Rocky Mountain National Park: Part 1

We were delayed Monday July 20th while traveling east on our way back to Kansas and unexpectedly stayed in Boise Idaho and let the girls swim at a hotel while the van's transmission fluid was changed. We had it changed the week before and the seal was faulty, resulting in a slow leak.  There were no residual effects of this problem however beyond the one day delay, and we were back on the road late afternoon the next day. With warm temperatures and our delayed travel we decided the last stop of the summer whirlwind trip would be Rocky Mountain National Park.

We pulled into Walden Colorado and found out it is claimed to be the Moose capital of Colorado. We saw this bull moose the next morning on our way to Rocky Mountain NP. We would see a handful of cow moose during our visit but this was the only bull.

This stop was not only Michaela and Danielle's first time in the park, it was also ours as well and we loved the views.  

 

 

The alpine views available from the hike almost offset the huffing and elevation sickness.

All our bellies hurt a bit after the high elevation hike, so we stayed lower in the park the second day which is described in the second post of the Rocky Mountain National Park.

The last day we ventured back to Trail Ridge Road and the Alpine. Shortly after leaving trees we found a traffic jam and found elk and bighorn sheep.  We parked the car down the road and waited for the bighorn sheep to walk toward us.

We spent the next half hour sitting along the road watching animals.

 

We sat back from these wild animals, but not everyone did. :(

There were a few small animals in the park as well.

  

Least Chipmunk, Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel, and American Pika were throughout the park.

The large animals animals were easier to find however.

 

Elk were everywhere but Bighorn Sheep were limited. 

Yellowstone

So you already know from the previous two posts that we saw many of the main Yellowstone attractions and camped at Norris campground, so this blog post is mostly photos with only a bit of story.
 

Lower Falls of Yellowstone

We visited Artist Point viewing the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River. The girls enjoyed it, but after seeing Gibbon Falls and Tower Falls they were less impressed than I had expected. Perhaps this is a location where one's memory grows in time and seeing others' photos of the same location.... we'll have to wait and see. 

  

The top photo is my favorite of the trip, the bottom two will need some help from Photoshop once we return home.

Old Faithful

Yellowstone is know for the geothermal activity, with over a quarter of the entire world's geyser viewable from the Old Faithful Lodge and visitor center. The tallest geyser in the world is just north of this location at the Norris basin. The girls thoughts can be heard on the video below.

Christine and I would have preferred to visit Yellowstone the first week of June or earlier, but schedules put us here in July. The main drawback of mid summer can be seen on this picture. 

Hot Springs

We quickly squeezed in a stop at Mammoth Terrace the first night, then walked Fountain Paint Pot basin the second day.

 

 

Other Stops

 

 

Petrified Tree and Tower were quick stops the first day...ice cream at the second of course in 80+ weather.

Wildlife

 

Lastly, the major draw for us is wildlife.

 

 

 

Danielle's photos of a Mule Deer and Grizzly Bear are on top, another Mule Deer and Elk below.

Michaela hiked a good part of Mt Washburn with Christine while Danielle and I stopped earlier. Luckily it gave me an opportunity to look at butterflies. The best photo is below, but the other two unidentified butterflies can be seen here and here.   

 

 

Ravens, Juncos and Sparrows were common....butterflies were left unidentified.

For even more of our trip watch Michaela's reaction to being in the cave as the lights are turned off while in the Black Hills.