for anyone looking to visit that area. This is in the southeast area of the park, just north of Long's Peak. We got our backpacks ready and headed out down the trail. We arrived at Alberta Falls about one mile down the trail. This is a neat waterfall as water cascades down a rocky canyon over a series of cascades. We then headed out and hiked to Loch Lake. This is a cool hike because there are awesome views of the valley and of the mountains. Loch Lake was a fairly large lake and we were impressed because sharp vertical mountains surrounded it. We took several pictures and continued on the trail. We hiked down the trail about another mile and a half before we reached Dream Lake. This lake is a smaller but pretty lake. After a short break we headed down the mountain and passed Nymph Lake along the way. This is also a small but pretty lake. We finally made it down the trail to Bear Lake which is a larger lake right next to the parking lot. This lake is good for pictures also because of the mountains that surround it. Afterwards, we hiked back to our car and decided to begin driving home because of the latest prediction of heavy rain and snow above 5,000 feet. We were glad we left because a bad storm did pass through with rain, snow, and high winds. |
