Tag Archives: elk

Rocky Mountain National Park: Lights, (no) Camera, Action!

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Yeah, for the first time ever on a big trip, Louisa and I forgot to bring our camera.  :-)

We had a great time away from the big city however.  Estes Park and Rocky Mountain N.P. are definitely great vacation spots and great wildlife viewing spots.  On this trip we saw a bull mouse, a few herds of elk, a bear cub running through the field, and a few hummingbirds.

Here are our favorite hikes and attractions from Rocky Mountain National Park on this trip:

  • Old Fall River Road – Scenic drive that approaches the Alpine Visitor Center from the valley instead of via Trail Ridge Road.
  • Trail Ridge Road – The premier scenic drive in the park.
  • Colorado River Trailhead – Gateway to many cool hikes through the forest.  Be sure to bring your bug repellent.
  • Bierstadt Lake and Bear Lake – Hiked about 4.1 miles to check out both of these lakes at once.  For a bigger challenge (and about 1200 ft. of elevation gain), start the hike from the Park and Ride.

We also had a few favorite restaurants in Estes Park and Grand Lake:

  • Bighorn Restaurant, Estes Park, CO – Great breakfasts, we tried their country fried steak, blueberry waffles, and ham and (double) cheese omelet.
  • Poppy’s Pizza and Grill, Estes Park, CO – Good pizzas with a variety of sauces. We had an Italian sausage, mushroom, and garlic pizza with salad bar.
  • Sagebrush BBQ, Grand Lake, CO – Pretty wide selection of grilled and BBQ.  Their great onion rings were our favorite part of the meal with decent brisket (a little on the fatty side, but very tasty) and pork.  We also tried Rocky Mountain Oysters.

Norris and West Thumb at Yellowstone

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Elk at Stream

After the hike at the Tetons, we went to the West Thumb and Norris Geyser areas. West Thumb is a thermal area near an inlet to Yellowstone Lake. This area is really neat to walk through, because there are a lot of thermal pools. There are even several geyser cones in the lake.

We then went to Biscuit Basin, near the Old Faithful geyser area. This is a smaller area, with several large thermal pools. We also saw some buffalo alongside the road near this area. They were just relaxing, happily wandering through the grass, and pointedly ignoring the cars which stopped to gawk and take pictures.

We also went to the Mud Volcano area, where we got to see a lot of bubbling mud. While none of the mud was really flying this time, the thermal feature was definitely active, with a lot of mud bubbling and boiling.

On our way up to Norris Geyser Basin, we stopped along the side of the road to see two large bull elk. Their racks were very impressive, and it was amusing that one was calmly sitting in the middle of some trees, while the other was happily eating grass by a stream and posing by turning his head from side to side.

Once we made our way up to Norris, we took a quick hike around the geyser area. We were fortunate to be there for sunset, and managed to get some nice pictures of the sun, trees, and thermal features.

Here are our albums from the post: