The Life of a Running Momma: Rocky Mountain National Park Trip: Scenic Drive Day

Sunday morning the kids woke up a little after 6am. I got up with them and we walked to the bathroom and then to the playground. While we were at the playground I texted Ty to let him know where we were, he said he'd get up and start a fire for breakfast. When the kids got hungry we headed back and Ty had breakfast burritos going. They were delicious! We got to RMNP right at 9:00. Our plan for the day was to drive the Old Fall River Road (which is a gravel one way road) out and then come back on Trail Ridge Road so we could hit up both the scenic drives and stop at hiking places along the way. Our first stop before we got to Old Fall River Road was Alluvial Fan. It was a very short hike and we added to it by climbing up rocks to get higher on the falls. The kids had a blast. I was still sore so there were some parts I had to use my hand to help lift my leg up where it needed to go. I'm sure I looked ridiculous, but it was worth it because I had a blast. At one point Ty was helping Elise and I lost my balance and started sliding down the rock. I had been resting my hand on his lower back for balance, but when I slipped, I grabbed a handful of his shorts. He said, "Don't pull my shorts off!" At that point I was laughing so hard, I had to let go and just let my feet dip into the water.

Anytime they can off trail it, they're all about it! They walked on the rocks lining the trail instead of the trail.

I packed our Oklahoma shirts so we could match, but forgot to tell Ty to pack his, so it was just he kids in me in our matching shirts.

That was our only planned stop before hitting Old Fall River Road. As we approached the road there was a ranger vehicle blocking the road. Ty was super disappointed and I knew that was what he was most looking forward to in the park so I suggested he get out and ask if the road would be closed all day. The ranger said there had been an accident on the road and they expected it would be closed for about 45 minutes. We decided to go back to one of the picnic areas and play around while we waited. We found a small stream to play at and the kids had a blast. I went exploring on some trails and found elk scat. We also got to use our water filter Ty bought for the trip for the first time. Carter slipped in the water and was really cold. The next day when we used a thermometer to measure water temperature, it was all around 40*! Elise wanted me to follow her and I got my boots and jeans wet so I had to change. Ty found a walking stick and whittled it with a knife for a bit.

Finally, after 45 minutes, we headed back to Old Fall River Road to start the scenic drive. I downloaded an audio tour to listen to as we drove. It started out tracking our location and playing the tracks for us as we drove, but as we got higher and lost reception, I had to look at the map and guess where we were on the audio which was a little tricky. The views were amazing and we saw some bikers and runners tackling the challenge of running the 8 mile road up to the top. We also saw a marmot in the road which was pretty exciting. The audio tour was awesome with facts about the area, animals, and geographic landforms as well as how they were created. It was well worth the $10. There were tall wooden poles stuck in the ground on the sides of the road as we got higher and I wondered what they were. Ty guessed they were for the snow plows and in our audio tour we found out they mark the edges of the road so the people clearing the road after the winter will know where the road is. The Old Fall River Road ended at the Alpine Ridge. We found a place we wanted to hike before reaching the Alpine Visitor Center, but it was thundering so we made sandwiches and had a picnic lunch in the car as we waited out the rain. We saw a moose run across the road. It looked like she was charging a couple who were on the road and they were running like hell to get away. When I realized she wasn't going to hurt them, I started taking a video and the woman stopped running and started taking pictures. Afterward I told her I thought they were getting charged and she said she had thought so as well and was very thankful the moose was just crossing the road. When the rain let up, we hiked up the trail. Ty tried using the backpack with Elise but it was a bust. It didn't adjust quite right and he had a hard time getting her out when we were done. There were 3 male elk wandering around by the road as we started our walk. We walked up on a marmot and got to see him/her disappear into a burrow and then pop its head out and watch us. When we got back down the elk were even closer to the road which was awesome!

Walking up on a marmot.

Enjoying the view.

