Independence Day In Rocky Mountain National Park

We decided to spend July 4^th in the national park during the day, and then go to the fireworks in Estes Park at night.

It’s a short 10 minute drive from the campground into Estes Park and in a just a few more minutes, we were in Rocky Mountain National Park.  We stopped at a grocery store on the way to pick up water and a few picnic supplies.  We’re all trying to stay hydrated to avoid headaches and other issue from the increase in altitude.  The little grocery store carried bread and rolls from a great bakery in Montana that we found two years ago, aptly called “Wheat Montana,” so I picked up a loaf of thickly sliced white bread.  We also took the opportunity to take the top off the Jeep to give us better views for the drive.

Jeff did the research on this park and decided on taking the Trail Ridge Road today.   It’s not a loop, so you drive out as far as you want and then make your way back on the same road.  It goes pretty high up – the Alpine Visitors Center is more than 11,000 feet in elevation.  And while it is a marvel that brave people built the road and plow the snow there every year, it would have been nice if someone could have coughed up some extra money to put in some guardrails.  Seriously, at times it’s just the white line marking the end of the lane, and then a drop-off down the side of the mountain.  Jeff was a masterful driver and put up with my periodic reminders to pay attention to the road instead of looking for animals.

We made our ascent up the road and watched the exterior temperature drop as we went higher and higher.  Soon, we were at the alpine level and could smell the evergreen trees.  It’s a wonderful scent, and if they bottled it and sold it at the gift shop, I would have bought some. 

There was a lot of snow at this elevation, and there were more than a few streams flowing down to the road with melting snow.  From time to time, I held my Flip video camera up outside of the Jeep to film the drive.

The views were just amazing.  At one point, Jeff and the kids took a short hike across the tundra to a lookout point.  In the park, they really call this area the tundra and explain that it’s fragile, so you have to stay on the paths.  This was a little difficult this early in the summer, because most of the path was covered in snow.  Jeff actually went knee deep in the snow at one point on the hike.  I thought the view was just fine from where I stood on the sidewalk and I have a fairly good idea where all of the insurance policy information is, so I hung back and watched them walk out there. 

People were talking about an elk herd up on the mountain down the road, so we got back in the car and headed that way.  There were a couple elk laying down on the side of the mountain on our left and farther up the mountain, we saw the antlers and head of a few elk up on the right. 

We stopped at the Alpine Visitors Center to stamp the kids’ National Park Passports and have lunch.  We picked up some post cards, t-shirts and a few treats for the drive in the store there.  They had prickly pear bark, which is made of bits of the fruit from the prickly pear cactus in white chocolate.  Henry got some Rocky Mountain animal cookies.  We had a picnic lunch outside and watched an elk up on top of the nearby mountain.  Then it was off farther down the Trail Ridge Road. 

We passed the Continental Divide and decided to stop there on the way back for a photo at the sign.  We soon came to a sign that said we were two miles above sea level – 10, 560 feet high.  We came to a spot where we could turn around and start to head back, and as Jeff was driving, he spotted some Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep high up on a mountain to the right.  The man has eagle eyes, because none of the rest of us could see them.  There was no pull-off area nearby, so he drove up to a spot where he could turn around and go back.  On the second pass, he took some pictures and showed us where he was looking.  To the naked eye, they were smaller than a ball of cotton and not as white.  There were a few adults and some babies walking on the rocky cliffs.  It boggles the mind how these sheep can do that without falling off the mountain.   Because cars kept coming behind us, Jeff took one more pass at viewing them, and then we went to park at the Continental Divide pullout. 

A nice couple took our picture so we could all be in it, and then we took a walk down to see the nearby lake.  We looked back at the mountain we saw the sheep on, and some had made their way into view.  We pointed them out a park volunteer and ranger so they could show other people.  At one point, one of the sheep was standing in perfect profile on a ledge of the mountain.  Simply amazing.

But the wildlife show was not over yet.  As we made it back to the area where we had seen a few elk on the ride out, we watched a group of males with huge antlers come up over the ridge of a mountain.  Since the Jeep top was off, I jumped up in my seat to snap some pictures.  As we came down around the bend, there were more on each side of the road.  Some were walking up on top of the mountain in the snow, and others were grazing on grass on the lower right of the Jeep.  Henry and I were snapping pictures like crazy.

The beauty wasn’t just in seeing the elk; it was seeing the elk with these huge, beautiful snow-capped mountains behind them.  It was almost scenery overload, it was so beautiful.  You had to take the time to take it all in.

We had to keep moving, so we headed on back to the entrance to the park.  We didn’t see any more animals other than Ruth spotting a mule deer, but from beginning to end, the park was incredible to see.