Happy Birthday to Rocky Mountain National Park

                         Entry Gate

                                                                Celebration Poster

Over this past Memorial Day, Paul and I drove to north central Colorado to visit Rocky Mountain National Park. The staff and visitors are celebrating the centennial of the Park's establishment. 

In times past, the Utes and Arapahoes traversed the mountains. After the 1820s, when the area was surveyed by Stephen Long (for whom 14,259 ft Long's Peak is named), settlers, hunters, miners, loggers, and tourists "discovered" the area, establishing the town of Estes Park and numerous dude ranches and other businesses in the region. Finally, Enos Miller who first came to Estes Park as a young lad made it his life's work to lobby for legislation to preserve the lands as a National Park, on the model of Yellowstone. President Wilson signed the bill into law in January of 1915. 

During our recent stay, it rained and snowed every day, showing that Mother Nature will do what she wants, whenever she wants, and change on a whim! 

 Bear Lake and Sprague Lake 

Paul on a snowy bridge near Cub Lake

Deep Fluff

How long do we have to hold this pose ???

The park now encompasses over 400 square miles on the front range (east side) of the Rockies. It holds something for everyone with spectacular peaks (72 over 12,000ft.), moraines (glacier-formed valleys), lakes (150), streams (450 miles) and tons of wildlife - hoofed, furred, and feathered. 

We really enjoyed the few hours of the beautiful sunny skies and vistas for which RMNP is known, on two mornings. These photos are from the few "teaser hours" of sunshine that broke through here and there.

 Alongside Trail Ridge Road at closure point

 View from Moraine Campground

Sheep Lake

Ouzel Falls

 Trail Ridge Road is a popular feature which connects the east and west sides of the Park, yielding spectacular, above-tree-line views as it ascends to 12,183 ft. Needless to say, snow closes the route for all but 4-5 months per year and huge, powerful plows are required to open it in the Spring.

Stronger than we knew!

On a smaller scale, we spotted droves of elk (many were collared for research purposes), rocky mountain bighorn sheep, a fox, ducks, geese, 

Elk in meadow

 Big Guy shedding winter coat

 Bighorn Crossing

 Wild Turkey

Deer Crossing? You don't say!

                                       Collared Elk

 Grazing Bighorn and a pair of Elk on a hillside

                                   

                         Wet as a duck -      and  a -     friendly duck walking companion

The Rangers were great, giving talks, demonstrations, and hosting an Artist-in-Residence program and Exhibition. 

 Demo materials for a talk on Bighorn Sheep

 Rocky Mtn National Park Artist-in-Residence Exhibition

We were also fortunate enough to see a mother owl and pair of owlets.

Mama Owl 

Pair of fuzzy Owlets

Brave Bloom

All in all, it was a wonderful trip to RMNP and visit with Mother Nature.

Thanks for "joining" us for the journey - Barbara & Paul