Rocky Mountain National Park

We had a wonderful time camping at Moraine Park Campground in Rocky Mountain National Park last week. We enjoyed the company of four other couples, sharing meals, stories, hikes, and good fellowship. The weather was absolutely delightful, except for a late day thunderstorm on Saturday which put a damper on barbequing! The view of Longs Peak from our campsite is awesome and we could often see elk in the meadow below, as well as deer near our RV.

Penny enjoyed several walks around the campground, from C loop to D and A loops and back to the RV.  There were several mule

deer lounging near the campsites, but she just ignored them as we made our rounds. She loves hiking, but we couldn’t take her on any of the hiking trails, because it isn’t allowed in the national parks.

We did a couple of fun hikes while we were there. Fern Lake, eight miles round-trip took us from an elevation of 8,165' - 9,503'. When we arrived at Fern Lake, there was still some snow on the ground and the wind was gusting pretty hard, but the scenery was breathtaking!

On the way down the trail, we met this little Golden mantled ground squirrel. He was determined to have his picture taken and posed for several shots! He stood only inches from the camera – I think he was hoping for a snack, but we don’t feed the animals in the park!

Another day we hiked to Ouzel Falls, one of my favorite trails in the park. From the Wild Basin trailhead we climbed 960’ to the waterfall at an elevation of 9,460 feet. There are two other waterfalls along the way, Copeland Falls and Calypso Cascades. It’s a fairly easy hike, only 5-1/2 miles round-trip.

Another of our rituals while camping in Rocky Mountain NP is to drive up Trail Ridge Road.  This year the road opened May 14, one of the earliest days ever because of the low snowfall this winter. Even though it looks like there is a lot of snow, last year we camped over Memorial Day weekend and didn’t get to drive it because heavy snow delayed its opening until June 7th, the latest opening in more than 20 years, according to park officials!

We had a great week and always delight that we have this beautiful gem just an hour away from home!