This is our second visit to Rocky Mountain National Park. Our first visit was in 2022, but we were only there for one day. So this time, I was eager to be able to see more of the park. We managed to secure one of the timed entry passes for Bear Lake Road, which is one of the most popular areas of the park. Our timed entry was from between Noon and 2:00, which was the earliest entry I could get (I logged on the website on the day they were made available, and the earlier entry tickets had already been taken).
There is a good reason why this is the most popular area of the park. Bear Lake Road is only about ten miles long, but it passes by several lakes and trailheads. The first place we stopped was at Morraine Park, a wide valley filled with a meadow and the meandering Big Thompson River. We stopped at a pullover and walked down to the river, which here was a fast-moving stream.
It was a scenic spot, with the towering mountains rising above the valley.
We decided that this might be a good spot to return to later that evening, when there might be some nice light around sunset.
We followed the road all the way to Bear Lake, and somehow lucked into actually getting a spot in the parking lot. We then did the short hike that runs along the length of the lake. It was really crowded with people, but it was a nice stroll with some great scenery.
It was bright and sunny, so the light was a little too harsh for pictures.
We got back in the car and made a few stops at some of the other pull-offs. This was the trail at Hollowell Park.
By this time, the elevation had gotten to the kids and they weren't interested in stopping at every single overlook and pull-off in the park. But we stopped at one last overlook that had this great view of Horseshoe Park.
No comments:
Post a Comment