Rocky Mountain National Park, CO
Oct 18, 2022
Written By: H.Couch
Colorado is spectacular. The big blue sky, the glowing sun and the range of mountains always present. There are so many beautiful destinations and small towns to visit that we have created quite a bit of a to-do list. However, there are always a few go-to places to take out of town visitors.
One of these spectacular destinations is Rocky Mountain National Park. RMNP is so special that anytime we have a visitor we take the scenic drive up the mountains to the National Park.
With having such a beautiful fall weather day, we decided to take our recent visitor, Uncle Clark, to see all the abounding beauty. Heading up through Boulder, Lyons and up thought the canyon along Little Thompson River, we arrive into Estes Park. A heard of elk were resting away in the nearby park, so of course we had to stop and check that out. Up on the hill sits the historic Stanley Hotel, it is famous for a lot of reasons but one that most people have heard, it was used for filming the inside scenes for Stephen King’s, The Shining.
Once in the park, there are many pull outs to see fantastic views in all directions of the surrounding mountains and valleys.
At Many Parks Curve Overlook, there is a small parking lot on both ends of the curve to park and a nice walkway along the ridge to get amazing views of the valleys below. This is a spot that you will want to stop.
Rainbow Curve Overlook, is another good stop to see more views from a little higher up and looking out to the east side of the park.
Up near Forest Canyon Overlook, there are a few pull outs to get views of the mountains to the south. There is a small walk out to the overlook for some more spectacular views.
We had packed our lunches and planned to eat somewhere in the mountains of the park. After stopping at a few pull outs to take in the scenery and pictures, we arrived at the Alpine visitor center. Sitting at 11,796 feet, the visitor center feels like you are on the top of the world. Rocky Mountain National Park is a wonder of valleys, mountain peaks, alpine tundra and wildlife. When you reach the top of Alpine ridge road you have arrived into the tundra and have to be prepared for extreme weather. But we couldn’t have been luckier with beautiful blue skies, light breeze and the sun shining.
We ate our favorite vegan tofu Banh Mi sandwiches from Vinh Xuong Bakery and basked in how lucky we were to be in the most beautiful place.
Jon and Uncle Clark even hiked up the Alpine Ridge Trail, an additional stair case and trail that takes you up to 12,005 feet. I took a nap in the sun. Just enjoying everything around. You don’t get many days up here as beautiful as this one was. Check out Jon’s 360 shot below of the awesome view. He almost got the shot with no one in it, there is one lady in the distance walking away. Being the only one at the top by yourself doesn’t happen too often.
If you had all day in the park, you could drive in from the east side, Estes Park and drive out of Grand Lake on the southwest side of the mountains. Making a huge loop from one side of the park to the other. The Grand Lake side of the park is beautiful too, and has an old rustic lodge that was built in 1920 and sits on the hill overlooking Grand Lake, Colorado’s largest natural lake. Unfortunately, in late 2020 they had a huge wildfire in that area. Luckily, thanks to the many fire fighters, the lodge was saved. But a lot of the surrounding area was burned. It was called The East Troublesome Fire and burned 193,812 acres of forest, destroyed more than 400 houses, making it the second-largest fire in state history. It is slowly growing back but will be years before it is anything like it was.
No matter when you travel to Colorado for a visit, Rocky Mountain National Park is always a good choice for viewing spectacular scenery or wildlife. Keep in mind that once the snow starts falling, they do block off the road at Many Parks Curve Overlook, so you cannot get up to Alpine visitor center during the winter. Trust me, you would not want to drive that road in ice conditions.
Thanks for wandering with us,
The Wandering Couchs
