National Park Photos of the Day

National Park Photos of the Day

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

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For a couple of national parks in the Rocky Mountains, winter isn't quite over yet. Check out the NPS photo below from earlier this week showing 22 foot drifts near Bus Terminus on Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. Trail Ridge Road runs through the heart of the park, and is the highest continuous paved road in the United States. The road climbs to 12,183 feet and connects the towns of Estes Park and Grand Lake. Near the road's highest point, at Lake Irene near Milner Pass, there are still 114 inches of snow on the ground!

There has been so much new snow in Colorado this month that Aspen and Arapahoe Basin will be reopening to skiers during the Memorial Day weekend.

Record snows in Wyoming are also causing problems in and around Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. The Beartooth Highway, the scenic highway that links the communities of Cooke City and Red Lodge, Montana, will not be open for the holiday weekend. The road is still buried under more than 25 feet of snow in some spots, and has pushed back the plowing schedule as crews continue working on the road - as you can see in this NPS Photo:


If planning a trip to any of these parks, you may want to check this NPS Digest report for more details.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com

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RMNP Day 3: Old Ute Trail

RMNP Day 3: Old Ute Trail

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

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Never doubt the warning that weather in the Colorado Rockies can change quickly….

Figuring out where the Old Ute Trail is located can be a little confusing. One section runs from the Alpine Visitor Center at Fall River Pass to Milner Pass. The section we decided to hike, apparently unconnected to the other, begins about 2 miles above Rainbow Curve on Trail Ridge Road. This is an excellent trail that allows you to enjoy high alpine and tundra scenery without having to do a lot of climbing. That is, if you turn around at the 2 mile point. Beyond that, the trail descends rapidly all the way down to Beaver Meadows in Moraine Park.

The trail begins from a very small parking area with enough room for only four vehicles (with another small lot about a 0.25 mile above). With the exception of a historical information kiosk, the trailhead isn’t marked. The kiosk explains that the trail was used by Arapaho and Ute Indians on their way to winter and summer hunting grounds.

Big view rewards are immediate:

This is a relatively flat trail, with two short climbs that take you across Tombstone Ridge; the first at the very beginning of the hike, with the second beginning roughly at the one mile mark.

We passed a herd of elk near the beginning of the hike, and then another at about the half way point. Both herds, numbering maybe 20 in size, were a good quarter of a mile off the trail.

After climbing the second hill, the trail tops out at 11,675 feet. From this point forward you’ll have commanding views of Longs Peak towards the south, the highest mountain in the park.

Once reaching the top, the trail begins drifting downhill. Eventually you’ll see a large rock just off to the side of the trail. This is your destination. From here you’ll have outstanding views of Longs Peak all the way down to Moraine Park and Estes Park.

You should expect lots of wind and sun on this trail. Being above the tree line you’ll have panoramic views along the entire length of your trek.

We began our hike under beautiful blue skies. As the day progressed, clouds began to build. At the turn around point, the clouds began to darken a little, and by the time we were half-way back to the trailhead, the clouds were looking downright threatening.

I thought for sure we were going to make it back before the rain would start. Our luck didn’t quite hold out. It started to drizzle, then sleet, and then we started getting pelted by small pea-sized hail. When the wind started whipping up, faces and exposed legs were stinging.

This was a much needed short and easy hike for us so that we would have fresh legs for our 13-mile hike up to the summit of Mt. Lady Washington the next day.

Trail: Old Ute Trail
RT Distance: 4 miles
Elevation Gain: 325
Max Elevation: 11,675


National Geographic Trail Map for RMNP:













Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com Detailed information on trails in the Smoky Mountains; includes trail descriptions, key features, pictures, video, maps, elevation profiles, news, hiking gear store, and more.

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Rocky Mountain National Park: An overview

Rocky Mountain National Park: An overview

Saturday, September 19, 2009

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Before I begin posting hike reports from our Rocky Mountain National Park trip, I wanted to give you all a short overview of the park. Our recent trip to the Rockies marks my seventh visit to the park in the last 20+ years.

