Colorado in June

I'm going to try and catch my blog up on what I was doing in June and July before going to Oklahoma. First I left Kansas City and headed towards Denver. My oldest grandson was graduating from 8th grade, but more importantly for me, the two of us were taking a road trip together to Rocky Mountain National Park.

My grandson, Joshua, getting his diploma from his Uncle Chris.

Here is Joshua and his friends at their graduation party the next day. 

But on Sunday afternoon we headed to Moraine Campground in Rocky Mountain National Park. We spent 5 days and got to do a lot. Here are some of the highlights.

 

A view looking down at the road which goes from Estes Park to Grand Lake. It is only 35 miles, but usually takes several hours to traverse.

Towards the top you can see their was still snow. They had to clear out 35 ft of snow to open this road. Sometimes this road isn't even open until mid June.

The road was quite fogged in on the way over, but luckily it was cleared off by the time we returned later that afternoon.

This was at the top. I had to forego the great hike behind the visitor center because it was still snowpacked.

I did like this shirt though.

This was the Continental Divide, but again, we couldn't hike it for the snow.

These deer had the traffic stopped.

On the west side of the park, near Grand Lake, you could find Moose.

The moose here stopped traffic as well.

Alberta Falls

Joshua and me in front of the falls. It is a 1 mile hike up to the falls.

We found this snowman along the way up, but it was melted by the time we came back down.

Bear Lake in Glacier Gorge.

Some kind of blue jay and he was so bright. They were all over.

Fern Lake Trail.

This little bunny thought we couldn't see him.

The Pool on the Big Thompson River along the Fern Lake Trail.

Herds of Elk gathered along the meadows on the east side of the park. There are about 900 Elk in the park and an estimated 1200 Elk just outside the park.

Lots of bucks with their beautiful velvet antlers.

We hiked a ways along the Colorado River Trailhead Trail, but found the area to be flooded.

This area is normally not under water. The trail ran alongside this flooded area but we decided it was still too wet. To get to the Colorado River beginnings is a 7 mile hike one way. Someday I want to return and go the whole way.

This deer wandered through our campground one morning.

Not sure which river this is, but it ran below the campground. Of course Joshua had to put his feet in the water to see how cold it was.

We got to see Rocky Mountain Sheep near the area called The Alluvial Fan.

We road out to an area called Beaver Meadows and found this along the way. This was about 2 miles off the main road.

Joshua standing near the falls at The Alluvial Fan. These falls came about in 1982 after the Cascade Lake Dam up river broke suddenly. You can still see the effects that the large rush of water created in the area.