Colorado - A week at Rocky Mountain National Park

Spent three nights camping at Timber Creek on the west side of the Park, where flat meadows, beaver ponds, clear creeks with some tempting looking rainbow trout, tall mountains, elk bugling at night (this is the start of the fall rut) and nighttime temperatures in the low 30's made for some crisp  mornings. One sure way to warm up - take a hike!

 At last!  I see elk!  Some people ignore the park regulations, and the warning signs from the animals themselves.

This big fella was audibly warning that encroaching photographer.

Trail Ridge Road is a spectacular drive across the top of the park, climbing from sup-alpine to tundra, with a white-knuckle road that drops off sharply, marmots sunning themselves on the rocks near the Alpine Visitor Center, and  some seriously scary warning trailhead signs!

The east side has even more spectacular trails, peaks, hikes and a lot of elk all around the campground at Moraine Park.  I join Ranger Paige Lambert and two others for a Centennial Hike up to Mills Lake, through golden aspen forests, past Alberta Falls, and up to a mountain lake where ground squirrels nearly climb into our pockets searching and begging for food.

This is a classic "Elk Jam" at the park - people stop, surround or cut off the elk, and make them more than a little nervous.  When a bull has a herd of cows this big, you know he's a pretty tough guy!

A car stopped too close and for too long by this big fella and I watched as he charged the car.  Heard the next day he dented it pretty good!

The rangers who work the elk jams are called the "Bugle Patrol"!  Love it!