Ockey Family Adventures: South Dakota Day 7

Rocky Mountain is way up in the clear blue sky.

Today we fell in love with Rocky Mountain National Park. Mom and Dad got up early and packed the boys into the truck. It was freezing, but we drove to the end of the road and did a hike called Bear Lake. It was a short one mile loop, but the lake was covered with fog and it was so beautiful and peaceful. The boys nearly froze, but they enjoyed the hike. Dax was the big spotter of the day. He spied several elk, including two massive bulls and a cow that everyone was walking past on the trail.

Dax spotted these elk near our campground.

He spotted this one by the Bear Lake parking lot.

We had jackets, but one each wasn't enough.

The fog on the lake was almost as beautiful as Mom.

Later in the day it was hot, but the morning was beautiful.

The lake was pretty small, but it seemed huge in the fog.

There was snow even in late June.

Mom is all about wildflower pictures.

We got back in time for breakfast, which the Alders made in the dutch oven. Then we headed over to the Visitor’s Center where the boys completed their Junior Ranger badges. The ranger on duty told us the best thing to do was take the scenic drive up and over the mountain. He said there were lots of animals up there, and we shouldn’t have a hard time with the motorhome. Well, he was half right. The road to the summit is narrow, winding, and there is no place to turn around. The pullouts are mostly too small for the motorhome, too. We did have a nice short walk to the beaver ponds, but we didn’t see any beavers. We also stopped at a pullout and looked down on the clouds. We saw some fun animals, too, including a few pika, a stellar’s jay, a large herd of elk, and a few deer. But the road was just too much for the motorhome.

Mom and Seth found a fun effect on the camera. The things you discover when you hang out in a motor home all day.

We had fun taking lots of pics with this cartoon looking effect.

The elk were so beautiful in Rocky Mountain National Park.

There was a beautiful beaver pond with no beavers.

We loved this national park and how green it was.

At the overlooks, we were above the clouds.

You feel like you're on top of the world.

There were a lot of pikas up in the rocks.

And the elk were all over the meadow.

We finally got to the Alpine Visitor’s Center, which sits near 11,000 feet. We were able to park and more importantly turn around. We had a very expensive lunch, and then Glen decided to take the motorhome back to Estes Park. We still wanted to do some hiking, and the ranger told us there were some meadows further down where we might see a moose.

Before we left the summit, we hiked the last third of a mile to the 12,005 foot sign. It was really windy and cold, probably somewhere in the low 40s! The 360 degree view of the park was amazing, though. Then we drove toward the meadow. We ended up seeing six moose, all cows. We also did a few more hikes. The first was to a waterfall called Adam’s Falls. The trail was busy and dusty, but it was under a half of a mile there. The waterfall was more of a chute, but it was crashing pretty good, so we enjoyed it. The second hike was a beautiful walk through a meadow called Coyote Valley. The boys were getting tired, but we were able to walk along the Colorado River right were it starts. It was amazing to think that water will be in Lake Powell one day! The boys slept for much of the way back, and we saw a few more deer and another heard of elk. The water was also rushing out of the snowbanks in tons of cascades right down onto the road. There is still a lot of snow on top.

Seth loved the snow.

This is the top of the world hike.

Some of the moose were pretty close to the road.

This valley was full of moose.

This side of the park was much more serene. Everyone was on the east side.

We loved the hikes in Rocky Mountain.

This is Adam's Falls in the far corner of the park.

The boys were pretty tired by this point.

Moose #3

Moose #4

Moose #5

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The headwaters of the Colorado were really high, but still small.

This green valley lies on the west side of Rocky Mountain.

The boys love to use Mom's new camera to take pictures of Mom and Dad.

We saw a few yellow-bellied marmots.

The water was coming down pretty fast from the snowbanks.

We had one more hike in mind, which was the one we wanted to do this morning, but we were trying to be back to the RV park by 6:30 for dinner. This hike was to a large waterfall called Alberta Falls. We got lucky and got a parking spot in the tiny lot this time, but Seth and Dax were grumpy from being awakened from their naps. Luckily Dad saved the day with a story, and they hardly knew they were hiking along. It was a little over a half mile to the waterfall, and it was very beautiful. The water is so high right now, and you could barely hear to talk with the crashing of the water. That’s how we completed our fifth hike of the day.

There were bridges on this well traveled trail.

Mom is so cute in her outdoor shirt.

Alberta Falls was beautiful!

We got to take a lot of family pictures on this trip.

We had to keep the kids back because the river was running so high.

We got back to Estes Park about fifteen minutes late, but the Alders had saved us some food. Though it was pretty cold outside, the boys really wanted to go swimming. This time Dad swam a little but Mom stayed on the side. Seth was freezing by the time we got him dried off in the motorhome, but we warmed everyone up with a shower. This was also the first night we had the lights out and the kids in bed by 9 pm. Hopefully that will help with everyone’s disposition tomorrow because we have a long drive.