There and Back Again

Graham looking at Moraine meadow.

Come April 15, I’m going to remember Rocky Mountain National Park. Your tax dollars at work, folks, and what great work they are doing in the national park system.

We camped two nights at Moraine campground on the east side of the park. We overlooked an alpine valley — a high wetland where the elk came daily to nibble grasses and pose for photographs. In the distance, the rocky high peaks, still sporting big amounts of snow, posed in equally regal style.

High-stakes poker — winner gets the largest burger.

We hiked a couple of hours up to Mills Lake (I’m sure the kids will tell you about that), an alpine lake surrounded by rocky peaks. The trailhead was at an elevation of about 9,000 feet and we climbed a little less than a thousand feet, making this the highest place I’ve ever walked to. The beauty and altitude were breathtaking. We saw one hiker take the plunge, but the water temperature was cold enough to foil even Walker, the most intrepid of cold-water bathers.

Mills Lake

Our second day in the park we drove the Ridgetop Road, which climbs to over 12,000 feet in the center of the park. Above the treeline, tundra survives a very short growing season and an even shorter tourist season (what part of stay off the tundra do these folks not understand?) We saw herds of elk, two elk up close, a hastily retreating marmot, tiny wildflowers, snow pack, and mile upon mile upon mile of high peaks stretching into the distance.

As the chilly winds blew and we piled on the fleece, I thought of our buddies back in the hot and humid Southeast. It’s a big old country, this land is. Someone should be taking pictures.

–Tim

Tim above the tree line. That hairstyle I’m sporting is called a “tundra cut.”

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 28th, 2008 at 4:54 am and is filed under Tim. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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