Sunday, June 29, 2025
Gear up for a long post here.
We spent the day traveling the Trail Ridge Road, which is the highest continuously paved road in the United States. We traveled it from east (Estes Park) to west (Grand Lake), crossing the Continental Divide (where water decides which side of the continent to flow to). If it's on the east side of the mountain, the water will ultimately flow into the Atlantic Ocean. On the west side of these mountains, the water eventually flows into the Pacific Ocean.
Our day started out strong. We were barely 1 mile into the Rocky Mountain National Park when we saw cars stopped and people taking pictures. We pulled over quickly to see what all the excitement was about. RMNP wildlife did not disappoint! We got to see a big-horned sheep up close!
Racing a bighorn sheep:
He literally ran from one side of the field to the other side of the field right in front of us. At the closest, he was probably only 30 yards away. He finally ran back toward the mountain, across the main street. He seemed to pause and wait at the street crossing until he was sure the cars had stopped. Then he took off across the street and up into his safe mountain habitat.
You can see Fall River snaking through Beaver Meadows:
AJ pointed out that my kids like to stand next to each other and look at things.
So this is one of many in a series of "Alvarez kids looking at stuff".
This is at Many Parks Curve.
It’s early in our long trek, so they were tolerant of multiple poses during one stop.
Lillia made friends with an injured butterfly that she found in the parking lot. We think it was run over by a car because part of its wing was broken off and it couldn’t fly. She put it over to the side of the road into the vegetation, but as far as we know, butterflies don’t regenerate broken wings. Sad.
At the Forest Canyon Overlook, we spotted multiple marmots sitting on the rocks or bustling around. We never spotted a pika, but we’ll keep trying!
Can you spot the marmot?
Elk sighting somewhere around Rainbow Curve:
I suppose not everyone knows how to use an American toilet, so it’s a good thing there are written instructions:
Gotta show off the skills at 12,000 feet:
Millions of years ago, this was underwater. The darker type of rock on top didn't erode as much as the lighter color rock underneath. Hence, the mushroom shape of the formations in this picture:
This contraption allowed you to align your eyeball with the notch and it would tell you what mountain you were looking at in the distance.
On top of the world!
But not really. He wanted to hike Long's Peak and conquer another 14er.
However, when I read that it was the deadliest 14er in Colorado, I begged him not to hike it!
We found this beetle. We don't think it's the devastating pine beetle or spruce beetle, as those are quite small. This guy was walking along the trail with us.
So why not let him crawl on your leg? Makes sense, right?
I read about framing the foreground image with the mountains in the background. Does it look artsy?
(Ignore the random hiker I didn't cut out--Blogger doesn't let you crop pics, as far as I can tell!)
This is a glacial "cirque" containing a "tarn". Basically, the glacier carves out a cylindrical shape. When it gets warm enough, the snow can melt, creating a lake (tarn) inside the glacier.
Gore Range Overlook (I think)
Poudre Lake and the Continental Divide.
Water makes its big decision here: east or west?
Lunch at Lake Irene
(plus another entry into "Alvarez kids looking at stuff")
Lunch makes one sleepy.
Gavin and I napped while Lillia played solitaire.
More elk sighting as we got back onto Trail Ridge Road. First the scout elk:
Then the rest of the family:
Stopped for a fishing excursion at the beginning of the Colorado River. The actual beginning is a 6 mile hiking trail away, but this was pretty close. This water is heading to the Grand Canyon!
We love to take music wherever we go.
Lillia lulled me to sleep for my second nap of the day!
"My shoes dry quickly", he said.
Four hours later: "My feet are soaked!"
We finally made it out the other side of RMNP and into Grand Lake.
Here we decided to rent a boat for a couple of hours and relax around the lake.
We caught a couple little trout, but the big one got away.
Commander at the helm:
Heading back to Estes Park after a long day of driving and exploring RMNP.
Showers and s'mores
(or, in Lillia's case, roasted leftover sweet potato fries)
After a long day, everyone turned in by 11pm while I stayed up until 1am trying to finish this darn blog. Someday I'll be thankful to read back through these posts, right? For now, I'm just tired. Good night!
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