ROCKY MOUNTAINS PART IV

Saturday, June 2^nd was another Rocky Mountain beautiful day. We hiked to Alberta Falls in the morning and drove to Lily Lake in the afternoon.

We drove to Bear Lake and hiked down the path through Glacier Gorge to Alberta Falls. From the trail head it was almost a mile but mostly downhill. At the end we had a few steep areas to climb up but the total rise in elevation was only160 feet so it wasn’t too bad. The walk was really lovely through a forest of aspens and over a few streams on a wide comparatively smooth path almost all the way. The Falls were beautiful with water pounding on the rocks and down through the Gorge. This time of year, the water is abundant due to the melting snows. On our return, we detoured back through Glacier Gorge and up to its parking lot. We took the Park shuttle bus back up to Bear Lake where we had left the car. The total hike was not quite 2 miles and was very pleasant.

In the afternoon, we headed for Lily Lake. In order to get there we had to exit the park, go through Estes Park and drive 7 miles south on Hwy 7. When we arrived there, the sky clouded up and the wind kicked up. We quickly ate our lunch and decided to head back into Estes Park and get out of the expected rain. Tim bought himself a new walking stick as I had confiscated his. The skies cleared up and we attempted Lily Lake once again. This was an easy 1 mile loop around the lake and we headed back to the RV.  On the way back to Moraine Campground, we turned off at Fern Lake Road and Tim did some more fly fishing in the beautiful meadow stream that ran along the road. No luck, but he sure does love trying it! Tim says that when we get to Yellowstone, he plans on “catching” instead of “trying” to catch.

We see young Elk with their soft, velvety antlers along the roadside everywhere we drive as well as walking through our campground. They’re not too shy but they do keep their distance as do we. 

Tomorrow (Sunday the 3^rd) will be a day of cleaning up the RV, doing laundry and provisioning in preparation of our two weeks in Yellowstone. Rocky Mountain National Park has been a glorious place to spend a week.