In 2004 we
already had our second RV for four years.
We made our first trip to Rocky Mountain National Park in September.
In September there are fewer tourist and it’s just starting to snow a little.
We had two weeks of vacation but with travel days there and back it certainly wasn't long enough.
Our first week was spent in Moraine Park Campground right outside Estes Park, Colorado in Rocky Mountain National Park. There is a one-week camping limit in the park.
Our site looked over Beaver Meadow where Rocky Mountain Elk would come in every evening.
In the evenings we would walk down to the meadow to take pictures.
There was a “too friendly” coyote that was looking for handouts.
Moraine Park is a beautiful park at 8,160 feet. The RV sites do not have any hookups. We always had a few birds and critters that hung around our site.
In September the fall flowers are in full bloom.
The 350 miles of hiking trails in RMNP are unbelievable. We would hit the trails as early as possible. Sometimes we started out in the dark using headlights.
Bear Lake, Cub Lake, Mills Lake - we hiked to all the lakes.
Some of the trails lead into the forest.
Every view is picture worthy.
Adams Falls, Alberta Falls, Ouzel Falls, The Loch - we hiked all the falls also.
In September the Aspens are starting to turn golden.
It’s easy to see why they named this park Rocky Mountain.
We packed a lot into our one week stay at Moraine Park.
The second part of our trip we had to move to Elk Meadow Lodge, a private campground right outside the National Park. It certainly isn’t as pretty as Moraine Park but we weren’t going to be here long.
After staying one night in this private park we drove back into RMNP with all our camping gear.
We had back country permits for 2 nights. Back country permits are for specific camping spots. We got on the trail early.
We had to cross a few streams along the way.
Our day started out beautiful! Clear and cold - great for a long hike.
We hiked several hours to our first campsite.
We had a very cold night and woke up the next morning to this:
I had
absolutely no experience hiking in snow and it had been several years since
Mark had camped in snow.
Neither of us thought it was a good idea to hike all day in a snow storm to our next campsite. As hard as it was snowing we thought it would start go get very hard to stay on the trail.
So, we packed up our snow covered tent and headed back down the mountain.
Sadly our
vacation to RMNP came to an end and we headed back to Texas.
By October our newly planted front yard was well established and full of butterflies.
Our pond
also had plenty of dragonflies
In November we were able to take another vacation during the Thanksgiving holiday.
Goose Island State Park in Rockport, Texas was always a favorite winter spot. It's 321.4 acres on St. Charles and Aransas bays. It is located north of Rockport in Aransas County. The state acquired land for the park in 1931-1935 by deeds from private owners. The Civilian Conservation Corps constructed the earliest park facilities in the 1930s.
Being able to wear shorts on Thanksgiving day is always nice!
In mid-December we met up with friends Rick and Sharon for a one night camping trip in Bastrop State Park.
We hiked for a couple of hours to our camping spot, set up our tents and did a little birding before it got dark.
Beau was not too happy that we left him at the sitters! Dogs can have a lot of attitude!
Hope you have enjoyed Way Back Wednesday - 2004.
Teri
The Colorado Rocky Mountain high was looking great until the backpack camping in the snow. I am noticing you were camping without hookups quite a bit back then. You are a better woman than me Teri! Love seeing your pup.
ReplyDeleteI can handle a week at a time without hookups. It's a lot easier when you don't need air conditioning. Beau was the last dog we had. He was a wonderful traveling companion.
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