{"id":1883,"date":"2013-06-28T13:44:15","date_gmt":"2013-06-28T13:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bucksurdu.com\/blog\/?p=1883"},"modified":"2013-06-28T13:44:15","modified_gmt":"2013-06-28T13:44:15","slug":"rocky-mountain-national-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/2013\/06\/28\/rocky-mountain-national-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Rocky Mountain National Park"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Park<\/a>
Park Entrance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a short drive from our hotel near Aspen, we arrived at the western entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park.<\/p>\n

\"I-70<\/a>
I-70 paralleling the Colorado river heading toward Rocky Mountain National Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The views along the highway during our drive were impressive. \u00a0Though shot through the windshield of the car, you can see in this picture that I-70 running eastward was at one level and running westward was at another level. \u00a0At some points this height difference was as much as 100 feet. \u00a0At one point, we went around a mountain, but I-70 westward, high above us, went through a tunnel.<\/p>\n

We had actually visited this park three years ago, and we’re trying to not repeat sites until we get to all 50 states; however, Rocky Mountain was on the way home from Arches. \u00a0The last time we visited we hiked sites on the eastern half of the park. \u00a0This time the plan was to drive the western and northern roads, ending in Estes Park on the eastern side.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The upper half of Adams Falls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We began our visit with a short hike to Adams Falls. \u00a0The picture shows the upper half of the falls as they approach the overlook. \u00a0The falls then curve 90 degrees and continue to drop.<\/p>\n

\"Looking<\/a>
Looking at small fish in a mountain meadow near Adams Falls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We could have continued this hike another five miles to some mountain lakes but only took it as far as this first mountain meadow. \u00a0We wanted to get up into the mountains.<\/p>\n

\"Tom,<\/a>
Tom, Sam, and a moose<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the way up the mountains from the visitors center, we saw quite a bit of wildlife. \u00a0Like in Yellowstone, it’s easy to determine when someone has spotted an animal, because a traffic jam forms. \u00a0In this picture you can see a moose grazing in the meadow.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A moose<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Moose are typically active at dawn and dusk and tend to stay in tall foliage. \u00a0The other moose we saw on this trip were standing in tall grass and were difficult to see. \u00a0This one was right out in the open.<\/p>\n

\"Moose<\/a>
Elk by the side of the road<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Not far up the road from the first moose we encountered this pair by the side of the road. \u00a0While they did not seem overly concerned by the cars passing them, they did keep a wary eye on us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Inspecting<\/a>
Inspecting water to see just how cold it was<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We took a nice short hike through another mountain meadow. \u00a0There were nice descriptive signs along the marked trail that explained different aspects of what we were seeing. \u00a0In this picture, Tom, Sam, and Candy are testing just how cold this mountain stream really is.<\/p>\n

\"Mountain<\/a>
Mountain sheep<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Along the road we passed this group of mountain sheep. \u00a0They were actually quite some distance away, but I happened to have the long lens on the camera.<\/p>\n

\"Panoramic<\/a>
Panoramic view from Gore Range<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Along the drive we stopped at a number of scenic overlooks. \u00a0This one, at Gore Range, is soon after we crossed the continental divide but just before we reached the highest point along the road. \u00a0We had just passed a sign saying that we were two miles above sea level.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Climbing<\/a>
Climbing the rock at the end of the trail<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We stopped at a parking area with a trail that led to this rock formation. \u00a0It was a short, but surprisingly difficult, walk at that altitude. The marked trail passed through terrain classified as arctic tundra. \u00a0We saw a few large marmots running across the path during this walk.<\/p>\n

\"At<\/a>
At the top of the mountains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the top of the rocks we found this dial. \u00a0The marks on the dial are used to aim your view in a particular direction and then indicate the number of miles (sometimes several hundred) to another mountain peak. \u00a0We were at 12400+ feet above sea level. \u00a0Note that even in late June, we could still see snow.<\/p>\n

\"Panoramic<\/a>
Panoramic view from 1200+ feet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While we certainly weren’t at the highest mountain peak, we were at the highest easily-accessible<\/em> peak. \u00a0The views were terrific.<\/p>\n

\"Another<\/a>
Another view from the top of the mountain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After a short drive from our hotel near Aspen, we arrived at the western entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. The views along the highway during our drive were impressive. \u00a0Though shot through the windshield of the car, you can see in this picture that I-70 running eastward was at one level and running westward … Continue reading Rocky Mountain National Park<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1883"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1883\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}