It's About the (RV) Journey....: Sunny Views from Trail Ridge Road..................

With only a couple of days left in Rocky Mountain National Park, we chose to drive Trail Ridge Road again, to the other side of the park. Lucky us....it was sunny this time....and the views were awesome. Chatting with another shutterbug, he suggested that taking pictures in Rocky be illegal because they just don't really capture the beauty. I think he might be right! The magnitude of these mountains and the sharply slanted hillsides just can't seem to be captured in a photo.

overview...with Trail Ridge Road on the right mountainside

cute little pica

oh boy

the views are awesome...it was fogged in the other day

there are two lakes across the way

yikes

look what we missed the other day

magnificent

above the treeline - the lava cliffs ahead

Some of these areas were completely fogged in the other day when we drove this road. And wow....what we missed! Glad we took the opportunity to travel Trail Ridge again. It is quite a road, and may actually have been easier (on me) with the fog. Hahhaha. Take a look at some of the views...I have no words!

lave cliffs

I bet that water is cold!

Isn't this awesome!

where is the fog when you need it? Woah!

I'm crying now (not really...I handled this drive pretty well....as the passenger!)

what views!

a picture

oh...another picture....so so scenic

more mountains way in the distance

wonderful

so lush and green

don't get too close to the edge there Tom!

lovely

look at those rolling hillsides-so steep

beautiful

Once we got to the Alpine Visitor Center, we decided to hike up to the top of the trail for more views. We went very slowly...it was pretty steep and at high elevation. They call it Huff Hill, for obvious reasons. The air is pretty thin up there! We stopped a lot on the way up, so enjoy some of the alpine flower pics I took while resting. The views all around were fabulous! Breathtaking....really!

the Alpine Visitor Center...we will be walking up that hill on the left

we are at elevation

such sweet alpine flowers along the hillside

ready to walk up there Tom?

the views were awesome

stopping for a breather

aaahhhhh

another breather...this hill was tough!

not too much further

just look at that!

we made it to the top!

so worth the views from up here...just magnificent!

over 12,000 feet up here

The Rockies

breathtakingly beautiful

the views up here were worth that walk up!

a picture!

ready to head down?

way easier going down!

we spotted elk on our way down from the hill

beautiful wildflowers covering the hillsides

who's taking a ton of pictures now??

We stopped at another scenic overlook that was fogged in on our previous visit. The expanse of this park is amazing, and it is all beautiful!

is this the best?

nature

beautiful views everywhere

the dead trees are very sad...so many of them!

Of course, we headed to the great moose habitat to see if we could spot any. No luck though. As we were gawking at the beauty of the place though, we were alarmed by all the dead trees. They have succumbed to the bark beetle. It is a real problem. When those dead trees fall, the landscape will look quite different!

looking for moose again?

not seeing any here....but that doesn't mean they aren't here

this is where we saw 5 moose the other day

so sad...all those dead trees

As we headed on to our final destination of the day, Adams Falls, we saw a traffic jam and joined it. Someone had spotted a moose sitting under a tree! We were happy we got to share that view.

oh wait...what is that?

another moose :)

Adams Falls is next to Grand Lake, and the elevation change came with much warmer weather. The sun was shining, and we headed out on the very short hike to the waterfall. Since it was lunchtime, we brought our picnic with us up to the waterfalls and found a nice spot in the shade near the falls. Very nice.

heading to the waterfalls...a very short hike (uphill of course!)

a hint of what the Fall colors must be like....bet that's a beautiful time to visit this park...the Fall!

heading to the waterfalls

is it getting hot?

up we go

a nice retaining wall for this very popular waterfall

gorgeous

the other end

love the infinity pool

at the falls

lunchtime :)

we have to go up to get back too?

heading back ....down for a bit!

Afterwards, we stopped at Grand Lake....since the sun was shining. We ate our lunch here the other day in the pouring rain. It was beautiful then too!

Grand Lake in the sun

a beautiful lake

On the way back to the east side of Rocky Mountain National Park, we passed some forested areas where lots of dead trees had already fallen. Not a pretty sight! Sad.

bark beetle damage

lots of these dead trees have already fallen

Oh, and then we hit another traffic jam....a moma moose hidden in the grass, and a baby buck nestled under a tree. Again, I don't know how people spot these hidden animals! Hope you can see them in my photos.

a baby buck

Mom resting in the high grass

The Continental Divide is located at Milnar Pass, and there were hiking trails on either side. Just for fun, we walked a little on each trail. A very little. We walked near the lake, and we noticed other hikers on the switchback way up high on the hillside. Time to turn around. Then, we walked over to the "Pacific Ocean Drainage" side of the Divide, and that trail was a beauty. We didn't walk very far though.

on the "Atlantic" side of the Continental Divide...a short hike around the lake

sweet

let's go to the "Pacific" side of the Continental Divide!

I like this trail....a lot

the hills are alive.....

Big horn sheep come down here too - but we still didn't see any

Heading back, I took a few more pics to remember this incredible park and the Trail Ridge Road through it.

beautiful

another wildlife view on the mountainside

rain ahead

gorgeous

looks fake

this road is awesome

Once again, we stopped at Sheep Lakes, and once again....we did not spot any sheep. Someone is getting all worked up I think (Tom!), but maybe he will see one before we leave. We are looking!