Rocky Mountain National Park Lakeshore Lodge, Estes Park, Colorado August 18-25, 2007

This year was Kurt's destination of choice and since I'm not one for roughing it any more, I chose the Lakeshore Lodge in Estes Park for us to stay for the week.  We had a lake view room on the upper level and it was peaceful with beautiful views of the Lake Estes and the surrounding mountains.  We even had an elk take a swim outside our window one late afternoon!   We flew into Denver on Saturday afternoon, rented an SUV and drove into Estes Park.  We ran into a hail storm on the way but when we arrived at the lodge their were 3 weddings that night!  Lots of brides running around in dresses, guess this is a popular place to get married.  Once the wedding parties left, the lodge was fairly empty and very quiet the rest of the week.  It's located on the opposite side of the lake from the hubbub of downtown and the riverwalk, but there are shuttles to take you shopping and there is also parking downtown across from the public library if you prefer to drive.  We took it easy the first evening, unpacking and enjoying the scenery from the restaurant on the lobby floor.     Day 1 - Trail Ridge Road (RMNP)   On our first day, we decided to go into the park and drive along Trail Ridge Road, stopping at the overlooks that interested us.  Most days we ended up packing a lunch and taking it with us in the park.  It was nice once we reached the goal of a hike to just sit down, enjoy the scenery and have lunch.  We stopped at the Beaver Meadow's Visitor Center and I ended up buying a book on the Geology along Trail Ridge Road (a self-guided tour for motorists) by Omer B. Raup.  It was an excellent accompaniment to National Geographic's Rocky Mountain National Park Road Guide - the Essential Guide For Motorists, that we had brought with us.  The geology book is a little remedial for geologists but it brought back some of that fancy education that I have somewhere in the back of my mind and would be excellent for those of you who don't have a geology background but were interested in the geologic history of this beautiful park.      BEAVER MEADOWS OVERLOOK...

Longs Peak, mountain in the distance, is the highest summit in the park at 14,255 feet.     Many Parks Overlook...

This overlooks gives views of Longs Peak, Horseshoe Park & the alluvial fan that formed as the result of a flood when an earthen dam broke in July of 1982 killing several campers along the Fall River.   The peak to the upper left of the photo is Fairchild Mountain and the peak in the upper right is Mummy Mountain, near the base in the middle of the photo is the Alluvical Fan.     Rainbow Curve Overlook...

Close-up of the Alluvial Fan

Horseshoe Park

Ypsilon & Fairchild Mountains

Pika   Forest Canyon Overlook...

Mount Terra Tomah (Mount Ida in the distance, upper right)

Elk in the valley below the lookout

Cirque on the flank of Terra Tomah Mountain   The Rock Cut...

??? mystery flower (please email me if you know this one)   This stop has a half-mile trail with exhibits on Tundra eco-communities including the wildlife & plants that live in the tundra.

Yellow Paintbrush

Mushroom Rock (eroded granite stem with a schist cap)

Tundra Overlook

Yellow-bellied Marmot This guy was my favorite, he sat on a rock and gorged himself, preparing to hibernate for winter, these guys sleep for 9 months of the year!!! and build up their body to 50% fat before hibernation.

This young bull elk was very proud of himself, prancing and posing for the on-lookers.

Yellow-bellied Marmot (he looks a lot younger than the one above)

Clark's Nutcracker

Elk

Milner Pass - Continental Divide

Poudre Lake

Pegmatite dikes     Farview Curve Overlook...

Kawuneeche Valley   While we were at the overlook, a lady pointed out a moose in the valley far below.  It was just a small speck in our binoculars, but what do ya know, when we drove down to the valley...there she was!

Never Summer Mountains

Beaver Ponds Moose   It had begun to rain before we reached our destination of the Coyote Valley Trailhead so we decided to call it a day and headed back to Estes Park.  We drove down to the Riverwalk in Estes Park and had dinner at Mama Rose's Italian Restaurant.  This was one of the best restaurants in town, I thoroughly recommend the signature Lasagna and the Spaghetti with Meatballs, fantastic!     Day 2 - Small hikes   Kurt had researched some small hikes with a book, 12 Short Hikes, Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park by Tracy Salcedo and decided to try a few on our second day there.  The first one we did was #8 Nymph Lake, Dream Lake & Emerald Lake.  Funnily enough, we discovered that with me stopping to look at all the flowers and plants and Kurt stopping to take pictures, the estimated hike time in the guidebook ended up being doubled!  LOL.  Oh well, I don't care if the 60+ seniors were whizzing past us.  We had a great time and we were definitely smelling the roses, enjoying them and taking pictures of them too!  It's 1.8 miles to Emerald Lake and you get to see Nymph Lake & Dream Lake along the way.  The book warns that the trail between Dream & Emerald Lakes is more difficult (since it is steep) but I found it easier than the first portion of the hike since it was mostly make-shift steps with rocks & logs instead of a steady incline up (JMO, guess it depends on whether you prefer to walk up a slope or climb steps.)

