Off to a Rocky start

Day 16 – Rocky Mountain National Park, CO

Day 1 of the second half of our trip got off to a bit of a rough start.  Actually, the day started off well enough.  We woke up in a nice hotel room, well rested after our late night (yes, 11:30 is now late for us geezers), ready to embark on the next part of our adventure.  Looking out the window, the sky was sunny and blue, the temperature was nice and mild, and things seemed to be looking up.

Evidence of the now infamous "Tuxedo Tragedy".

We checked out of our hotel room and made a quick stop at Safeway for some veggies and fruit.  We also stopped by the cookie aisle to grab some tuxedos, the Safeway version of an Oreo, for my Dad (and probably a package or two for ourselves as well).  As we do not have Safeways in Wisconsin, my dad is only able to enjoy his favorite generic Oreo ever when out in Arizona.  So we thought we’d grab him a few packages.  Unfortunately, they were on sale - $0.70 off – and all three varieties (vanilla, chocolate, and mint) were sold out.  I had to send my dad a picture showing him the effort we made on his behalf (not at all taunting him, I assure you).

Our newest campsite, nestled up next to Rocky Mountain National Park.

After the “Tuxedo Tragedy” (copyright 2012, C. Guthrie) we got back on the road and headed up to Estes Park, Colorado which is the eastern gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park.  We found our campground and were pleased to find that not only did it border the park, but 15 feet behind our tent was the park itself.  Our site was on the periphery of the campground, nestled into a forest of pine, fir, and spruce.  Plenty big, smelled fantastic, and no mosquitoes (yet) – victory!  Actually, the best part is the view.  Coming out of our tent we are greeted with a panoramic view of the mountains in the distance.  By far the best “spot” of our four campsites (Best bathrooms go to Yellowstone; Best amenities go to Black Hills; Teton campground just stunk). 

the view of the mountains, now partially obscured by
the weather, from our tent.

We started to set everything up and, as we did, those oh too familiar ominous, grey storm clouds began to appear in the sky.  Just as we finished, we started to feel the drops and the thunder started to rumble.  The plan for the afternoon was to take the Trail Ridge Road from the eastern end of the park over the mountains to the western end of the park.  Along the way were numerous stops for us to get out and either take short hikes or walk out to the overlooks. 

The top of the Trail Ridge Road, at over 13,000 feet

Our moose "sighting".

We were able to make the first few stops, but after that the rain picked up.  Hikes were now out of the question and overlooks weren’t as spectacular.  Don’t get me wrong; the park is still incredibly impressive.  But we both wanted so badly to see it in all its glory.  The one victory is that we did finally see moose.  Two were lying down in a field near the western entrance to the park.   As luck would have it, we came upon them during a break in the rain so we were able to get out and watch them (do nothing but sit) for a while.

Still having fun; right Amy?  She doesn't look cold at all!

The rest of our day was supposed to include cooking dinner and then going to a night ranger program at one of the visitor centers.  But the rain saw to putting the kibosh on both of those.  Instead it was fried chicken at the Big Horn Lodge and an early night in the tent.  Amy’s already asleep and I’m thinking I might finally open one of the books I brought along.  Graham Greene writing about mischief in post-colonial Haiti sounds like perfect rainy night in a tent reading to me.  Keeping fingers crossed that the rain holds off long enough for us to get our hike in tomorrow.