Visting the elk on the Alpine tundra

​July 3, 2022

My dispersed camping site was actually pretty nice and I enjoyed seeing all the wildflowers in between this charred forest. I headed back towards the mountains but not before I stopped at Adams Falls for a hike. It’s outside of Rocky mountain national park in the town of grand Lake. I was surprised to see a park ranger checking for timed entry for this hike, which is also part of a boat launch marina area. Fortunately for me I have a camping reservation which allowed me to go in while others were turned away. All in it in attempt to mitigate the amount of traffic on these trails which still seems like a lot.  I was thinking that this was an easy hike, as it’s only .3 miles to the Falls but for a good part of it, it’s a staircase. It’s one of so many falls in the area but how pretty it was to spot a rainbow with just the right angle of the sun.


And now it was time to make the climb back up to the Alpine visitor center where I did not stop but took a different route, a paved road That is somewhat parallel to the dirt road that I took yesterday. I am headed back to Moraine. I was going from about 8700 foot elevation, back up to nearly 12,000. Up and over. Its  like climbing one heck of a hill, or should I say mountain. It became noticeably chillier, the clouds arrived and there was hail with grapple. Like a mini winter storm, so I kept moving slowly, taking photos and came along the tundra with a group of elk. The parking, because of the elk siting was insanity. While on the trail people were walking in the tundra and I couldn’t help but discipline a family who are not English speaking, to have them understand how doing this was harming the environment. There are strict signs indicating not to walk on the beautiful moss and wildflowers. Yes, the elk were eating here, but they belong here, and essentially we do not. I get tired of people who don’t respect the rules of a park or the environment. And I have become much more vocal as a result. Maybe it’s an aging thing. It was amazing that the elk didn’t seem fearful of people as they came by fairly closely crossing the paved trail at one point. I feel like I got some awesome photographs. I finally arrived at Moraine and had a really nice spot a rock Ridge behind me where I could climb up and see this weather pattern as the rain finally arrived here.











































 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 




 



 


 


 



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