Rocky Mountain National Park (Part II)

Each day brought new adventures and we had wonderful weather!  One day the kids and I spent the day exploring Lilly Lake.  There were a variety of birds to observe and the trail was flat and took us around the lake.  I noted there was a second trail that took you up one of the mountains to look down on the lake, but we weren't up for a climb that day.  All around the lake were wildflowers and amazing views.  Here are a small sample of some of my photos.

Speaking of the birds...at one point on the trail a flock of geese had decided to rest.

Because we have been trained to "stay on the trail" we tried to pass them giving them as wide of berth as possible without leaving the trail...however a dominant male raised his head and started hissing at us in an evil and threatening way.  We thought it best to stray from the path and avoid the ire of the  gander.  It could have turned ugly, but we were giving off "we are leaving you alone" vibes!

Finally, when the work week was done we were able to visit the park as a complete family.  I saved one big adventure to do with Husband and that was to take the historic unpaved, one-way road - Old Fall River Road constructed between 1913 and 1920 to the Alpine Visitor Center.  It proved to be a beautiful and fun drive up the mountain to nearly 12,000 feet!

At some point on the drive there were two hitchhikers with snowboards and other gear along the road.  We inquired as to whether they needed assistance and they asked if we could take them to the Alpine Visitor's Center because they were planning on snowboarding back down the mountain to their vehicle!  We offered them a ride and they rode in the back of the truck.  When we reached the summit, I spoke to them a bit further.  They had been snowboarding that section of mountain for nearly 20 years!  Though the snow looked very patchy to me, they said there was ___ vertical feet of snow (I can't remember, but it sounded impressive).  We parted ways at the summit, because they had to hitch a ride to another location before they started their adventure, but it would have been really cool to watch them!  Here is a view of the last stretch of the Old Fall River Road - clearly the snow was still rather deep in places!

Because the Alpine Ridge Trail was such an adventure we decided to hike it again with Husband.

On the drive back down the Trail Ridge Road we saw herds of elk.  They seemed to love the snow!

Our last adventure at Rocky Mountain National Park was to visit Lilly Lake a second time and take the more mountainous trail to the overlook.

I feel we only scraped the surface of this huge National Park and if I can find a better place to stay (other than Estes Park) I would definitely visit again!  It was a wonderful park to visit in the summer as the weather was absolutely perfect for hiking.  Also there doesn't seem to be a bad view anywhere in the park!  The special thing about this park is the diversity of ecosystems from the montane to the alpine tundra with a vast variety of wildflowers from the lowest to the highest elevation!

Near Lilly Lake

Alpine Sunflower and other alpine wildflowers