Wednesday June 19
Rocky Mountain NP was our destination for the day. It was
at the upper limit in terms of driving distance for a day trip at 2.5 hours
each way, but it was totally worth it. The drive there was enjoyable, passing
through some nice towns including Boulder and arrived at Estes Park around 10
am. We had booked a time slot for entering the park, even having to specify
which part of the park we wanted to visit…the park is just that popular.
When we arrived at the park entrance for Bear Lake Road we presented
our NP pass and they told us to put it away as it was “Juneteenth” and National
Parks were free for the day. Oh-oh…no wonder it seemed so busy. We were told
that the parking lots were full at the various trailheads along Bear Lake road and
we should consider the shuttle bus. We continued on to the shuttle bus parking
and were horrified to find it was totally full. Our only option, other than
turning around and going back to camp, was to press on to the trailhead parking
lot – we had nothing to lose. We crossed our fingers and headed up the road. We
passed a few intermediate parking lots on the way up and they were all full. We
soon arrived at the Bear Lake trailhead parking and it was packed. The parking
attendant had a worried look on his face…we continued in and made our way down
the aisle, and we got lucky. Fortunately for us there were two empty spots,
someone must have just left. We happily nabbed one and rejoiced a little bit celebrating
our good fortune.
We did one of the standard hikes in the area up to Emerald
Lake via three other Lakes along the way. The path was busy – Juneteenth – but
the scenery was spectacular, and we really enjoyed the hike. There are numerous
longer and more challenging hikes that would be fun to try on a return visit… I
would definitely give Rocky Mountain NP a second try.
On our return to camp we stopped for a coffee
in Estes Park – a nice mountain town, but today was a bit too busy with
tourists (including us). We passed through Boulder on our return drive – looked very nice
– on a return visit it will be on our list of places to check out.
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| Bear Lake |
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| Nymph Lake along the trail |
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Lots of snow melt water rushing down the
mountain side |
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| Dream Lake |
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| Interesting branches |
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| Emerald Lake |
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| Emerald Lake |
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