Estes Park, CO (Day 2)

Thursday, September 10

It’s a cold morning here in Rocky Mountain National Park! I woke before the rest of the family around 5:00am to a temperature outside of 35 degrees. It was too cold to workout outdoors, so I snuggled up under a blanket in the cab of our RV and blogged until the sun rose. As I typed, I listened to sleet hitting the front windshield. Brrr.

When Andi, Tory and Aden woke up around 7:00am, we ate breakfast together and did school in the RV. Online school is a little tricky for Tory without a solid internet connection, so we took the opportunity to learn about the state of Colorado, its wildlife and geographical landscape, and a lesson on time zones. The four of us sat around the table to review a map of Colorado and talked about where we’ve been so far, and where we’re going next.

Colder weather is here to stay for most of the week, so we bundled up and decided to make the most of it. This morning, Andi, Tory, Aden and I hiked a trail connecting to our campground vs. driving the RV to a trailhead or taking one of the many national park shuttle buses. As we walked through the campground to get to the trail, we saw lots of hardy people camped in tents (remember, it’s 35 degrees outside with snow on the ground)! Andi and I commented how empty the Moraine Park Campground was despite being advertised as “full.” I’d estimate that only 25% of campsites were occupied. We wondered if people stood up their reservations because of the weather or if the national park was only accepting this low number of campers due to COVID-19. Maybe both?

At the edge of the campground, we reached a horse trail that climbed the hillside overlooking Moraine Park Campground. We followed the dirt trail for about two miles and saw tons of wildlife up close and personal. We had the trail to ourselves, too, which was perfect. Since we’ve been in Rocky Mountain National Park, we’ve noticed that everyone wears a mask whether inside a building or outside walking around or hiking trails. For us, it’s easier to avoid crowds altogether.

Some of the mule deer we saw on the trail had velvet on their antlers, some had rubbed it all off by this point in the season and one we saw had red, bloody antlers fresh from scratching. It was pretty neat to see. Temperatures were in the low 40’s during our hike, but fortunately there wasn’t much wind so the weather was fairly enjoyable. We also had a nice viewpoint of the Moraine Valley below where herds of elk are known to frequent.

The best part about hiking close to camp is how easy it is to get back home! We left the horse trail and meandered our way through the campground to our RV. Once inside, Andi warmed up a pot of chicken noodle soup he’d made earlier that morning. It tasted so good to eat something warm after a chilly, active morning outdoors! Tory and Aden said repeatedly, “This soup is so good, Dad. Thank you!”

Next, Andi and I decided to take to drive the RV around the park to see some of the other popular landmarks. Trail Ridge Road, the highway that connects the east side and west side of the park is closed due to the Cameron Peak Wildfire, so we were only able to drive as far as Rainbow Curve. Still, it was a pretty drive along the roadway as we climbed higher in altitude. At Rainbow Curve, we parked at the overlook. Outside, we were completely submerged in a cloud. Tory was excited to “breath the air” to see if it tasted differently. Much to her disappointment, it did not.

Andi carefully drove our RV down the mountain again, this time stopping at Endovalley Picnic Area off Old Falls Road. My friend Val told me she saw a mama moose and her baby there last week, so we hoped luck would be on our side to see the pair today. Sure enough, there Mama Moose was there standing along the side of the road. Andi, Tory, Aden and I all crowded together in the front cab of our RV, faces pressed against the windshield, as we watched the baby moose cross the road in front of us to get to his mother.

Next, Andi drove our RV into the city limits of Estes Park. We’re considering camping in town tomorrow, so we drove through a few campgrounds to check out our options. The streets of Estes Park were lined with people shopping in gift shops, candy stores and ice cream shops. We drove through a pretty park down by the river and looked at a few neighborhoods in town. Andi makes it look easy navigating our big 25’ ft RV through crowded streets, but I know it is not! On a warmer day, I would have enjoyed walking around downtown Estes, but today we decided to head back into Rocky Mountain National Park and drag the kids on one more short hike before evening set in.

From Estes Park, we drove 20 minutes to the Bear Lake trailhead parking lot. Andi and I considered hopping on a Rocky Mountain NP shuttle bus to get to one of the many popular hikes available in the park, but honestly the idea of messing around with those logistics this afternoon sounded like a terrible idea. Instead, we found a parking spot for our RV toward the back of the lot and hiked part of the Bierstadt Trail which left from there.

The Bierstadt Trail is a 3-mile hike (one-way) to a lake, and we quickly discovered the trail is all uphill (or at least the first mile of it is). Tory and Aden were troopers though, and hardly complained. We’ve found that they enjoy hiking the most when there are rocks to scramble around or downed trees to climb over. If the trail is flat and open, they complain of boredom pretty quickly. The climb in elevation did mean that we had to stop for lots of breath breaks along the way.

Several inches of snow lined either side of the beaten path, and Aden couldn’t resist the temptation. He crept up behind Andi and (not so quietly) threw a gigantic snowball at Andi’s back. Oh, then it was on! Tory and Aden took turns throwing snowballs at Andi while he tossed clumps of snow their direction in rapid fire. The kids had a blast.

We hiked a little longer before Andi suggested we turn around and head back down the hill toward our RV. There was no way Tory and Aden would make it 3+ miles to the lake and back again. Maybe Andi and I wouldn't have either. That’s OK! It’s the journey, not the destination — right? We had fun hiking on the quiet Bierstradt Trail.

Back at camp, we heated up leftovers for dinner and enjoyed some chill time. The kids were snuggled up in pajamas and blankets with iPads firmly cemented to their hands. (Good luck convincing them to do anything else tonight!) Andi and I bundled up and decided to brave the light rain/snow mix falling outside for a quick walk around the campground.

Not sure if we’ll spend another day in the park tomorrow, head into Estes Park, or move on to a new area. The weather looks like one more day of cooler, cloudy temperatures before it warms up this weekend.