This is mostly a day of rest for us. We stayed two nights at Elk Creek Campground in Grand Lake, CO. This is perhaps the best campground that either Jeff or I have ever stayed at. Not only were we greeted by a Mommy moose and her twins when we got there, but this guy was munching on leaves right by the playground when I got up in the morning. He was huge and in this picture, I hardly used zoom at all, but don’t worry, I was at a safe distance and right near the building so I could duck into the doorway if necessary. The moose here are very used to people apparently because a teenager was Facetiming with everyone he knew at the picnic table right in front of me. The moose didn’t even care about all the talking.
We relaxed for the morning and the kids made a lego kit and played at the camp site. We made lunch and then set off to go back into Rocky Mountain National Park to do a little more sightseeing and some easy hiking. We noticed a forest fire a couple miles away in the Park. We were told that it was nothing to be concerned about yet and that the Fire Fighters were on it.
We went way way way up again, ears were poppin’! We saw some leftover snow and glaciers.
I also took some obligatory flower pictures because that is what I do when we go hiking. We were above the treeline so the flowers can not grow very large there.
The views are beyond breathtaking. The pictures can not show how powerful this amazing earth is and how insignificant one feels standing at the top of the world (well at 12,300 ft. above sea level).
There were a couple animals that we saw on our hike. It was so silent up there except for the chirps of this bird and the chatter of the Marmots calling to each other.
This was called Mushroom rock.
We had a nice family take a picture of us with some of the mountains in the background. 3 out of 4 making a decent face. Must be a record!
Jeff climbed the rock at the very end of the path. Carson wanted to climb it too, but since he tripped on a sidewalk just yesterday and already had bandaids on both knees, I convinced him to stay on the path with me.
The boys had fun climbing on the low rocks while Jeff chatted with some visitors on the top of the rock. He also took some pictures which you will probably see on Facebook after we get home.
The view from the end of the path was pretty decent too.
The clouds are so low here that the beautiful sunbeam doesn’t have far to go to reach the meadow.
After we got out of the park, we went to Grand Lake for dinner. Jeff and I both loved this town. Estes Park on the east side of Rocky Mountain National Park is far busier and more “touristy”, it had a similar feel to Wisconsin Dells. Grand Lake is on the west side of the Park and while it definitely has tourist activities, it feels more like Minocqua, very rustic with amazing views of sparkling blue lakes with log “cabins” on the shore and mountains in the background. We went to a Mexican restaurant and sat outside to enjoy the view.
When we got back, we had a visitor IN OUR CAMPSITE! He was not in any hurry to leave so we took pictures and chatted with all the other campers about how we all loved this campground where the moose just hang out with us all day. We joked that there was no need to go into the park, because we are seeing a lot more right from our campsites. Eventually, Mr. Gigantic Moose wandered into the next campsite.
One last look at the amazing sunset in one direction…
And the Forest Fire (now called the Tonahutu Fire) in the other direction. We could see helicopters dropping water onto the area. Don’t worry, I am zoomed in as far as my camera can zoom.
Kline Road Trips 