Nymph Lake

Sticky Purple Geranium (?)

Steller's Jay

Common Harebell

Scarlet Paintbrush

Cascade between Nymph & Dream Lakes

Dream Lake

Rainbow Trout

Mama Duck & 2 babies

Common Harebell

Cascade between Dream & Emerald Lakes

Cascade between Dream & Emerald Lakes

Ground Squirrel

Emerald Lake

Cascade above Emerald Lake

I think this is a California Tortoiseshell, but I'm not a butterfly expert.

Red Squirrel

Steller's Jay   Alberta Falls Trail We decided to take the shuttle from the Bear Lake parking lot down to Glacier Gorge Junction since they have limited parking, then walk back.  Turns out we did it backwards.  The path to Alberta Falls is all down hill from the Emerald Lake trail.  You're supposed to walk to the Alberta Falls trailhead (about half a mile, down hill all the way) and take the shuttle back to the Bear Lake parking lot from Glacier Gorge Junction.  I thoroughly recommend doing it that way instead, our hiking book was a little outdated and they had redone the trailheads.  LOL.  I was very tired by the time we trudged all the way back up.  From the trailhead at Glacier Gorge Junction, it's about 1/3 mile to the trailhead to Alberta Falls and it's definitely not flat, then it's about .6 miles up to Alberta Falls and I'd say moderately steep.

Ground Squirrel

Alberta Falls

Alberta Falls   We trekked back up, up, up, and further up, the trail back to Bear Lake parking area, then we drove down to Sprague Lake and took a flat hike around that lake.  The Sprague lake loop is about half a mile and relatively flat.

Steller's Jay

Sprague Lake

Duck breaking the glassy surface of Sprague Lake

Three ducks diving...tee hee!  You know, I always love this shot.   We called it a day and headed back to town to get ready for dinner.  We had dinner at the Twin Owls Steakhouse at the Black Canyon Inn.  This place was really fantastic inside, great atmosphere!  Kurt had a Buffalo Prime Rib and I had the duck special.  Great food.  I thoroughly recommend this place as well!   Day 3 - Fall River Road We decided to travel up the old Fall River Road on our next excursion, this is an old partially paved, partially dirt/gravel road that is also described in the National Geographic's Rocky Mountain National Park Road Guide.  We passed through the Fall River Entrance to the park and travelled up to...

Chasm Falls   There are some beautiful views of the Horseshoe Park and a lot of peaceful pull-offs to observe wildlife along the Fall River Road.  We were going to stop at Marmot Point (Short Hikes #12) at the end but it was really cold so we decided to keep on going.  After finishing Fall River Road, we headed to the Crater Trailhead which is just up from Poudre Lake.  We saw a doe mule deer on our way up but then we had to come back down and never made it to the top.  You never know when altitude sickness will hit you.  So we had our picnic lunch at Beaver Ponds in the hopes of spotting another moose but no luck.   Coyote Valley Trailhead   We decided to finish off the day by hiking around the Coyote Valley Trailhead which is a relatively flat trail with exhibits on wildlife and the valley which follows the Colorado River for about half a mile.  We saw lots of butterlies, grasshoppers & wildflowers as well as some ground squirrels, chipmunks and red squirrels.

Sagebrush Checkerspot on a Canada Thistle

Yellow Paintbrush

Kurt found this squirrel sleeping on a log by the Colorado River, a chipmunk ran up and he chased him off then settled back to sleep while we sat on a bench and watched.   We called it a day and went out to eat at Poppy's Pizza on the Riverwalk beside the Mama's Restaurant (I think these are family owned).  The Pizza at this place is fantastic!  And they have a great beer selection!   Day 4 On Wednesday, we decided to stay in town and explore around.  First up, we went over to Aerial Tramway and took a Tram ride...

Aerial Tram to overlook at Estes Park, Colorado

View of Estes Park from overlook.

Lake Estes

Estes Park

Chipmunk

After the tram ride, we went shopping in Downtown Estes Park and had lunch.  Then we went over to the Stanley Hotel for a history and ghost tour.  You can schedule these ahead of your trip and they cost $10 per person.  We had a pretty large group, so reservations are recommended.  (View of Stanley from the overlook at the tram ride).

