Rocky Mountain High

What more can I say about Rocky Mountain National Park than it was the most incredible place I have ever been? I have been to many amazing and picturesque places, but Rocky Mountain still topped them all. The rugged mountain landscape was just so beautiful, I had a huge smile on my face every second I was there and I could not stop thinking, "Wow." I saw sooo much and learned sooo much in this fun-filled park.

Rocky Mountain National Park contains three unique ecosystems: the montane, sub-alpine, and the alpine. The montane contains the forests and meadows found below 9000 feet elevation. Here, many tall trees, like ponderosa pine, live, as well as aspen, douglas fir, many wildflowers, and a wide variety of mammals and birds. In the sub-alpine, from 9000 to 11400 feet, it is a very wet ecosystem, due to snow blowing down from the alpine. Many shrubs, fir, and spruce trees live here, along with many birds. And my favorite ecosystem that I visited was the alpine. Here, extreme weather conditions promote highly adapted plants and animals. This is above the treeline and many wildflowers, mosses, and lichens flourish in the summer growing season. Larger animals come to graze in the summer, but year-round there are only a few animals that stick around, like marmots, pika, and white-tailed ptarmigan.

Getting across the park, from Estes Park on the east side, to Grand Lake on the west, requires driving the spectacular Trail Ridge Road. The road was completed in 1932 and travels up the mountains, passing through each of the parks ecosystems. It is the highest continuous paved road in the U.S. at a top elevation of 12,183 feet high! It is a breathtaking, and at times stressfully curvy, scenic road, but it brought me to wonderful overlooks and trailheads.

Now I'm going to share everything I did in the park in order of ecosystem.

Montane

A very interesting spot I visited was Lilly Lake. It is right on the border of the park outside the town of Estes Park, so it was not the most quiet or peaceful walk through nature, but it was great any way. I followed the trail that circled the pretty lake that was at the foot of the mountains. It was really sunny and there were many flowers and full shrubs. The most fun part of this trail was the wildlife. There were many ducks in the lake, including some beautiful ring necked ducks, and I saw two muskrats swimming along the shore. Most interestingly though were these mutant looking creatures all through the water; there must have been hundreds of them spread all around just chilling in the water. They had fins, but also legs?, an eel like tail, and crazy looking external gills. I could not figure out what they were until I came across a park volunteer that told me they were juvenile salamanders. He said the eggs are laid in the water and that the young spend most of their development underwater, crazy!

I also explored Upper Beaver Meadows, on a ranger-led birding walk. The meadow provided a spectacular view of Longs Peak, the highest point in the park! The birding walk was full of some hardcore bird watchers, equipped with binoculars and multiple bird guidebooks. We saw a brightly colored mountain bluebird, a few different types of sparrows, and lots of really quick birds that kept their identity a secret. The ranger also pointed out many wildflowers that were all very colorful and pretty, like miners candle, wild roses, and western scarlet gilia.

The western gateway to the park is Grand Lake, CO, which is also home to the Adams Falls trailhead. This is a short hike to an overlook of the wonderful Adams Falls. It is a rocky, cascading waterfall that blew a nice cool mist all over my face. I followed the trail a little further because a nice ranger gave a tip that there were some great wildflowers there, and she was right. I saw wild roses, beautiful blue and purple penstemon, stone crop, and the interesting locoweed.

North of Grand Lake is the Kawuneeche Valley. I visited a few spots in the valley and camped here. First, I headed to the Holzwarth Historic Site. This is the site of a historic guest resort and ranch. The Holzwarth family cleared an area of the valley for ranching, and built several buildings for them and their guests to live at the foot of the mountains. At the site, there were many volunteers and rangers there to give tours. A volunteer took me around the homestead where I learned about the family and how they lived throughout the year. Very interesting place. Then, I enjoyed the sunset in Fox Valley, just up the road. Here, there was a very peaceful trail that followed the Colorado River. There were wildflowers like blue Columbine, pretty birds, and amazing mountain views. Walking along the river, breathing the fresh air, and enjoying everything about the scenery was a great way to end the day and welcome the evening. I camped at Timber Creek Campground. This campground looked much different not too long ago. Almost every tree in the campground is gone due to the bark beetle. Bark beetles lay their eggs in the bark of trees and introduce a virus into the tree that eventually kills it. Bark beetles are part of a healthy ecosystem, but climate change has affected the country so much, all of the western states, and into Canada, are facing an epidemic of mass tree loss. Global warming has caused such shorter and milder winters, the beetles aren't naturally killed off each year, as is typical. The park itself has already lost millions of acres of trees on its western side. The western U.S. and Canada are losing so many trees, the forests are quickly losing their ability to reduce the carbon dioxide present in the air. After a campfire and dinner, I went to the nighttime ranger program at the campground amphitheater. The program was about the effect of marketing on the park. I learned a lot about how ads and communication greatly affect the park and surrounding areas. For example, how ads from local businesses near the park affect the popularity of certain park activities, and the positive and negatives of increased visitation and the communication of park policies and safety to an increasing number of people.

