Fall Vacation: Rocky Mountain National Park!

In mid-October I took a week off from work and we packed up the station wagon and headed out west in the most classic 'family vacation' style. Our destination was Rocky Mountain National Park.

Instead of driving south through Iowa and then west on I-80 all the way across Nebraska, we decided to take the slightly slower, but far more interesting route across South Dakota. Our path passed Pipestone Minnesota, the Mitchell Corn Palace, the Badlands, the Black Hills (including Custer State Park), and then beautifully desolate eastern Wyoming, before Fort Collins Colorado and the relatively short drive from there to Estes Park. On our way out there, we smartly chose to drive through the night: this meant that Arthur slept most of the drive and we made incredibly good time for traveling with a 1 year-old.

Rocky Mountain National Park was gorgeous this time of year. Previously I had only visited in the summer, and once briefly in March for a wedding. It's a different place in the fall. The main attraction in October is elk watching. They all heard-up this time of year, and the bulls are in the rut, so there is a lot of activity. From our campsite in Moraine Park Campground (one of the only two that are open this time of year - the other was Longs Peak Campground), we could hear the nearby elk bugling day and night.

The weather is always pretty unpredictable, but especially at in October. We endured some pretty cold nights (16 degrees was the lowest) but several of the daytime highs were around 60. Arthur didn't even blink at the cold weather. It helped that Sal was expertly prepared with just the right clothing for him. There was some snow too, but it didn't stick around for long.

What we wanted to do most was hike and it worked out very well to do so. Besides nourishing our spirits with the incredible scenery hiking also kept us warm and kept Arthur content. Strapped to Sally's back, Arthur would watch and interact with the flora and fauna, spot and point-out airplanes cruising at 30,000', take naps (often two separate naps on the same hike), or just watch the scenery go by. We did several long hikes including:

• Lake Hiyaha, The Loch, Dream Lake, Nymph Lake, Bear Lake (all in the Glacier Gorge area)
• Cub Lake
• Twin Sisters Peaks (11,400'); this was a significant ascent, above the tree line on a mountain just west of Longs Peak

We spent a couple of days at lower altitudes, in the Denver area, because I had to attend a meeting (for work) and we wanted to visit with our cousins who live there also. We had a great time visiting exploring Golden Colorado, watching hang gliders, driving up Lookout Mountain, and visiting Buffalo Bill's grave.

Inevitably, the end came and we faced the grim reality of leaving Colorado. Knowing that we had made the most of our time there, we packed up the station wagon again, this time with less food, more smelly clothes, and a lot of memories, and we headed home. We took a little extra time on the way home, stopping in the badlands to drive through some of Custer State Park, and we also treated ourselves to a hotel, after tenting-it for so long. We were back home with just enough time to get the car unloaded (we were by no means unpacked however) before crawling into bed. I wish Arthur could remember this one but he won't, so we'll have to do it again!