Trails
Rocky Mountain National Park is full of trails. Most of the trails we took were on the western side and were fairly easy. We did not walk more than two miles on any one trail although we could have. Trails on the eastern side lead to more waterfalls and lakes, but we never seemed to make it that far.
Here is a partial list of the trails we took
Never Summer Ranch - the ranch includes a small group of buildings that were all closed while we were there, but we enjoyed walking around in the drizzle anyway. We saw a herd of 20-30 elk near here. This area is at an altitude between 8,000-9,000 feet. The trail might have been half mile long and was all flat ground.
Trail at Alpine Visitors Center - trail goes above the Visitors Center to a height of 12,005 feet. The Visitors Center gets completely covered with snow in the winter. This was one of the highest places were were able to walk around at. The Rock Cut Trail was just a little higher. Very short trail, but all uphill. |
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Rock Cut Trail - Stacie slept while Bob walked this trail along the tundra, where vegetation is minimal and the ecosystem fragile. He saw a couple of Ravens and a family of yellow-bellied marmots playing in the rocks. This trail was pretty short, maybe half mile long and mostly flat.
Trail around Lake Irene - We walked along this small lake (large pond if you're from Iowa) as the sun was setting. When we were headed toward our car, we saw a huge male deer with an 8-10 point rack coming down the side of the hill. |
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He watched us for a little bit then headed back into the trees. Unfortunately, it was too dark for our camera as the picture came back black. This was a short trail, no more than a half mile.
Milner Trail and Ute trail - These trails run into each other around the Continental Divide and are over 10,000 feet above sea level. They were beautiful trails, with the Milner trail going along Lake Poudra. |
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We walked at least a mile up the trail and could have gone several miles if we wanted to.
Green Mountain Trail - Trail at around 8,000 feet where we saw different birds, squirrels and other little critters as we walked through the woods. I think we walked over a mile on this one as well before deciding to turn around.