Sub-Alpine

The first place I visited in the park, and the favorite part of my visit was Bear Lake trailhead. This is the most popular section of the park so I got there first thing in the morning. Many trailheads leave here, but I was heading to Emerald Lake. Just from the amazing drive to the parking lot, I knew the hike would be pretty, but little did I know that it would be the most fun, most beautiful hike that I have ever done in the most spectacular scenery I have ever seen. The hike first led me to Nymph Lake. There, in the pine forest around the lake, a gang of elk were grazing. They walked right along the trail at one point and got really close to us hikers. We of course stayed still and gave them the right of way, and it was amazing seeing the elk so close. There were even cute baby ones. Then I headed to the next lake along the trail, Dream Lake. This lake really took my breath away. It was gorgeous. And on the way to it and around it, I got to walk in snow! The lake was surrounded by snow dusted peaks and magical evergreen trees. I just kept walking the shore staring in awe. Plus, I got to see wild trout swimming in the clear water. It was an amazing place to be. There were many people there relaxing, some people fishing, a few hammocks, and lots of smiles. Then, I headed further down the lovely trail to Emerald Lake. This lake was tucked into a rocky mountainside. It was very pretty with snow covered rocks, and a waterfall coming out of the cliff. It was a happy place to rest before heading back down the mountain.

In the southeast corner of the park is another popular spot called Wild Basin. Here, I hiked to Copeland Falls and onto Calypso Cascades. This hike was on a sunny cliffside along the North St. Vrain Creek. The creek was clear and beautiful, and Copeland Falls was a powerful display. I followed the wildflower covered trail a few miles farther until I got to Calypso Cascades. On the way, I passed a very primitive privy, aka random toilet in the woods, and the always spectacularly bright blue Stellar's Jay. I marveled at the Cascades from the bridge that crossed over the creek. It was a beautiful show of powerful water falling down and over a steep, rocky slope. I loved feeling the cool water splash on my face as I stood below the pines and spruces. It was one beautiful hike.

Alpine

The tundra landscape of the alpine habitat was such a unique place to explore, on foot and just from driving and stopping at pull-offs. The tundra at the park is just like the tundra found in places like Alaska or Siberia, so very different than anything I have ever seen. At the Rock Cut overlook, I stopped to hike the Tundra Communities Trail. This was a short, interpretive trail with many signs along the way with information about life in the tundra. Here is where I first learned about the many adaptations the alpine plants have in order to survive the extreme weather. The most notable characteristic of the plants was how low to the ground they stay. Most of the wildflowers and mosses do not grow taller than a few inches. This trail was also the first place I spotted one of the parks marmots. But once I saw the first one, I started seeing them all over the tundra, and I very quickly lost count. Marmots have a very busy summer because the growing season is so short. The trail, and really everywhere in the tundra, had amazing views of the park below. It was a truly on top of the world experience.

Another place I learned a lot about tundra was on a guided ranger walk through the alpine. We started at the Lava Cliffs parking area and walked delicately across the tundra to a beautiful spot with a large sample of tundra plants. A great activity the ranger had us do was with a piece of yarn and magnifying glass he gave each person. He told us to pick a spot on the ground and make a circle with the yarn and just observe our circle. By looking at just our small circles, we saw just how diverse the tundra is. I saw multiple different wildflowers, rocks, grasses, and multicolored lichens and mosses all in my one foot diameter circle. The ranger identified many of the wildflowers we were fascinated with and told us lots of great fun facts about the tundra. He explained the plants stay low to the ground to get away from the cold wind and to be close to the ground, which holds in the sun's heat. He also pointed out that most of the plants are waxy and stiff, similar to succulents, to hold in water, retain heat, and stand up against the wind. And, when a gang of elk strolled by, he pointed out how some were wearing collars as part of population management research. The elk populations need to be monitored and controlled to keep the elk safe, the plants they eat safe, and to minimize negative elk-human interactions in the towns surrounding the park.

At the Alpine Visitors Center, there is a short, but very very steep trail called Alpine Ridge Trail. This was a beautiful trail full of flowers like the pink moss campion and bright blue alpine forget-me-nots. This trail also has the notorious section called Huffers Hill - a very steep part of the trail that leads to the top of a hill. It is an especially tough climb because the alpine is a low oxygen environment, and it is hard to catch your breath or exert yourself. There is about 40% less oxygen up there, over 2 miles above sea level. Altitude sickness is very common with visitors that exert themselves or don't take proper precautions, like drinking plenty of water. I prepared for my day in the tundra by almost constantly drinking water and I didn't move too fast along the trails. I made it to the top of the hill, 12,005 feet above sea level, and enjoyed the incredible view in full appreciation of being in such a unique and beautiful place.

I was so moved and inspired by Rocky Mountain National Park. Its beauty and diversity just completely overwhelmed me and filled me with so much happiness. Not to put down all of the other amazing parks, but it only took a couple minutes into my visit for this park to shoot to the top of my list. There was so much to do and see in this park and I was very impressed with management in this park. There is a very short season the entire park is open, so they really pulled out all the stops to make an enjoyable visit. There were so many ranger programs going on including guided hikes, birdwatching and flower spotting walks, astronomy programs, campfire talks, all kinds of things organized for everyday of the week. I attended four ranger programs within my two and half day visit. There were also volunteers all over the park handing out maps, answering questions, giving tips, and just spreading their love of the park. I loved every second I was in the park, and I couldn't have asked for a better way to end my visit to Colorado.

See my pictures of this beautiful park in the Gallery.

Learn more about the bark beetle here.

Rocky Mountain NP is greatly affected by environmental factors like climate change and reduced air and water quality, learn more here.

Help protect all of the national parks, and all of the planet's natural resources by reducing your carbon footprint. Read about simple things you can do to help at home here, or in one of my blog posts here.