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Alisha says: Rocky Mountain National Park was our next stop. We camped at the Elk Creek Campground on the west side of the park. The first afternoon we drove to the Alpine Visitor Center and hiked the short Alpine Ridge Trail (lots of people) and part of the Ute Trail (much more pleasant, saw less than 10 people on the trail). After returning to the campground we rode our bikes into the little town of Grand Ridge where we found a park and let Skye play while we ate some takeout salads from across the street.
Ute Trail:
The next morning I made everyone get an early start because we were driving the entire Trail Ridge Road to the other side of the park to hike to Emerald Lake. We saw lots of elk out grazing in the meadows as we made the very scenic drive. After talking to the rangers at the visitor center the day before they suggested an early start as the parking lots often fill by 8:30 am. We arrived at the trail head parking just after 8:00 am and probably only missed getting a parking spot by a few cars which was a little frustrating so we drove back down the road to the overflow parking and rode the shuttle up to the trail head. The 3.5 mile hike was gorgeous. We passed two lakes, Nymph and Dream before reaching Emerald Lake. The views were spectacular and to make it a little interesting and fun the last portion of the trail we had to trek across the snow quite a bit. Skye was great as usual. After returning to the car we drove into the town of Estes Park for a yummy Indian buffet. It was hot in the town so we rested under a tree for a little while and walked around the busy town before the long drive back through the park to campground.
Views on the way to Emerald Lake:
Covering her eyes during a scary part of Moana on the drive back:
We had one more day in the area and had spent a lot of time in the car the previous day so we just stuck around Grand Ridge for the day. We did a little one mile hike to a waterfall called Adams Falls before returning to the town beach at Grand Lake to let Skye play in the sand and water. We grabbed
ice cream and lunch from a little food stand nearby.
Adams Falls:
1 comment:
Elk Creek Campground and Grand Lake is one of our favorite summer weekend escapes. We've gone every summer since moving here. Glad you enjoyed our state!
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