Rocky Mountain National Park, CO: Bear Lake

Thank goodness for digital cameras. If I was still using film in my cameras MLA would have me taken my camera away before noon!

I took 298 pictures today. Why stop at 298? Why not go for an even 300? Well, I didn't want to over do it!

Actually, with a digital camera you can try a lot of different types of pictures, and if they don't work out, just hit the delete key. Gone, not there, never happened, and didn't cost you a thing!

Today we drove up to Estes Park and then went into Rocky Mountain National Park. We took our time, making a lot of stops so MLA would not get altitude/motion sickness the way she did the other day. Going slow seems to be just the ticket, except, whenever we stop, MLA wants to shop and I want to take pictures. Oh well, I guess it could be a lot worse...

I thought the drive from our campground to Estes Park was beautiful. Then we hit Rocky Mountain National Park and I realized the drive to Estes Park is just a warm-up for RMNP.

RMNP is huge and, since we got started a little late in the day we went to Bear Lake, which is roughly in the center of the park. The lake's elevation is about 9400 feet and we really enjoyed hiking around the lake.

Except, it seems every time you walk about 100 feet down the trail, you are presented with yet another spectacular view. Peaceful, quiet, and beautiful. Relaxing beyond words. Again, it's almost spiritual, the special feeling that comes over you as you walk through the park.

Now, I can hear some of the sceptics among you saying maybe the elevation caused this 'spiritual' feeling. Well, I won't deny hiking at 9400 feet is very different from our usual hikes. That said, even when sitting still you fell a sense of calm and well-being. I wish you could bottle the air, the smells, the views, and pull it out whenever stress was making life difficult.

Remember yesterday we said how pleased we were to see our first elk? How excited we were to get within 100 yards of the herd? Well today we ran into a huge herd of elk in one of the alpine valleys of RMNP. Must have been 50 elk in that herd. Very cool. They were off in the distance, maybe 200 yards, but still very special.

Well, on the drive out of the park, we saw the herd of elk in almost the same spot. Except now they were right up against the road. Maybe 15 feet away from us. Of course I just stopped in the middle of the road and took a few pictures. So did everybody else. We had our own little traffic jam with about 12 cars. Not like any traffic jam I've ever been in before; everybody was very polite, smiling, pointing at the wildlife, & in no hurry to move on....


The next time we go to RMNP we plan to go to the West side of the park to Grand Lake. The park ranger we spoke with today highly recommended the drive and the destination, and said it was, well, "Grand". Takes us through some pretty high alpine meadows. Seeing wildlife in RMNP has been a constant thrill.


See Ya!