Anyone who’s ever been to this magnificent park in Colorado can surely identify, on some level, with John Denver’s lyrics.

With roughly 360 miles of trails, the park is an absolute hiker’s paradise. Altitude in the park ranges from 7500 to 14,259 feet and slices through montane, sub-alpine and alpine zones. Ecologically speaking, a drive up Trail Ridge Road effectively takes you to the Arctic Circle – and will definitely feel like it on most days.

Trail Ridge Road is also the highest paved road for any national park in the United States, cresting at 12,183 feet before it crosses the Continental Divide when driving towards Grand Lake. It was opened to the public in 1932. Prior to its completion, Horace Albright, director of the National Park Service, predicted; "It is hard to describe what a sensation this new road is going to make. You will have the whole sweep of the Rockies before you in all directions."

Rocky Mountain National Park is also home to elk, mule deer, moose, bighorn sheep, black bears, coyotes, mountain lions, eagles, hawks and more than 300 species of birds.

One-third of the park is above tree line. Besides the incredible scenery, the park is famous for the aspens that turn a brilliant golden yellow in the fall, as well as the hundreds of elk that congregate in the Moraine Park area during the rut season.

The first settlers to move into the area arrived in 1860. Joel Estes, a Kentuckian, and his son Milton, rode into the valley that bears their name the year before while scouting for game. The father and son decided to return after climbing a high promontory that gave them a commanding view of the breathtakingly beautiful valley.

I was a bit confused the first time I visited Estes Park back in 1986. I expected to see a town or county park of some type. Instead, I found an actual town. I didn’t understand the use of the word “park”. It wasn’t until later that I discovered that Coloradoans refer to large, high-elevation meadows and grass basins, as parks. Thus the source of the names such as Estes, Woodland, Winter, and even South Park, which is located about 50 miles west of Colorado Springs.

In the years that followed, the Rockies attracted various adventurers, including the great explorer John Wesley Powell who, in 1868, conquered Longs Peak, the highest point in the park. Just five years later, Anna Dickinson became the first woman to succeed in making the climb.

Isabella Bird, an Englishwoman whose extensive travels and writings earned her the first female membership in the Royal Geographic Society, visited Estes Park in the fall of 1873. She fell in love with the area and published a book; A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains. This began attracting tourists to the area.

In 1903, F. O. Stanley, inventor of the Stanley Steamer automobile, came to Estes Park for his health. Impressed by the beauty of the valley and grateful for the improvement to his health, he decided to invest his money and his future there. In 1909, he opened the elegant Stanley Hotel.

The hotel became famous in recent times when novelist Stephen King found his inspiration for "The Shining" after staying in an almost empty hotel on the night before it closed for the winter. Although the hotel wasn’t used as a backdrop for the movie, it was used for the three-part 1997 television miniseries.

On January 26, 1915, President Woodrow Wilson signed legislation that created Rocky Mountain National Park, and in 1976, the park received recognition from the United Nations as an international Biosphere Reserve.

Our most recent trip to the Rockies was certainly the rainiest and the coolest we've experienced in Colorado. It rained every single day we were there. Although we had a window of very pleasant weather each morning, it felt like rain, or the threat of rain, was chasing us out of the wilderness each day. By the end of the week it got so cold that it snowed in the upper elevations, requiring us to make a few adjustments to our itinerary.

All in all though, we still had an excellent trip with some outstanding hiking.

By the way, if you’ve been to Gatlinburg, you’ve been to Estes Park.

Tomorrow I will be posting my report and pictures from our hike to Lake Helene and Odessa Lake.

If you want to see some absolutely stunning photography of the mountains of Colorado, check out Colorado II by world renowned photographer, David Muench:















> Please click here to see a summary of trail reports and photos from our hikes in the Rockies.

Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com Detailed information on trails in the Smoky Mountains; includes trail descriptions, key features, pictures, video, maps, elevation profiles, news, hiking gear store, and more.

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