It has been said that America’s best idea was it’s national parks, precious land set aside for all to see for generations to come.  And even for those who haven’t been to the US names like Yosemite, Yellowstone and Grand Canyon are well known as the best of the best national parks in the US.  But arguably in that same top tier of parks is a very special place in the middle of the Rocky Mountains, the very cleverly named Rocky Mountains National Park.  And we were ready to explore it!

Well, it’s not quite that easy.  First of all, we had gone online numerous times to try to score a camping spot at one of the park’s campsites.  Absolutely impossible.  Such is the popularity of the park, especially at this time of year, we also had to go online and be lucky enough to get a timed day pass into the park.  And the night before we wanted to enter I went online at the appointed hour and managed to get one of the coveted day passes. So we were good to go the following day.

And Rocky Mountain National Park did not let us down.  Under uncertain skies we drove into the long queue at the park gates to show our precious entry permit between 11.00 and 13.00.  Once inside we explored the park by car, stopping regularly for photos and oohs and awws of the snow-streaked high mountains all around us.  Unfortunately the irregular bursts of rain and cold temperatures kept us from going further afield.

We had two fantastic highlights of our day in the park.  First, we drove up the narrow dirt one-way Old Falls River Road, giving us fab views of the mountains around until the clouds moved in and the rain pelted down, turning this drive into quite an gooey adventure. 

From the top of the pass at 11,796 feet (3,594 metres) glimpses of sun gave us an inkling of the magic mountains all around us.  But the crowds were horrendous and it was hand-to-hand combat in the souvenir shop.

As we tootled back down the mountain on the other side we had our second great highlight – five beautiful large male elks lounging about in the tall grass near the road, their magnificent antlers on full display for every camera in town.  Julie and I had seen male elks before but never this time of year with their full antlers up so close.  Great stuff.

We camped the night in a nearby forest showing deep scars from being burned in 2020.  And as the clouds parted just a bit we had stunning views of the Rocky Mountains all around us.  Wow!

Having miraculously scored online a timed entry permit into the Bear Lake area of the park, we cheerily headed that way.  To get there we needed to cross over the high alpine pass in the park and we soon learned this was a very special drive. 

The road climbed through low cloud cover and revealed the magic of the Rocky Mountains – with a light dusting of fresh snow overnight to boot!  That might sound normal but this is July, the middle of summer, and we couldn’t believe our luck.  Yes, it was 3°C (37°F) and the bitterly cold wind hit us hard at the photo stops but who cares for these views?

The road crisscrossed the high alpine plains way above the tree line, twice topping 12,000 feet.  With the magnificent views in all directions we had the dreamlike sensation of being on top of the world with absolutely everything below us.

Bear Lake is the epicentre of the most popular and spectacular walks in the Rocky Mountains National Park.  It is also the most popular place in the park and heavily regulated to keep crowds down to a single rock concert.  We caught the shuttle bus to the multiple trail heads and after walking around Spague Lake and Bear Lake we followed the hordes up the trail to a string of three-lakes – first Nymph Lake, then Dream Lake and finally Emerald Lake. 

The final lake topped out at over 10,000 feet so this hike was no easy thing, especially for us geriatrics, but the rewards were well worth it.  The view from Dream Lake and Emerald Lake were absolutely world class and we were grateful we made the effort.

We drove back across the high alpine pass, still sparkling under perfect blue skies, and camped another night in a different place amongst the burned-out aspen forest.  The vast mountain sides which were all burned out was truly heart-breaking but it did make collecting firewood very easy.

We reluctantly said goodbye to the highest peaks of the Rockies and headed west, symbolically heading back to California where we had other commitments in a few weeks.  But between us and them we had earmarked a number of standout spots to visit.  Tramp led the way across the open high plains of north-western Colorado, first following the beautiful Colorado River as it carved it’s tracks through desert mountains, then heading towards the regional centre of Steamboat Springs (I mean, if you were choosing a place to live based solely on it’s name wouldn’t you choose Steamboat Springs?).

Steamboat Springs had a fantastic feel to it once we got into the historic downtown area.  A town of around 14,000 people, too small to be big but too big to be small, the town was buzzing with visitors who were shopping up a storm in the local shops in anticipation of the pro rodeo in town that night. 

We continued westward, crossing rich farm and ranch land along a series of beautiful fast-moving rivers fed by late-season snow melt, just knock-yourself-out great scenery.  Colorado never disappoints.  We camped the night up a narrow canyon off a local county road, the canyon walls providing a dramatic setting but also making a near-perfect wind tunnel. 

We know we couldn’t stay in Colorado forever but we had fallen in love with this state and can feel a strong pull back to it’s mountains sometime in the future.