Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

[lactic]

We decided to do a quick overnight on Friday and head up to the area around Rocky Mountain National Park. Since we have 2 dogs, we weren't anticipating staying in the park but did manage to get some time up on Trail Ridge Rd via Old Trail Ridge Rd which is one way and gravel. My first experience with the Quigley EB three point switchbacks!

Colors were amazing, elk were abundant and bugling, and the questionable weather on Friday night gave way to a beautiful morning on Saturday.

Sorry for the quality on some of these pics but the digital camera battery died so I was snapping pics with the camera phone.

Incredible overlook-


Crowded pull off. Find the SMB!-


Diamond Face of Long's Peak-


Large Elk-


Colors and snow on Old Trail Ridge Rd-


Topping out on Old Trail Ridge. Notice the 25' tall road markers made from trees-


Trail Ridge Rd at around 12K'-

[Greg In Austin]

Very nice. I wish we were going to have time to get up to RMNP when we visit Boulder this weekend. I did the old one-way trail ridge back in the early 90's in my Nissan 4wd.

That is a beatiful park this time of year. Shorts and jacket weather.

[jage]

Where did you actually camp?

[lactic]

We stopped at Kirk's Fly Shop on the main street in Estes to get some fishing/camping beta and the winning recommendation was Elk Meadows on 36 just out of town on the way to Lyons/Boulder. Since our sightseeing ran a little late, we grabbed the first available option and ended up at a Larimier County Open Space campground a couple of miles outside of Estes on 36. It cost us about $25 but we were solo in the farthest camping ring about 3 miles back. For the cost, I was happy to spark a quick fire in the provided firepit and not have to bust out the Pit-2-Go.

Overall, not too shabby for a quick 20 hour overnight trip!

Heading to Aspen this weekend via Independence Pass to search for more of the vibrant fall colors!

[adventureduo]

Stunning. Thats what it's all about. Thanks for sharing with us.

[daveb]

Originally Posted by lactic

We decided to do a quick overnight on Friday and head up to the area around Rocky Mountain National Park. Since we have 2 dogs, we weren't anticipating staying in the park but did manage to get some time up on Trail Ridge Rd via Old Trail Ridge Rd which is one way and gravel. My first experience with the Quigley EB three point switchbacks!

Colors were amazing, elk were abundant and bugling, and the questionable weather on Friday night gave way to a beautiful morning on Saturday.

Nice shots.
>Is Trail ridge the one way road that used to be the old highway route inside the park?
The road I saw was closed in July when I was there...wish it wasn't.
>Was the campground on the west side of the pass open?
I had planned to camp there but it too was closed. I had a tough time finding places to camp, at least ones at high altitude.

BTW I like the shot of your dog driving the SMB

[lactic]

Originally Posted by daveb

BTW I like the shot of your dog driving the SMB

Sometimes even the co-pilot gets to man the controls!

There are 2 Trail Ridge Roads. New and Old. Old Trail Ridge Rd is the one way dirt road that meets up with (new) Trail Ridge Rd as it heads to the top and out the west side of the park. Since we turned back east after the intersection, we didn't get to see any of the campgrounds on the west side. Overall, there didn't seem to be that much traffic at the park trailheads and campgrounds as you would see mid summer.

[Greg In Austin]

My trip to RMNP was after Labor Day for those very reasons.... to avoid the big crowds.

SOme of the campgrounds do start to close, but I found it very nice with no crowds or traffic jams.

This was more than 10 years ago, but the East side still had more folks than the West side.

RMNP is a beatiful place, and there is a lot to see.