We are now staying Fort Collins, Colorado for a few days. Bruce said he thought he recognized the RV park so we must have stayed here before. I went back and checked and he was correct we stayed here in 2017 in early October. We were here with plans to visit Rocky Mountain National Park but did not make it. They had an early season very heavy snow storm the night before we were going, it caused major power outages west of Denver shutting down tunnels on one the interstates. People were trapped on the interstate for hours as they worked to route people off the interstate to other roads to get through the mountains. We were not going to be on that interstate but after listening to all the news reports in the morning we decided to just stay in this area as we did not want to get tangled up in traffic and snow issues. Talking to the guide we had on this trip he said we would have been safe. He actually lives in this town and commutes to the park every day and he said the snow did not cause an impact in the park or on his route. He said listening to the news can be confusing because they make really broad statement about the weather impact which gives the impression the park is impacted.
At this national park you have to get a timed/dated permit to enter the park in addition to your park pass, they are only $2. The problem is that they are limiting the number of people in the park and you have a 2 hour window in which you can enter. Once in you can exit and return but you have to first enter in those 2 hours. They start selling them a couple of months before the time slot and we were able to get one but not until a slot starting at 4 in the afternoon on one day to be able to enter the Bear Lake Road Corridor. It has the most restrictions as it is the most popular area with hikers, they even have shuttles running in that area to handle the heavy traffic. You can enter that area before 5AM or after 6PM without the permit. For the whole rest of the park you just need a permit between 9AM and 3PM.
You can also enter the park if you have booked with a guide company, which we had also done. You still have to have your park pass but apparently the commercial guides have access to some of the permits.
We met our guide in Estes Park at the Visitor Center at a little before 8 in the morning. Due to Covid they no longer have you ride in their van although there are some guide companies that will still have you ride with them but they are in big open sided jeeps that hold up to 8 people and they looked a little crowded. We have done the open jeep tour at Big Bend National Park and I would only do it again if I was able to get the tour for just the two of us like we had it in Big Bend. I had researched this before we left but could not find a tour slot that was in our time frame.
Our tour company has you drive in your vehicle behind there van and they give you a walkie talkie they use during the day to give on the information about the park. The picture below shows a view from inside the truck and you can see the walkie talkie laying in the truck. You do stop at many locations and get out and meet together as a group to either check out a view or do a short hike. I guess it is up to you rather you wear the mask when you get out since we are in the open.
There was only one other couple on our tour and they were talking with the guide when we got to the meet up spot. They were a young couple that had flown to this area from the east coast. They had a rental car and had gotten a flat tire the night before and were unable to get it fixed and did not want to drive through the park with one of those tiny little donut tires. None of the repair places were open yet and they were trying to figure out what their options were as they had another tour early the next morning (4 hour hike starting at 6). We discussed the options and Bruce and I volunteered to leave an hour later to allow them time to get the flat fixed if the guide was agreeable. He was, so they started the search for a place to fix the flat, this is a small tourist town. After checking with 3 locations they finally found someone that could take them in immediately and got it fixed. We were back on the road by 9:15.
The guide was good, has been living in the area for a long time and know all about the history of the area. We followed behind his van with the other couple behind us and we had a good view.
The first part of the drive was not too bad but then we got on a stretch that is only open part of the year because it is the old dirt road that is 9 miles long, it is called the Old Fall River Road.
I was watching for mile markers as we went up it and when we hit mile two I could not believe we had only covered two miles, seemed like we had been on there for hours. I have included a picture below that shows part of the road, it fortunately is only 1 way for the 9 miles and you eventually get to the Alpine Visitors Center.
We passed a sign warning us about snowfields.
At a later point on the trip you actually can see this road from a distance and then you realize how high up you are on the side of the mountain. It is way above the two lower roads.
We made a few stops on the road into the park and the dirt road, got to see a few waterfalls and other scenic sights and of course a few animals. Heard about the history of different avalanches that have changed the direction of some creeks/rivers.
Up at this elevation they still have snow in some areas, not a lot but it was still there. We did not stop at the visitors center but stopped before it to get a good view of the area.
After this we headed down another direction that took us out of the park at another entrance were we drove into a little town called Grand Lake where we stoped to have lunch. A little touristy town that still had wood sidewalks, lots of little stores and eating places and is built beside a lake.
After lunch we headed back into the park and had to stop a few times because of work along side to road. They are cutting down many of the trees that were burned in the wildfires over the last few years so they would stop traffic when they were cutting close to the road in case a tree fell the wrong way. I got an interesting picture of one of the burn areas where the trees looked like they are melting. The fire and wind had been so intense the trees just bent over.
When we got to the Alpine Visitor Center we headed back across the park on a paved road stopping at different view points. We passed a huge herd of elk on a big open meadow but unfortunately no place to pull off the road. I was able to get pictures as we drove past. No big bull elks in the herd but the guide said it was still a little early for them to be back with the herd. The guide told us there is a herd of elk that actually live on the golf course in town and never migrate up higher.
At some of the stops we saw Pika and Marmots.
We ran across a group of wild turkeys in one area.
We stopped at the sign for the Continental Divide and the guide gave us a good tip on how to take a unique picture on your iPhone using the PANO setting. He demonstrated it using the other couple’s phone and it resulted in showing them standing on each side of the Continental Divide sign in the same photo. I will have to try that later at an interesting spot. For now we just have the picture of the sign.
Along part of the road there were lots of big rock formations.
At one point while up high looking down at a couple of lakes the guide spotted a Bull Moose in one of the lakes. Just looked like a black spot to me but Bruce had our really big lens and he could tell it was a moose. Eventually we got down to the lakes and he was still there so we could get close up pictures. He spent most of his time facing away from us.
While at that view point and several other times when we stopped we saw chipmunks and we also had a Magpie come to visit.
We wrapped the tour up with the guide when we got down to the lake with the moose, it was around 5:30.
We opted to stay in the park so we could access the Bear Lake section after 6:00. While we have a permit to go in that area, it was for the next day. At this point we thought we might as well stay for the next 30 minutes and save us a drive back the next day.
The Bear Lake area has very good wide paved roads and a huge parking lot at the end. When we got to the parking lot we walked the trail down to Bear Lake and it is a very good trail, made wheel chair accessible for much of it.
We walked around just a short part of the lake, mostly trying to find a bird we could hear but not see. We did find a squirrel.
I suggested we walk around the entire lake as the sign said the trail was only a half a mile long. We then came across another sign that explained the grade for the trail in the different sections and decide there was no way we could circle the lake as the grade had frequent changes and went up to 14 degrees in some areas.
We decided to call it a night after Bear Lake and headed back to Estes Park to find a place to eat. That took awhile as most places had already closed. Finally ate and headed back to Fort Collins on the winding dark canyon road.
Update on Aug 21 – Bruce just showed me an article online reporting that part of Rocky Mtn National park was closed yesterday because of snow. It was part of the Fall River Road, the dirt road, it was shut down until they could get snow plows to come clear it. They had a really nice picture of the road with snow along it.
How beautiful… love the moose