A Full Day in Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park

I previously kvetched about the weather while on our vacation but in looking back I realized we lucked out actually in the different states we visited. I flew from GA to Denver and took a shuttle 90 minutes to Estes Park to join the Hubs and boys who’d been on vacay for 6 days. They finished their 4 hour hike and met me at the hotel and then we checked out the town, bought a warm hoody and then went into the RMNP and saw tons of elk in the early evening. The air….was incredible. I keep thinking about it as I walk outside here and drown in the heat and humidity. We saw aspen trees with their white bark and black areas where the elk and deer chew during the winter. We saw water falls at the Alluvial Fan where a flood occurred from a dam break in 1982. I felt lightheaded. I was so happy to be there with the fam. The boys climbed huge rocks and I will never like it when they do that. Hubs does a signature whistle (same whistle that renders me deaf in one ear when he does it at football games)—meaning he whistles and they stop in their tracks and look at him.

The next day was chock full of action and we lucked out with the weather. We drove into RMNP at 9:00 a.m. and drove up Trail Ridge Road, which opens around Memorial Day, and gets to about 12,000 feet elevation. There were many places to pull over for photo ops:

Then we began to see more and more snow (as the boys said, in Georgia they are thrilled just to have an inch for a day) and here they got to see about 6 feet of it plowed to the side of the road.

The scenery changed from pine trees to tundra. At the Alpine Visitor Center at the top it was even colder. Maybe 40 degrees? And very windy. And even more snow. And a great store with all kinds of books about the area. They had to tear me away, but I picke done out about stories of incidents in the RMNP.

We drove a little past the Visitor Center to the Continental Divide. I didn’t even know what that was until a few weeks ago. This whole trip was full of info like that.

I had previously researched certain hikes that we should do and heard that if you park at Bear Lake, you can then hike to Nymph Lake, Dream Lake and Emerald Lake. But first we hiked in the other direction to see Alberta Falls. The falls were nice with very dramatic rocks and the boys kept climbing. And getting closer to edges that dropped way down below. I had to tell them “Stay right there!” "Don't Make Another Move"! They are used to me and luckily they listen. Probably so I will stop.

So then we headed up another path to Nymph Lake. When we got to the lake there was a little snow here and there. It was pretty but we were ready for Dream Lake which I heard was gorgeous. There weren’t many people on the way to Dream Lake—maybe it was because the snow was more abundant. In one area the path was covered by a 5-foot snow bank and you had to go single file and take baby side steps. Here are the boys in one area but it is not yet Dream Lake.

Finally I can see that we are about to get our view of Dream Lake…and what was that noise assaulting me??? It was a whiny kid. Really Loud. With some siblings and parents. And what was he yelling? Over and over again: “We Hiked All This Way Just for a Stupid Lake and Now I Have to Hike Back”!!!!!!!!!! Whhhaaaaahhhhhhh!! Literally, it was: Whhhaahh!!!!He was about 8, so not talkin about a toddler here. And the parents weren’t shushing him. Or noticing that other people had also just hiked there. I was horrified. Because I really don’t like noise like that and didn't understand it coming from a kid his age. Other than this kid’s family there were maybe two other people and I looked at their faces to see their reactions. Couldn’t tell. I looked at my kids. They looked at me like WTH? I was THIS close to saying something but I didn’t. I was almost out of my skull with annoyance. It was rude. He kept on. Finally they left and I said to my husband, “Yay, now we have some quiet”. And he sort of scolded me. Told me that the boy has special needs. I felt bad. Like omg I am a horrible person. And he is a good teacher, and he deals with all sorts of families at his job and I am a bad lady. Even still, I didn't agree. I tend to feel the dynamics in situations. Then I got over it and enjoyed this view:

We could not make it to Emerald Lake because beyond this lake the snow covered any resemblance of a path or sign.

We had dinner at a little Italian restaurant that was recommended by Trip Advisor (so helpful!) called Dunraven and had great service. I felt the most charming thing about the town is the rushing stream (river?) that goes under streets and under buildings and right past the patio of a wine and cheese shop. And a 100 year old movie theater. It does have a lot of t-shirt and fudge shops as well.

Guess who was at the complimentary breakfast in our Comfort Inn the next morning? Yes, the loud crying yelling boy from Dream Lake. And all his siblings were behaving badly too. And the parents were oblivious. And hubs admitted that there did appear to be a parenting problem. And that the whole family was annoying. And that all three of their kids actually were out of control.

A little later that day we hiked to Cub Lake (photo in previous post). And there were elk and marmots and sun and rain and sleet and so much wind we are hiding behind rocks at the lake. But we heard that at the top of the RMNP it snowed and that they closed Trail Ridge Road that day, which is why I say we lucked out with the weather. The next day we drove into Wyoming on our way to South Dakota and found a hidden gem.