[Rocky Mountain NP, Sep 3, 2023]

The morning started out back at the newlyweds’ cabin for a wedding brunch. It was nice to see everyone in a more casual setting and with no sign of the rain from the night before.

In the afternoon, I couldn’t resist returning to Rocky Mountain National Park, which I had just visited the year before. There were afternoon thunderstorms again in the forecast – quite common for summers in the park. I wasn’t about to risk getting soaked like last year. With hiking out of the question, we decided to do the scenic Trail Ridge Road. I had done that last year but I was hoping to make it a little further down this time.

Trail Ridge road runs 48 miles from Estes Park to the west end of Rocky Mountain NP at Grand Lake. Eleven of those miles are above tree line – the line at about 11,500 ft where the evergreen forest gives way to alpine tundra. The road tops out at about 12,100 ft, then descends slightly to cross the Continental Divide at 10,700 ft at Millner Pass. Trail Ridge Road is one of ten America’s Byways in Colorado and a national designated All American Road.

We started out with Many Parks overlook. This scenic vista is a great viewpoint for the low-land meadows of Moraine Park, Upper Beaver Meadows, and Horseshoe Park Meadows with Deer Mountain and Longs Peak as the backdrop.

Next up was Rainbow Curve, at about 10,000 ft. From here, we could see Horseshoe Park, Deer Mountain, the Alluvial Fan and the Mummy Mountain range.

A stop at Ute Meadows was new for me. The views were gorgeous!

Forest Canyon Overlook, arguably the best on the drive, is near the road summit at 11,700 ft. A paved trail leads to a small overlook with views of Forest Canyon and its tributary canyons, Hayden Gorge and Gorge Lakes. Here the erosive force of glacial ice is unmistakable.

This was as far as I had driven last year, but this time we kept going. Our next stop was Alpine Visitor Center, the highest visitor center in the National Park Service at 11,796 feet (3600 m). And we got there just in time, because a band of rain rolled through while we were having a coffee at the cafe onsite.

I don’t get to return to national parks too often, and even though I didn’t hike this time, seeing Rocky Mountain again was quite the treat.