First off - HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! Hope you had a good day.
We decided that since we had the rental car we would head south to the Rocky Mountain National Park and do some exploring. We have been in the area before but never drove through the park. We didn't get through the entire park today, either. That is fine as it leaves a reason to come back to the area.
Our first stop was for breakfast. We went to a local diner called the Luxury Diner. Don't know why "Luxury" as it was originally a railroad car and they have built around the car to expand for more seats. We got to sit in the original part. The food was good and there was plenty of it. All full we headed out for the day. It was about a 70 mile drive to the park. We stopped at a rest area next to the Big Thompson River.
We decided to enter the park at the Fall River entrance which is on the northeast side. Our first stop was at the Alluvial Fall. This is an area where there was a major flood in 1892.
We walked up the trail a bit as it wasn't too steep. One thing to remember up here is that you are at a high altitude.
We decided to drive the Old Fall River Road which is a dirt road that runs about 9 miles, ending at the Alpine Visitors Center and a little over 11,000 ft. The drive wasn't bad but it did take a long time to go up.
We stopped at the Chasm Falls. You get down to it by steps and over rocks. Coming back up was not real fun but I made it.
The drive was nice and the weather was good. As we climbed higher it got cooler. There was even snow still on the ground at the top. Look toward the center of the picture. See where the big bunch of snow is? There is a waterfall from the bottom of the big batch to the snow on the bottom. The water then goes under the snow and out the bottom.
We saw a Marmot sitting on the side of the road. He didn't move even when I drove next to him.
We saw an elk herd while we were at the top. They were a long way off but you could make them out.
There was a staircase that went up a hill but I don't know what was up there as we decided not to climb. I don't do a lot of stairs well.
On the way back down we did see a herd of elk that was much closer to us. In fact, there were 3 males that were really close. They caused a traffic jam. People just had to stop in the middle of the road to take pictures.
To get to the area to see the elk herd (the mommies and babies) we had to hike over a small snow patch.
We drove out using the Beaver Meadows entrance. Why is it that the drive home always seems to be shorter than the drive there? We decided to stop at the Cracker Barrel in Loveland, CO. There isn't one in Wyoming. This is only the 2nd Cracker Barrel we have been in this trip.
Back at the base we saw antelope around the base and at the campground. I also finally took a picture of our site at the campground.
I also took a picture of our rental car. We hope to get rid of it tomorrow and get our car back.
That is all for today. I hope you enjoy all the pictures I took. Bye for now.
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