Rocky Mountain High

I have done a lot of hiking in the Rocky Mountains but I have never gone to Rocky Mountain National Park. Since I was in Colorado Springs for a few weeks I thought I would make the trip 100 miles north to see the sights.

On a side note, it is kind of sad that you can't go camping like in the good ol' days. When I was young I remember just pulling off to the side of the road or in a field to set up camp for the night. I did this outside of the city of Estes Park this weekend and got evicted twice by cops. I ended up sleeping in an apartment parking lot. Nothing makes you feel more like a homeless person than waking up next to a dumpster. Oh well

One of the neatest things happened right outside of town. I was getting ready to drive up in the mountains, when I almost ran into a couple of elk. I thought, "Wow, that is so cool there are elk 5 feet away from me. Sorry the pictures are dark.


Then, less than 1/2 mile up the road I saw the rest of the congregation. There had to be 50+ elk in this field off to the side of the road. It made me think of the time that Savannah and I slept up in the car up in S. Dakota only to wake up in the middle of a herd of buffalo.

The next morning I went into the park even though it was cold and cloudy, right around 40F. As I drove into the park, I realized the area was right in the middle of the leaves changing. Some had already fallen but there were some in patches that were just amazing. It is hard to capture the autumnal euphoria on film.

I decided to go hike despite the frigid climate. Luckily, I had brought enough cold weather gear to make it bearable but I wasn't warm.

The clouds moved in even more and a few flakes fell but the scenery was so amazing. I was planning on going to the falls below, Alberta Falls, but I decided to keep pressing up the mountain.

As I came around the bend before the last hill the sun started to burn through some of the clouds. As it did, the brightness was magnified further by the reflection off all the frost covered trees.

I finally made it to the lake named "The Loch" and I was well rewarded. Not since seeing Sylvan Lake for the first time have I seen an area that is so magnificent. I was really blown away.

One aspect of being there at the lake that made it even more magical is that there was nobody else up there, most likely because sane people don't go out hiking when it is cold and snowy. In the solitude up there, I felt like it was my little lake. (You have to click on the pictures to see them full screen to get the full effect.)

I stayed up there by the lake for about 1/2 hour, I was able to walk all around the lake in about 10 minutes.

I have become fairly good at self photography, I think I will put out a coffee table book titled "Self Portrait."

Then the clouds came back in. I thought these pictures were so fitting because the location was called "The Loch" and it looks like a scene from Scotland...except it's at 10500 Ft. I don't think Scotland gets that high.

On the way down, there was some great views of wildlife. A large beaver dam on the river.

...and another large elk in a meadow. Pictures of elk are much more serene than seeing them in real life. He was very focused on eating his lunch so I was able to move a bit closer to get this shot but it was plenty close for me...especially when I saw how big the rack was.