I'll start with the pic of Room 217.  We weren't able to go in since someone was staying there when we went on our tour, but this is one of the most active paranormal rooms in the hotel and, of course, the room in which Stephen King stayed while at the Stanley.  It's said that on the last day of the season that he stopped by the Stanley, convinced the manager to let him stay (since everyone was leaving) and he went into the bar and got trashed, then tried to find his room (hmmm...that reminds me of someone else I know...), but ended up wandering around the hotel and came up with the story for the Shining that night.  He actually wrote quite a bit of the book here in this room and stayed there on at least 3 separate occasions while completing the book.  Funnily enough, one of the ladies on our tour was staying in the room on the fourth floor exactly above this one, and I think her grandmother neglected to tell her that the hotel was haunted before planning their trip!  LOL.

This is the long hallway (from the mini-series since the original movie wasn't filmed in the hotel).  Kurt thinks that's an orb coming out of the doorway to the right.  One of the other ladies in our group had an orb in her photos along this same hallway a little further down.  This is the fourth floor, where the children and their nannies stayed back in the day because apparently FO Stanley felt that children shouldn't be seen or heard!  LOL  This floor is also heavy with paranormal activity.  Earlier in the week of our tour, a lady staying in the room to the right heard footsteps outside her door in the middle of the night and a couple down the hall woke up to find the couch (seen farther down the hall in the photo) blocking their door when they opened it.

This is the Ice House (from the snowmobile scene in the mini-series).

This is the Pet Cemetery (not from the book), the owners, managers and other employees who lived in the hotel buried their pets here.

Kurt & the Stanley Steamer.  I didn't know this but the Stanleys actually made their money from developing a patented glass for photography equipment that enabled photographers to take pictures more quickly.   After our ghost tour, we finished touring downtown and went back to the hotel to take a nap.  I sat up and saw an elk crossing the sidewalk outside our room and before Kurt could get the camera, he was taking a swim in the lake!

Elk swimming in Lake Estes

Our room had a shared balcony along the Lake, what a great view.  The guy in the room next to us said a whole herd of about 30 joined him later that night, but Kurt & I had decided to go over to the Sheep Lakes and see if we could find some Big Horn Sheep.

Mountain Bluebird We spent some time at Sheep's Lakes near dusk watching wildlife.

Pack of coyotes playing in Horseshoe Park.

Big Horn Sheep on the rocks across the road from Sheep Lakes.   After spotting the Big Horn Sheep, we decided to return to town for dinner and stopped at Nicky's Restaurant, which was a wonderful little place for comfort food, I recommend the pork chops, which they serve with apple sauce.  As we were leaving the restaurant we were treated to a quick glimpse of a red fox in our headlights across from the parking lot.   Day 5   We decided to make the hike to Copeland Falls & Calypso Cascades (#1 in the short hikes book).  There was another falls another mile up the trail but we decided we'd had enough and stopped at just the 2.  It's just under 2 miles up to Calypso Cascades and you pass Copeland Falls on the way up.  The trail has log and stone steps as with the Emerald Lake trail, but it's longer and has a larger change in elevation.

Lower Copeland Falls

Lower Copeland Falls

Upper Copeland Falls

Upper Copeland Falls

Views along the St. Vrain River on the hike up to Calypso Cascades

Views along the St. Vrain River on the hike up to Calypso Cascades

Red Squirrel

Calypso Cascades   After our hike, we decided to drive around and look for wildlife.  We headed back to Sheep Lakes and a couple of the coyotes were playing in the field, then they walked up close to the parking area and Kurt got some great shots of one of them.

Coyote at Sheep's Lake (Horseshoe Park)

After the coyotes left, we drove down the road to the Cub Lake Trailhead and saw some elk in Moraine Park.

As we left the park that day, we saw a bunch of cars pulled off on the side of the road at Buck Creek (just past the Beaver Meadows Entrance Station), so we stopped to see what was going on.  There were 6 adult male mule deer and 2 little ones lounging around.  What a great end to a wildlife filled day!

Wilson's Warbler   On our last day, we decided to go in search of moose in the Beaver Ponds area again but no luck once again.  So we spent the rest of the day shopping for souvenirs and then we played a couple of games of miniature golf at the fun park just down the road from the lodge.  Once again, a great relaxing vacation!   Recommended books:   National Geographic's Rocky Mountain National Park Road Guide (The Essential Guide for Motorists) by Thomas Schmidt   Twelve Short Hikes, Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park by Tracy Salcedo   Geology Along Trail Ridge Road (A Self-Guided Tour for Motorists) by Omer B. Raup   Rocky Mountain Nature Guide by Andy Bezener & LInda Kershaw