We awoke early and with surprise pineapple and raisin bran muffins in our bellies, we set out for our final hike of our park experience. We headed to the Fern Lake Trailhead where we set out on a meander through the moraine until we ended up at "The Pool." From there, we took a southerly route and looped back through a recently burned forest that still retained a charcoal smell and wandered near Cub Lake and some other small ponds.
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| The Glacial Moraine |
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| Burned Trees |
We ate our lunch on a shady set of rocks while we watched a herd of thirty elk bathe in a nearby pool. We broke out the binoculars and watched their heads bobbing while some splashed in shallower water. This marmot was sunbathing on a rock next to us:
After lunch, we returned to an increasingly full campground with unexpected cars parked on our site so we decided to catch the shuttle into town to try the last advertising malt shop in Estes Park. As we arrived in town, we were glad that we traveled by shuttle as we witnessed the gridlock occurring on Main Street. The malts tasted great and we dodged crowds before catching the shuttle back into Rocky Mountain National Park.
We whiled away the rest of the afternoon between playing games and music. One family set up their camp seats in a row facing our site so we went to their site and played for them. We have been making sure to not play after 8:00 so that we don't disturb those wanting to sleep in the early evening. However, we could tell by the noise in the campground that we were not going to be going to bed early...
Instead of fighting the crowds for fireworks viewing in Estes Park, we went to the evening ranger program at 8:45 on the effects of climate change on the national parks system. They desperately need some colder winters and wetter weather to combat the effects of the pine beetle in Rocky Mountain National Park or they will be losing most of their trees in the coming years.
Equipped with earplugs, we went to sleep and awoke early the next day. Before we left the park for good, we made a quick drive to Sheep Lakes hoping for the off-chance that we may catch a herd of bighorn sheep. We didn't see any, but Lisa was happy that she got to see a prairie dog!
We reluctantly left the park and began to head east as the elevation dropped and we drove through a narrow canyon. Eventually, we ended up in the flat lands with the rocky mountains to our west.
After a brief cut into Wyoming, we were in Nebraska where we headed for Scotts Bluff National Monument. It turned out to be a sandstone bluff rising hundreds of feet into the air which was an important landmark on many historic trails. It was used on the Oregon, California, Mormon Pioneer and even the Pony Express trail systems.
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| Scotts Bluff National Monument |
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| Lisa, basking in Nebraska's glory! |
We grabbed lunch at Rosita's Mexican Restaurant, which had a great statue in the parking lot:
For the rest of the day, we drove through the prairie, following multiple trains pulling more coal than we have ever seen before. We are spending the night in Grand Island, Nebraska intending to make the drive across Iowa tomorrow. Wish us luck!
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