Wednesday, 7/16/97
-----------------------------
Got to the Bear Lake parking lot by 7:45 am, which
put us well ahead of the normal overflow conditions normally expected later in the day.
We could pick any parking space we wanted except that they had some of the closer spaces blocked off for painting new
divider lines. The early morning sunshine was hitting the peaks, causing contrasting
shadows and golden reflections of the glaciers so the drive up to Bear Lake had been filled with "Wow!" and a phrase first
shouted out the window of the car by Brennan, "What a great park!"
We wanted to keep our lead on the summer crowds so we skipped the walk around Bear Lake
and headed up the trail to Nymph Lake. We saw and photographed water
lily blossoms and pads, ducks and ducklings, and of course scenery. The trail
on to Dream Lake was of course the designated trail, not the odd snowshoe track I had followed back in November. Along the way, I tried to figure out where my winter snowshoe track had rejoined the designated route,
but there we were approaching Dream Lake on the same foot bridge that I had crossed then.
We encountered our first July snow field at the beginnings of Dream Lake, and tossed the obligatory snowballs into the air. The beauty of the view of Hallett Peak to the West was of course "WOWSVILLE". Along the difficult climb up the trail up past the series of alpine lakes to Emerald Lake, we stopped frequently to photograph while other hikers stopped to rest. So
the same dozen or so people we encountered along the way were the only people we saw.
The real impact of this trail on your emotions is caused by how each lake, four if you count Bear Lake, is harder to
get to than the one before, but is also more spectacular than the last. Emerald Lake in the morning, (we got there at 10:00 am),
is so beautiful that it would have been worth al the work just to see it. But
you get those other lakes tossed in for the bargain.
Back to the car by 11:00 am and drive
through beautiful Beaver Meadows, across Deer Mountain, to Fall River Road, with a stop at the Alluvial Fan Exhibit to get sense of the flood damage and deposits. Further up Fall River Road, we purchased one of the dollar guide books at the coin operated dispenser.
The booklet was well worth the money. Bob started the drive up the one
way graded dirt Fall
River Road. At the first stop we switched drivers, with Brennan driving, and Bob reading at the
points of interest. All I have to say about the drive up Fall River Road is, "You’ve got to do it."
After may great views along the way, in spite of the off and on light rain, we were within sight of the Alpine Visitor
Center, but still several stops away. We were stopped and out of the car for
one overlook just above the tree line and just looking down into the incredible valley beside us, when we turned around to
face the ridge above us and spotted first one, the several elk crossing the ridge toward us. They were a good half mile away,
but the silhouettes against the sky dominated our awareness. Absolutely beautiful!
At the last stop along Fall River Road, just a thousand yards from the Alpine Visitor Center, there was the remains of a snow field that had covered
the road all winter and was just plowed out a few months ago. The vertical bank
of snow left behind by the plowing effort was still eight feet high on the uphill side.
As we drove on, In the face of the steep snow bank, were the words, "Laborious Youth", thanks to Brennan.
When we got to the Alpine Visitor Center, the parking lot was jammed with tourists, cars circling about looking for
empty spaces. It was still lunch time, so we decided not to stop and fight the
crowds while hungry. Brennan still wanted the experience of having crossed the
Continental Divide and it was only four miles to the west along Trail Ridge Road, so we turned toward Milner Pass were the Divide crosses the road. We found out that a picnic area was located just another mile west, so we drove there to eat lunch, and
observe.
Bob had purchased an audio tape guide to the entire drive along Trail Ridge Road, so we had planned to play it on the way back East. That's when we discovered that the audio tape starts talking about the drive highlights at the Estes Park end and progresses West toward Grand
Lake. But we
had come up to the middle of Trail Ridge Road via Fall
River Road which
put us at a point half way through the tape. So, why not drive down to Grand
Lake on the west side of Rocky Mountain NP, then turn around and come back listening to the tape sort of in reverse; well,
listening to the descriptions played East to West while driving West to East. That
way the tape would always be describing some spot where we weren't. Nothing would
describe the spot where we were at any moment, but we would hear about it either later, or would have already heard about
it by the time we got there.
So we continued West toward Grand
Lake with the tape turned off.
When we got to an overlook with the Colorado River headwaters
in the valley below us, we looked at the map and realized that we had a long way to go to Grand Lake and lost interest in the absurd experiment in listening really out of step with reality. So we turned around there with the tape telling us about Estes Park and the two ways into Rocky Mountain
Park from there. It
is funny how the narration in the wrong order seemed to be so perfectly logical, and we kept playing it until it started describing
points further West than we had gone.
We passed the Alpine Visitor Center again, and made the same decision not to battle the crowds. But we did find a parking space at the Tundra Nature Trail and hiked up it.
We found that the thin air at that altitude, reaching 12310 feet, had draining effects on us. With only half as many oxygen molecules per lung full, breathing seemed inadequate. Muscles got tired walking up gentle inclines, but we found that you noticed it less if you sprinted up
the hill, where your brain expected to have to work for enough air.
By the time we returned to the car, we were both about finished functioning physically without adequate oxygen. We got in the car and did not stop again until we had come all the way down the mountain
to Many Parks Curve at about 9600 feet. You have to see that view if it is not
obscured by clouds, and it was not obscured, so we got out and looked.
Brennan noticed a lady feeding peanuts to a local chipmunk and tried to convince her that is was bad for the wildlife
to be feed by humans, and was at least against park rules. The lady was indignant
and even claimed to have been taught how to do this by a ranger. Oh well! So much for ecological education.
We made a stop at the Moraine Park Museum
and spotted a hunting coyote in the field right outside as we sat in the car. We
watched as it made an occasional catch of some small critter that became dinner after a sudden charge by the coyote.
That was our clue to go back to camp and get our own dinner of soup, canned peaches and Triscuits. After dinner, we drove back out of camp to try to spot wildlife in the evening hours. After trying Horseshoe Park, Beaver Meadows, even a mile or so hike in the twilight through the pine
forest bordering the south edge of Beaver Meadows, we had only sighted mule deer, some in each location.
In bed by 10:45 pm. Two very sound sleepers in the trailer.
