Loveland, Colorado to Denver, Colorado
Rocky Mountain National Park did not disappoint! It is beautiful. The picture above was taken at one of the overlooks along Trail Ridge Road. Note: You need a timed entry pass for RMNP during the summer. We were very concerned about the weather since there was a high chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon, but thankfully the weather waited until later to roll in.
Scenery Near RMNP
The above pictures were taken near, but not in, Rocky Mountain National Park.
Snow, Snow, Snow
The kids were stoked to see snow (as you can tell by their faces).
They even had a couple snowball fights.
There were higher spots, but the snow on the side of the road was higher than they are tall.
Bear Lake
We started the day by hiking around Bear Lake. You need a special timed entry pass to enter this area of the park. We didn't have time to hike all the lakes, but we did hike around Bear Lake. It was beautiful.
Alpine Visitor Center
Alpine Visitor Center is the highest visitor center in the National Park system. All the rangers up here are EMS as well as park rangers due to the high elevation and high frequency of altitude sickness.
Ranger Annie and Ranger Rachel helped me and Isaiah with our altitude sickness. I was feeling dizzy and Isaiah was nauseated so they checked our O2 levels. Isaiah was at 71 and I was at 64. So we both got oxygen and we were highly encouraged to head on down the mountain. They also recommended that we not do Pike's Peak tomorrow, so I think we've decided to scratch it :(
Wildlife
Mule deer hanging out on the side of the road.
Brown squirrel that was begging for food.
If you use a magnifying glass you might be able to see the moose. We also saw elk, but they were even farther than the moose.
Alluvian Fan
This was an interesting area... It's a debris field with a waterfall.
Trail Ridge Road
Weather Woes
This was the view when we left the Alpine Visitor Center. I guess it's a good thing because it helped us get down the mountain a little quicker. And earlier in the day is was COLD! It got down to 38° at one point today.
It's hard to tell in the pictures, but the small white dots are kind of like small hail/snow. They are actually called graupel. Rangers Annie and Rachel were telling us about it while Isaiah and I were getting oxygen.
These were served as an appetizer. They were sort if like pork rinds, but better. The food here was great and the prices were decent.
You can see the rest of today's pictures on the Rocky Mountain National Park album and the Colorado - Random album.
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