The next morning we loaded up the kids and headed into the park. Luckily we heard in advance that you need a permit to enter the park, and we were able to get one before they were all gone. Our permit was only for part of the park - we didn’t get the Bear Lake Road permit (I guess it’s the most popular part of the park). We weren’t able to spend a lot of time in the park, since we had a 6 and a 2 year old with us, but we still managed to see some neat stuff there.
We drove in and made a quick stop at the Beaver Ponds Trail, a short and kid-friendly walk along a wooden boardwalk that passes by wetlands that were created by beaver dams on Hidden Valley Creek (the information signs didn't mention if any salad dressings were found here in this Hidden Valley).
Rocky Mountain National Park is known for its wildlife, and on a visit you can see elk, bears, moose, mountain lions, coyotes and pikas. We stopped to get a picture of this elk (from a respectful distance), before it got tired of all the paparazzi and headed deeper into the woods.
We also made a few stops to try to get pictures of the great fall colors. The aspens were beautiful there...
We then started driving along Trail Ridge Road, which runs for about 50 miles through Rocky Mountain National Park. But for being a short drive, it definitely has some amazing scenery. We stopped at the Many Parks Curve Overlook, which sits on a hairpin curve on the road. The overlook sits at an elevation of 9,691 feet and provides an expansive view of Horseshoe Park, Moraine Park, Estes Park, the Fall River Pass, Bighorn Mountain, Deer Mountain, and Longs Peak (the highest mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park). It was bright and sunny during our visit, so I tried a few shots with the infrared camera.
Further down the road was the Rainbow Curve Overlook, which sits at an elevation of 10,829 feet feet. From this viewpoint was a breathtaking view of the Hidden Valley, Horseshoe Park, Alluvial Fan, Fall River, the Beaver Ponds, and several prominent mountain peaks. The tall mountain in this shot is Bighorn Mountain, with an elevation of 11,463 feet.
And the view in infrared:
Trail Ridge Road has the distinction of being not just the highest road in any national park in the US, but also the highest paved road in the country. The road climbs to an elevation of 12,183 feet, high above the tree-line where the landscape resembles more of an arctic tundra. The views from the road were literally breathtaking - thanks to a combination of the scenery, the elevation and those pesky post-Covid symptoms.
This was the view from the Lava Cliffs Overlook, which sits at an elevation of 12,080 feet. For a comparison, I live in Little Rock which sits at an elevation of only 335 feet. The tallest point in Arkansas is Mount Magazine, at 2,753 feet.
We made it to the Alpine Meadow Visitor Center, which sits at an elevation of 11,796 feet and is the highest visitor center in the National Park system. At this point, we were all kinda struggling with altitude sickness. Especially the little kids, so from here we decided to turn back and head back to our cabin in Estes Park. But along the way we made one last stop at an overlook for a few pictures...
This would be the end of the trip. We all woke up before sunrise the next morning and drove into Denver to make our flight home. Which would prove to be an interesting adventure. Our original flights were with Frontier airlines, which does offer a direct service between Little Rock and Denver. But they cancelled our return flight, and instead booked us on a flight that would go from Denver to Las Vegas, and then after a five hour layover we would fly home to Little Rock. That would have meant that we arrive at home around 9 PM, which didn't seem that great since we were traveling with a toddler. We managed to find another flight with American Airlines, which did have a connecting flight with a much shorter layover in Dallas.
So we got to Denver and made it through security with enough time to make our flight to Dallas. But of course that flight was delayed, so we landed in Dallas just as our connecting flight was boarding. We literally ran across the airport and just barely made it. Both kids did great on the flights, and we finally arrived in Little Rock. But the drama wasn't over. After finally getting to our car, we found the battery was dead. Luckily the Little Rock airport provides a service that will jump start your car for you if you are stranded. After that we made it home safe and sound. Thank you Little Rock airport!
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