A Day Visit to Rocky Mountains National Park

 Hello, everyone.

The weekend we spent in Denver--a family visit--included a really interesting side trip to Rocky Mountains National Park.

The park is about 2 hours' drive from the big city. Understandably, it is very popular with both the local folks and the tourists. We were there before summer travel season got going and there was still about an hour waiting in line at the entrance gate.

We got to view various wildlife while creeping forward in the entrance line: some deer, some rodent-sized creatures. (Memory fades just which small four legged things, but they were interesting. Not beaver, not chipmunk...)

It would be my recommendation that if one is visiting from out of the area, one should make some effort to do the visit to the park on a week day. And get on the road over there early. (Leave Denver before 0700 if you can!) The way is partly freeways and partly scenic.

We viewed snow--okay, okay, many people wouldn't cross the road to see the stuff, but we live in South Texas. Snow is a Thing here--which was at the end of its season but not completely, as we learned a few days later. The flowers weren't really into action yet, but some were poking their little green stems up from the soil. We were there at the end of April, so spring was still beginning in the area.

There are many pull-off spots with small parking lots and trail heads and generally interesting sights. We didn't go to the Glacier viewing trail as that parking lot was already completely full, but we did go to a couple of others.

The first one has a small loop walk around a pond. 

I was fascinated by a species of low growing shrub that was scattered around at the bases of trees. This is one of the larger ones. It was growing alongside the walking trail.

The ducks were on the lake already--note that there is still ice on the water as well!--and they were engaging in duck style social life. Which looks like chasing each other around. It can be hard to tell whether the ducks are trying to claim good areas and chase each other away from them or thinking romantic thoughts.

This pair of mallards was having duck nap time right next to the trail. I noticed that the female was sleeping with one eye open. Possibly the male (the green-headed one) as well. When the wild creatures are resting, one should not disturb them.

The trail crossed over some snow, but I was too busy trying not to fall down to take any pictures of the white stuff. 

We left that place and drove about looking at the views and stopped at another small parking lot. Following a trail that didn't seem to go anywhere led to an open meadow and, off in the distance, a herd of deer eating their mid-morning snack. The photo has been cropped, it might not be obvious that it was taken on the biggest zoom on the camera; we didn't want to disturb the wild creatures while we were looking at them. After we watched them for a while, some other people came along with a dog, hiking. From probably a quarter mile away the deer noticed and discreetly left for more solitary parts, before the dog even knew deer were around.

Rocky Mountain National Park has a lot of visitors, but it is still an interesting place to see. They do have at least one glacier. Because it is near Denver, it is more convenient to air travel than many of the scenic parks are.

The park has a web site. They recommend that people who want to take their dogs for a hike go to one of the nearby National Forest areas as the park is more focused on wild natural areas. While we saw a couple of dogs, there were not a lot. I would personally suggest that in a natural wild or remote place the dog should be on a leash so he doesn't get lost for good and all.