1116 August 25, 2024 Rocky Mountain High

We spent the morning exercising, doing chores and packing and preparing for an overnight Jeep camping adventure.

We had a timed entry pass for RMNP at 12 noon.  We took the Old Fall River Road.  This is a one-way gravel road that steadily climbs in elevation.  There are no guardrails and there are lots of switchbacks.  The road traverses 9 miles of stunning scenery.  We stopped to walk at Chasm Falls.

We stopped at almost every scenic overlook.  We did not do much hiking.  We are very aware that we are at high altitudes and we are not acclimated.  Strolling/walking is fine but climbing leaves us slightly short of breath.

There was this one crazy guy riding his bicycle up the 9 mile dirt road. I think that he was very brave and that he is the definition of grit!

We rose into the clouds and above the tree line into the alpine tundra.  We arrived at the Alpine Visitor Center at 11,796 feet.  It was windy and 42 degrees at the peak.

We doubled back on Trail Ridge Road to see the portion that we missed while driving offroad.  We saw a herd of about 100 elk.

Lots more spectacular scenery.

At Many Parks Curve, we turned around and headed to the Grand Lake or West Entrance.  We stopped to see the Colorado River.  The mighty river begins here as a collection of snow melt and then continues south for 1,400 miles all the way to the Mexican border.  By the time it gets there, it is merely a trickle.  It was raining big fat drops as we tried to get a picture.

Near the end of the 42 mile park road, there was a large section of trees burned out by wildfires in 2020. The area is just beginning to recover and small spruce trees are growing.

We drove out of the park and to Granby Lake.  We found a pretty campsite at Sunset Point in the Arapaho National Forest.  It was raining and chilly and we debated whether or not we should stay.  There was a fire ban so no campfire for us.  We checked the weather and decided that it was going to clear.  The sun did come out along with a marvelous rainbow vivid, large, and complete.

As we were eating our simple dinner of lettuce wraps and blackberries we saw more dark clouds.  Apparently, the weather forecast and radar is not very reliable here.  The weather seems to be very fickle.  We hurriedly packed up our supper and we got into the tent just as it began to really rain.  It stopped and started again and it rained for a long time.  We had some significant wind but it was short lived.  I read and we went to sleep super early.  We were warm and cozy enough in our nest.