It was time to hit the road for a long drive home, but we had plenty planned along the way.
Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) holds a special place in our hearts as it was the first national park that Jayne and I visited together. And it kicked off our journey during that trip to Grand Tetons and Yellowstone, so it was pretty much an amazing week in our book. So when we had a few extra hours to reach Denver on our drive from Grand Junction before a family function, we decided to take the detour and drive Trail Ridge Road from the Grand Lake Entrance Station on the west side of the park to Estes Park on the east.
It was a beautiful drive, with majestic mountains, grand running rivers and amazing views even before we got into the park. The one thing that we didn’t realize was precisely how long the journey would take, and we certainly didn’t plan for hitting Estes Park and Denver right around rush hour. The result was that we really needed another hour to do this trip right, and as a result we will definitely have to do it again sometime.
When we saw Granby Lake we were both amazed by the beauty of the western entrance of the park and in full awareness that we were running late already and going to need to make fewer stops then we would like. We had bought our permit for the road with an entrance time of 2 pm, thinking that we would get there right at that time. But when we actually reached the entrance station it was after 3 and no permits were needed any longer.
After grabbing the stamp at the Grand Lake Visitor Center, we made the drive through the valley keeping a close eye for any interesting wildlife, and then we started the switchbacks to head up to the highest point on the road. Just short of that was the Alpine Visitor Center, but we were running short on time so we didn’t stop. I also wrongfully thought that there was another visitor center along the road that we could stop at, but I was completely mistaken it turns out. So we will just have to come back. Oh shoot.
Just before reaching the visitor center, we encountered a large bird standing on the ground in the distance as we were driving, and I still regret not stopping and trying to ascertain what it was. I assumed that I would be able to check the ebird sightings to identify, but alas I was foiled and I will always wonder what the mystery bird was.
Trail Ridge Road is the highest continuously paved road in the United States. Our prior trip to RMNP was the weekend before Memorial Day Weekend, so we weren’t able to drive across the road due to snow. The road stopped in a wall of snow and ice coming up from Estes Park, which I have remembered as Many Parks Curve (since that is where the road normally stops during winter) and I think instead was actually Rainbow Curve.
Rainbow Curve Overlook has views of Horseshoe Park, Deer Mountain, the Alluvial Fan (a boulder field formed by a breach in the dam at Lawn Lake year ago) and the Mummy Mountain range (a series of 13,000 foot peaks known for its silhouette of a sleeping mummy)
After our stop at Rainbow Curve we knew we had to hustle, and I was hopeful that when we got down into the valley we might see the herd of elk like we had done before. But alas, August weather is apparently different from May weather, and the elk were not in the valley of the park like they had been before.
As we drove out and through Estes Park, we remarked on how we definitely needed to spend more time there on another adventure. We stopped at a grocery store in order to buy some lunch and use the restroom, and then got in the car and made our way on the road back to Denver. We actually made pretty good time, and we weren’t too late for our family event.
