RMNP

Day 18:  We started our morning with Sunday “Cowboy Church” at the Winding River Resort where a local pastor comes and preaches outside at the Colorado River.  I must say it was my first time I’ve heard the Bible and teachings of Jesus compared to taming a horse, but it was still a very nice message.  Two locals even came to accompany the service with guitar and mountain dulcimer.  💗. I wished I had brought my ukulele to the service to play along. After the service, we hitched up and headed over Trail Mountain Road to the east side or Rocky Mountain National Park to meet up with our besties, the Biscamps, but not before one last moose spotting on the road.

Two hours later, we arrived to Moraine Park Campground, and guess who pulled up right behind us?!

We relaxed and hung out all afternoon at the campground catching up on our two weeks of travels.  

Day 19:  The alarm went off at 5:00am for our “Bear Lake” day.  We tried to explore Bear Lake 3 summers ago, and arrived too late.  All the parking lots were full, even the shuttle and ride that year.  In National Parks, if the lot is full, the Ranger’s mentality is “too bad for you”....so we were determined to make it happen this year.  Bear Lake did not disappoint.  We arrived at 6:00am, and surprisingly were not the first ones there, but we did get a parking spot at the main trailhead!  👍. We started hiking the Bear Lake Nature Trail right as the sun was coming up over the mountain tops!

What a spectacular sight!  Pictures do not do it justice.

After we rounded the lake, we headed down the trail to Alberta Falls.

Carson was super impressed with the Biscamps awesome camera and took every chance he could to use it.  

Who knows, maybe we have a professional photographer on our hands?!

What goes down must come up....we took the hike back up to the trail head, and 4.5 total miles later, we were ready for a big breakfast!

We headed back to the campsite for a big brunch feast of cinnamon rolls, bacon, sausage, breakfast tacos, and watermelon.  Oh yeah!!!!  We all hit the sack and rested from our big hike that morning.  After resting, it was mid afternoon, and the “big kids” we were all ready to explore more, so we headed for Cub Lake Trail Head.  

This beautiful trail was 2.3 miles each way through the lush valley of wildflowers, butterflies, and birds.

Half of the crew turned back after a mile, but Curtis, Melissa and I trudged on to the top.  We should have turned around because the second 1.5 Miles was TOUGH!  

I was hoping for the spectacular Bear Lake, but we arrived to dead, burned trees, and a little lake filled with lily pads.  They definitely made the right choice to turn around.  4.75 miles later and 10 total miles of hiking that day, we made it back to the trailhead and were exhausted.

We were so happy to return to Chris’s giant pot of homemade chili!  Yum!!!!  What an awesome day!

Day 20:  We slept in a bit after our long day of hiking, to be ready for our “sightseeing” day.  We loaded up the trucks at 7:45am, and headed up Old Fall River Road.

This very windy dirt road took us all the way up to the Alpine Tundra and Alpine Visitor Center.

Before reaching the visitor center, we were greeted by a herd of male elk.

The boys were ready for a snack after the windy drive up.

We took the short up to the top of the Alpine Tundra.

It was so amazing to hike at the top of the Rocky Mountains.

We stopped at the Alpine Visitor Center for a quick lunch, then a drive on Trail Ridge Road.

The boys even were able to touch a real black Bear pelt.

The road was so spectacular!  You feel like you’re on top of the world.

We made it back to the campsite for naps, happy hour, and an early dinner.  Tomorrow we hitch up and head for Jackson!