8th June Over the Rockies, from West to East.
We de-camped from the West side of the Rockies for the drive
over the mountains to the East side. On
the way we spotted a baby moose with its mother – it looked very new.
The RV had no problem getting up the inclines and past the
highest point of 12183ft. The views of
the mountain tops were superb. There was
a lot more snow on the west side so as we progressed the scenery became greener
with snow melt rushing down the road in places.
We crossed over the Continental Divide.
Once we were set up in the camp site we went back into the
Park in the car to spend time at the various overlooks. We had a small hike around Hidden Valley
which involved a log-crossing over a We then visited the waterfall at Alluvial Fan
in Horseshoe Park.
fast flowing creek.
We saw some Bighorn Sheep high up on top of a mountain. There were a lot of Elk grazing in the meadows
in the sun. Some had some substantial
antlers and most were still moulting their winter fur. We only saw one mother Elk with her baby.
We left via the Fall River exit and into Estes Park. Wow! What a difference once we were out of
the rural environment of the park.
Motels and Inns everywhere and then we got into the centre with shops
and restaurants and traffic. We were
glad to get back to our quiet campsite next to Mary’s
Lake where Paul spent the
rest of the day fishing; although the osprey had more luck than Paul did.
Mary’s Lake is fed from water which travels from the west
side of the mountains at Grand Lake via a system of tunnels and lakes, and
power stations. Without this system the
east side of Colorado would have some serious water supply issues.
9th June Sprague Lake
Paul was up at 5am in the hope of catching “the big one” –
but no luck!
After breakfast we drove back into the park and up to Bear
Lake trailhead. However this was Sunday
and everyone else was there today too! So
with no parking space left we drove back down to Sprague Lake. We had a stroll around the lake watching
other fishermen in waders fly-fishing.
After lunch Paul picked a spot and did some fishing whilst Alison went
for a hike for a couple of hours; it was so quiet in the woods. 
Later in the afternoon we drove up to Glacier Gorge and hiked up to Alberta Falls – again everyone else was there and it was very busy.
10th June Bear Lake
We got into the Park and drove Bear Lake road before the
cut-off time of 9am. They are doing some
major road repairs in the Park and only the shuttle buses can use the road
weekdays between 9am and 4pm. Although
there were a lot of holiday makers here again at least it was not as busy as
the weekend.
We walked up to Nymph Lake – as easy uphill trail. Then onto Dream Lake – where we hit
snow. We had hoped to get up to Lake
Haiyaha but were not confident with the incline and slippery snow so we
branched off to Emerald Lake at 1080ft elevation. There was still snow on the trail but it was
not so steep and slippery. We passed
waterfalls coming out of the snow and then disappearing under it again. We could see Flat Top Mountain (12324ft) and
Tyndall Glacier next to it. There was
far too much snow to consider a hike up to Flat Top. So we sat and enjoyed the view. With the binoculars you could see where
people had gone up the side and skied back down before the snow started to
melt. Emerald Lake was still partially
frozen. We saw many ground squirrels and
even a flash of a marmot but he didn’t hang around with so many people about.
We chatted to a couple from Florida who were fly-fishing at
Dream Lake. Then we continued down to
Bear Lake and walked around stopping to eat our sandwiches just before it
clouded over for a very short rain shower.
It had been lovely and sunny up to then but the clouds hung around for a
couple of hours.
We spent the afternoon back down at Sprague Lake where Paul
fished for a couple of hours. Just as we
were about to leave the couple fly-fishing up at Dream Lake came down to have a
go here too.
Unfortunately the camera was left at home so we didn’t get
any photos of the wonderful scenery, the snow, the waterfalls, the frozen lakes
or the glacier which was a shame as it was such a lovely spot.
11th June Colorado to Wyoming
All the National Parks are surrounded by designated
wilderness areas to help protect it.
The Rocky Mtn NP has the Never Summer Wilderness area to the west and
the Roosevelt National Forest on the east and was a lovely scenic drive
following the Big Thompson river.
We stopped at an RV repair garage in Loveland, to check out
the cost of some repairs. Then we
carried on up the I-25 into Wyoming. We
stopped at the Visitor Centre for some information and then up to Cheyenne.
Our friends from Tucson, Charlie and Doreen, had suggested
we visit Charlie’s sister Bev and her husband Dave. So we drove up to their ranch ( 83 acres in total) just north of
Cheyenne. They have 5 horses, 3 dogs and
3 cats and instantly we felt right at home.
They gave us a warm greeting and excellent hospitality.
More in the next issue.
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