Rocky Mountain National Park

Timber Creek Campground, Rocky Mountain National Park – June 18 through June 23, 2013

We are sad and excited at the same time to be leaving Frisco. It’s an area where it would be easy to spend a summer but we’re eager to move on to RMNP and explore it. We have an appointment in Loveland, CO on June 25 to get the A/C worked on, so we will only have a week to take it all in.

When we rolled into Timber Creek Campground it was much more crowded than we expected. Timber Creek is on the far west side of RMNP and is definitely not as convenient to the Denver metropolis as is Estes Park. Plus it has no hook ups so we thought it would not be as popular. However, with the help of the campground host we moved into the last remaining spot that could accommodate our size.

When we pulled in we fired up the generator because we had run the batteries down pretty low before we left Frisco and like to get them up to at least 90 percent of full charge for the night. A fellow in an Airstream trailer right next to us took issue with this and we explained it would be about an hour before we shut it down. Well he didn’t like it and moved. The camp host came over and apologized for Airstream’s behavior and said we were fine, not to worry about it. Besides it was in the time window campers were allowed to run their generators.

So we thanked him, Jep was his name, and asked if we could have Airstream’s spot because it was better than ours. He said sure and we stayed in it for the duration of our visit. Here’s a view of Timber Creek after it cleared out a little.

This time we really did have wildlife roaming through the campground.

The next day we decided to drive to all the visitor centers to get current information and to get our National Park Passport Stamps. The Big Meadow Fire has several of the hiking trails closed. We also hoped we would be smart and beat the Denver crowds which we anticipated would be arriving later in the week.

The Trail Ridge Road goes from one side of the park to the other and is a pretty exciting ride. It has lots of banked switchbacks, sweeping curves, shear drop offs (w/o guard rails) and altitude changes from 8,900’ to 12,000’.  This is the shortest route to Loveland, so we wanted to see if Big Guy could make it.

We couldn’t resist stopping at many of the pullouts along the way. There were Elk and Moose all along the road and the views made you feel like you were on top of the world. There was still plenty of snow on the Alpine Tundra and the altitude and cold temps made for some challenging short hikes.

After visiting 4 visitor centers (missed the 5th one because it was being remodeled) we returned to Big Guy enduring delays caused by Elk and Moose blocks along the way.

This old VW camper actually made the trip from Austin, Texas. We don’t know how the passengers survived the 100+ degree Texas heat. They were camped next to us for a couple of nights. Quite a few people stopped by to admire this old bus. The windshield actually opens out for ventilation.

Rejuvenated for another day, we headed out for a walk along the Colorado River. We thought it would just be a simple uneventful stroll next to the water. Surprise! EJ spotted this moose and her baby hiding in the trees.

 

Frank gazing out over the river. And of course we ran into another moose on the way back to the car.

Another hike took us to the Holzwarth Ranch also known as the Never Summer Ranch because the snow never melts off the mountains in the background. John Holzwarth was a German immigrant and a saloon keeper in Denver until prohibition shut him down. In 1917 he moved his family to Never Summer Ranch where he invited his friends to come visit. He turned it into a trout fishing lodge then dude ranch in the 1920’s. He sold it in 1973 at which time it was restored to it’s 1920 condition which was considered to be it’s prime.

On another day we decided to challenge ourselves and attempt the trail to Lulu City, an old mining area. It was a good hike and we got to see some ruins and watch the Yellow Bellied Marmots sun bathing on the rocks. We also came across some young Big Horn Sheep and another momma moose and her baby.

We made several trips into Grand Lake. It is a quaint little town about 10 miles from the campground. Several good restaurants and coffee shop. On one of our walks around town Frank spotted this Amphicar and we caught it just as it was firing up to enter the lake. Too cool.

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately it is time to say goodbye to RMNP. We have truly enjoyed the wonder of nature this park encompasses. The weather has been perfect and we are not looking forward to the high temps in Loveland, especially w/o the air conditioning. Hopefully it will be a quick fix and we can get back to our adventure. Looks like the girls are ready to go.