Rocky Mountain National Park -- Trail Ridge Road and Old Fall River Road

At Sunset Point Campground, Lake Granby, CO

One thing we found about being up in the high Rockies…it still is not high enough to get away from the smoke from California, Oregon, Utah and Colorado fires.  Still, the views were just amazing.  (of course, the locals blame it all on Cal fires)

We saw many Elk on our drive, but these ones here were the closest…

And of course, despite signs, and even the presence of three rangers in the area, some folks just have to get out and try to get close…amazing.

This view is still of the western slope, and you can see the smoke hiding the mountain afar.  The Rockies are the Continental Divide, separating where rainfall and snow melt will flow…either to the west to the Pacific, or to the east to the Atlantic through the Gulf of Mexico.

  

These are views along the eastern slope…that smoke just won’t let up, even with the 30-40 mph wind gusts.

At the Alpine Visitor’s Center, what I call “Heart Attack Hill” was full of those sucking in the 12,000 foot air as they climbed up the Alpine Ridge Trail.  The hike is only .6 of a mile, but it is steep, does not include oxygen, and with the wind…well, it was hard enough just getting Marcia into the Visitor’s Center, let alone having me even attempt this trail.  The parking lot was pretty full, but we scored with an ADA spot right at the door…and yes, Marcia said, “I am staying in the car next time” because the wind was blowing that hard.

But the view out the back of the visitor’s center, where one is mostly protected from the winds, is fabulous.  In fact, the Old Fall River Road is down there somewhere, a bit to the left of the valley.

And in the valley, way off to the upper right of the previous picture, you can find a large herd of Elk…of which this picture above captures about half of the herd.

As the Trail Ridge Road continues east, we come to a viewpoint of Hidden Valley.  Yes, that is our road down there, and also along the ridge of the far right mountain.  So far the road we have been on from leaving our campground area has been a 2 lane, well paved road with many pullouts or viewpoints.  Well, that is going to drastically change…

…because the Old Fall River Road is a dirt road, one way (heads east to west and upwards), and wow, was that nice 9 mile stretch of nearly deserted road, compared to the Trail Ridge Road.  Also, since it is down in valley and heads up to Alpine Visitor’s Center, the winds were light.

Marcia and I take turns taking pictures along the 9 mile route.  We might be traveling west, or traveling east, because there are many hairpin turns to help you climb up the mountain side as you eventually make your way to the west.  Above is a picture Marcia took (I can tell due to the mirror of the car) and we were headed to the east (I can tell by the angle to the sun).

Here she got a picture of the rugged mountain tops as we were headed west.

We stopped at this hairpin turn, and one of the few cars we saw passed us.  Our only minor complaint about this dirt road is that on many of the hairpin turns, there was a rut or two that you had to position your vehicle over just right or you would bottom out…I only bottomed out once.  Otherwise, the dirt road was not as bumpy as many dirt roads that I have taken Marcia on…did I mention, she is not a fan of dirt roads…but I got permission for this one…sometimes I just turn onto one.    Although it looked like it was going to rain, the rain did not come until after we got back to the motorhome…seems to rain just about every afternoon…but it does not get rid of the smoke which keeps pouring in from the west.

The road has mile markers, and I am also watching our odometer…at an average speed of around 10 mph, and with numerous stops, it takes us about an hour…but it did not seem that long.

We finally see the visitor’s center above (arrow)…we still had around 2 miles to go, but the road is better at the top.

I look off into the rocks and see this Marmot moving about…unfortunately, I missed the one opportunity to get its front side…

One last look at the valley that lies below the visitor’s center, off to our left as we drive west.

And one last look at the herd of Elk in the upper far side of the valley….

We did not stop at the Visitor’s Center, just headed straight home, with a stop at a picnic area which had some vegetation that the dogs were allowed to walk on.  (Why do dogs destroy the tundra but Elk, Moose, Deer, Marmots, etc. don’t?)  Anyway, got this picture of what I think is a google maps car…had California license plate, and those are cameras and satellite equipment up on top of the car.  Will have to check back along this highway in a few months and see if we have been captured in Google Maps!

 

After posting the blog on Wednesday, I captured these sunset pictures after a thunderstorm had passed through…

As I do with all sunsets, I turn around to see how it is affecting the landscape opposite the setting sun….

With that, I will say goodbye.  Due to bandwidth, I go down to the public library to post my blogs…don’t even have to get out of the car.  Another 13 nights here in the Rockies!