RMNP — Summer 2020 — a camping trip during a pandemic !! (last half)..
Day 4 -
The agenda for today was to hike in a different part of this national park. This national park is huge and thus we divided it every day to explore one part to the fullest.
One thing about this national park is, given it’s in the mountains, you will find tons of lake hikes. We had Cub lake as our next hike as it was a little longer. So see , we are slowly upping our game ;). Cub Lake is 5.6 miles round trip from the Cub Lake Trailhead. Cross a bridge over Big Thompson River and hike through wildflower meadows and Aspen forests before reaching the lake. It’s a relatively flat hike with only gradual up hills.
Cub Lake’s surface is riddled with yellow pond-lilies and reflects Stones Peak and the surrounding mountainsides. From Cub Lake, you can continue on to The Pool and Fern Lake, which we didn’t do. We got lucky to see a female moose bathing in the cub lake. What a treat!!! This is a rare sight and was so exciting as the crowds on this trail was very less which meant that we got to enjoy a lot of picturesque spots and take tons of pics. We enjoyed the views of Cub lake for a while and headed back to the trailhead. At the end , almost half mile away we were drenched in heavy showers but it was fun.
After eating some quick lunch in the car itself we decided not to do any more hikes that day and drove to Trail ridge road. We wanted to have some adrenaline push so took Old Fall river road instead of regular, paved hwy 34 all through. Mind you, this road is one way and ends up at Alpine visitor center, cut through mountains, passing through pines and greeted by marmots peeking through the rocks/crevices on the side of the road.
Alpine visitor center — Set at a lofty height of 11,796 feet (3,596 meters), this high-altitude facility affords far-reaching views across the Rocky Mountain alpine tundra. Nothing I say will or can do justice as there are no words which can describe this extraordinary view it provides. I will let my pictures speak for now. Enjoy.
After the hike here we headed back to our campsite through the Trail ridge road which is the highest continuous paved road in the United states. It’s a must drive if you are visiting RMNP, especially for adrenaline junkies. You will regret it if you miss this!! Do look out for wildlife on this drive as we saw a herd of Elk (what a rare sight to see some 20 or more Elk including calves) returning as it was 0530pm. We were going crazy clicking videos, pictures and enjoying hearing them bugling. It’s a treat to see wildlife in their habitat and the way you know if someone spotted anything is traffic jam :). So one of telling if there is some wildlife around. We also spotted a white tailed deer near our campsite.
What a terrific way to end the day !!! just to start another day , nice and fresh.
Day 5 -
Our last day at RMNP where we planned to explore a little farther area called Wild basin area which is a part of RMNP and that’s where the Longs peak trailhead is. We have never been to this part before. Ouzel falls were on our agenda today. A hike to Ouzel Falls on the Wild Basin Trail is the perfect outing for families or couples looking for an enjoyable hike. It’s a 5.4 mile round trip but for us ended being 7 miles since the parking is less and all spots were taken so we got 1 mile away from the trailhead. Not knowing that it is this famous hike we realized that we were a bit late (reached there around 10am since the drive was 30 mins from our campsite to this trailhead). We hiked to the falls passing by Copeland falls, Calypso cascades and finally the Ouzel falls. It was well beyond worth it but we were tired after the end of this hike which took 4.5 hours round trip for us. Enjoyed to the core and maybe next time explore this area more for sure. That day we took it easy and just returned to RMNP and drove again to Trail ridge road in hopes to get to see some wild-life again but to our disappointment we saw none. We tried though ! We returned to the campsite and enjoyed one last night at RMNP. This night offered the most clear skies of all nights here and so in the morning around 4am , right from our tents we saw the “Milky way’’ and captured it , all on our phone camera. Wow , imagine you sleeping in your tent and when you look up in the skies, you see the Milky way. My mouth was left wide-open in awe and tears rolled down just to see mother nature. Simply beautiful!!
Day 6-
Today we start our journey to head back home (Texas). Last few days with nature were amazing. I was not ready to come home but there was no choice. On our drive back, we had decided to drive upto Mt. Evans which is a 14er but when we reached there , we found out that the road to the Mt. Evans was closed due to the pandemic. I was a bit disappointed but we decided to once again visit Pikes Peak , one of the famous tourist destinations. We never drove to Pikes Peak so indeed was one last adventure. Glad we did it as we saw a few bighorn sheep and lambs. We enjoyed the views of the horizon from the summit of Pikes Peak which sits at 14,256ft and clouds meeting mountains. It was an amazing view and the drive for the last 3–4 miles was daredevil types. Finally we took a night halt at Colorado springs , and the next day headed home.
A week with mother nature was so well worth it, especially during the pandemic and stressful times. A much needed break from the world for a few days.
