The Top of the World

We spent Sunday in the park with about two million of the three million people who visit Rocky Mountain National Park each year. The roads were busy. Some folks were rude. Some ignored the multitude of signs and ranger admonitions not to walk on slow growing tundra or feed the wildlife. It didn’t matter and couldn’t take away from this place. All those superlatives I’ve used for other parks, and all of the times I’ve told you people to go here or there, they all apply to Rocky Mountain. Danine and I loved it (Elise was tolerant).

The Trail Ridge Road is the highest through road in the nation. After winding up amidst montane forests and subalpine forests, we found ourselves above the tree line and on top of the world. Up above 11,000 feet the terrain is similar to that found at the Arctic Circle. We drove in the midst of tundra and rock, with the occasional slow-melting drift of snow. Tundra is not merely stubbly grass. Walk a trail and you can see the numerous grasses, mosses, lichen, wildflowers, and other plants that make up this complex and painfully slow growing (hundreds of years to recover from damage) ecosystem.





Danine was photographing a small group of female elk trotting along when we came around a bend and saw the whole herd. It mosied and then ran across the road and down the broad meadow toward the treeline. It was breathtaking. The elk, moving as one, were far more elegant and noble than the other large mammal species gawking nearby.



We drove across the Continental Divide to a picnic spot near Lake Irene. The Clarks Nutcrackers swooped and eyed us as we ate, hoping for a dropped Triscuit or two. We watched a ground squirrel run under our feet and settle for a black banana peel (not ours), which he nibbled for awhile. Then we continued a little farther to an overlook called Farview. The view looks south down the Kawuneeche Valley. Far below us a small, snaking Colorado River can be seen beginning its long journey to faucets in southern California. There we stood and chatted with a ranger about moose, bark beetle infestation, birds, and other things. Elise dubbed this ranger Ms. Information.




The Kawuneeche Valley

Danine and I would love to come back here and backpack. The park almost begs you to do this in summer. Everywhere you look, you see a place it would be lovely to walk to. Like most parks, if you walk less than a half mile from the road 90% of the people disappear. Tomorrow we are going to take a hike to a waterfall and a mountain lake. I can’t wait.