After our hike we headed on up to the Alpine Ridge Visitor's Center which we found out from our audio tour is the highest facility of it's kind in the National Park Service. We started to go into the center to check out the exhibits but it was pretty packed so we decided to go ahead and hike the Alpine Ridge Trail. Elise was whining that she was cold and we couldn't find her stocking cap, she'd thrown it off somewhere in the car and it got buried, so I gave her mine. Then I searched under the seats to see if I had an extra one somewhere and decided to wear the lightweight spare coat I keep in the car. Elise made it all the way to the top with me and we sat down to wait for Ty and Carter. As we were going up, Carter said it felt like breathing through a mask because it was hard to breathe. When he said that, I noticed I was a little more winded than normal. But I didn't really notice it and didn't feel like I was having a hard time breathing. That was the only time I could really tell we were at altitude. Ty came partway up and waved us down because Carter decided he didn't want to go all the way. I was bummed Ty didn't get to see it. The top of the trail ended at 12,005 feet elevation and the view was pretty amazing. It was raining which hampered it a little bit, but it was still gorgeous! We went into the cafe by the visitor's center to get coffee and hot chocolate to warm us up after our hike. Elise and I also shared a cinnamon roll because they looked really good!

We headed down Trail Ridge Road toward Grand Lake because there were a few things I wanted to see on that section of the road. We stopped off at Milner Pass to see the Continental Divide. Neither of the kids wanted to get out of the car, so Ty and I got some pictures there just the 2 of us. In one Ty told me to squat down more and I couldn't because my legs were sore, he was laughing over my face when I tried to. We continued down to Never Summer Ranch at the Holzworth Historic Site. It wasn't nearly as cool as I expected and I didn't think it was really worth it, but the buildings were closed due to thunder. Possibly with things being open it would have been more interesting. The kids were excited to go down and feel the Colorado River that ran through the area.

We turned back and started heading back the way we had come after visiting the Holzwarth Historic Site. I was super excited to stop at Rock Cut to look for pikas. Our audio tour told us about the lava cliffs and we thought they were pretty cool to look at. The kids were getting tired and it was getting close to dinner time so we decided not to stop at any of the overlooks or other stopping points, except for Rock Cut. It was called rock cut because they had to cut through rock in that area to build the road. We got out of the car and immediately heard the distinctive pika "meep" sound. Carter and I got so excited. We looked out and we could see pikas running around. Pikas don't hibernate so they have to collect enough food for the winter. Each pika needs about the equivalent of a bathtub full of food in their burrow. They spend a lot of the summer collecting food to put in their burrow. As we watched, we saw them running with food hanging out of their mouths and then running into their burrow to store it. We also got to see a few stop to eat what they were carrying. It was so much fun and it was hard to leave. There was a trailhead right there called Tundra Communities Trailhead. Carter and I wanted to hike it to see if we could catch a glimpse of a pika up closer. Elise didn't want to, so we decided to go ahead and head back. We were all looking out the driver's side at 3 or 4 elks over by the road there when Carter pointed out the passenger side and we looked out to see a whole herd of elk on the other side! We saw so many animals on our outing. We were trying to decide if we needed to reserve a slot to go to RMNP the following day and Carter said he wanted to go back to Rock Cut and do the hike to see more pikas so I went ahead and reserved a slot to go into the park.

When we got back down to Estes Park we headed to the free parking garage at the visitor's center. Ty wanted to return the hiking backpack for carrying Elise because he didn't think it was worth it and didn't want to use it again. I wanted to run a couple miles to shake out the soreness. I ran on the paved trail around Lake Estes as they walked to the store to return the backpack. I finished and called Ty and they were still walking back so I walked out to meet them. It was already fairly late and it was still drizzling. Ty said by the time he was able to make a fire and we got dinner going it would be pretty late. I could smell the amazing aroma from Mama Rose's where I'd wanted to eat on my birthday so we decided to eat there. The food was so amazing! When we got back, we headed straight for the playground. As we were playing, a group of elk came up by the playground to graze. They had some babies with them too. At one point we counted 30 of them! That night I fell asleep really easily but woke up at 1am and couldn't fall back to sleep for some reason. It was well after 3am by the time I fell back to sleep which was rough!