Rocky Mountain NP

Picking up some maps Tue morning from the info centre and then the hire car, we departed Denver after a short stay, headed for Estes Park and the Rocky Mountain National Park. The drive was only a bit over an hour plus a bit of time in Safeway to stock up, beer, chips, m&m's... all the essentials!
The accomodation, Amberwood, turned out really well. Made a call in the morning after seeing it online, had quite reasonable rates. When we arrived we were greeted by a nice woman who showed us our room, with a fireplace, balcony and view of the rockies. Its still cold, so apart from pick up some info on the area we just chilled out in the room and watched some quality tv, family guy and scary movie!
Day 1 - today is a hiking day, we headed to the closest area in the park Bear Lake. Many of the trails are covered in snow still and were inaccessible (altitude is about 10,000 feet). We ended up doing the Cub lake loop and up to Fern lake.


The hike to fern lake was 3.8 miles, via fern lake falls. The falls were nice but not quite as spectacular as Yosemite, although a lot less people was nice. The last part of the hike (which was mainly uphill) was difficult and covered in snow. Just as we arrived at the lake the weather turned, rain and then snow. This was our lunch stop, so we ate quickly under a tree for shelter. The lake was nice but the cold and snow meant we didnt get a lot of time there. The lake was surrounded by larger snow capped mountains very scenic. (altitude about 11,000ft)
The loop back took us to a sunnier lake with lillies and was surrounded by hills with pine trees. Called Cub lake their were in fact no cubs or bears :(
We saw many Elk and Big horn sheep off in the distance. Lots of Squirrel and Chipmunks The Elk actually roam accross the road and cause traffic jams!
After walking about 10.5 mile we were pretty tired, so the evening we just lazed about the cabin, watched the Nuggets game, lost to L.A.

Day 2 -
We did a sceinc drive today over the Trail Ridge Road which is the highest continuous paved road in the U.S.A. We saw the Big Horn Sheep, which is the Colorado State Mammal, close up on the side of the road which is pretty rare, lucky us! Also saw a few Marrmot, which is a little fury animal, a bit bigger than the squirel.
It was a nice drive with great views of the mountains, and continual changes in the weather. We took a few short hikes which were all partially through the snow and very tiring due to the altitude.
The highest point in the road is 12,183 feet above sea level. Just the other side of the highest point is the continental divide. This is the point in the country which divides the way the water flows out to sea (east or west).


After the drive we returned to Bear lake area and walked the trail around the lake which was also covered in snow. Again another very scenic lake surrounded by mountains. - No Bears. On the way back to the cabin we did see a Snow Hare and a Coyote.
Tonights entertainment, Pizza and Tad Hamilton!
Day 3
Our final day in the Rocky Mountain National Park we headed south to the Wild Basin area. We hiked along a trail which took us past 3 different waterfalls (Copeland, Calypso Cascades, Ouzel falls), about 6 mile return. Feeling quite luthargic today bit tired, saw some deer but not as much wildlife todat, had hoped to see Beaver but no luck.
Back at the cabin by 4pm to rest, drink beer, eat chips, nuts and pasta and watch the basketball. We lit the fire in the cabin and saw a Marrmot outside the cabin.