It has been a very busy year. We made a couple of trips this year, but the most scenic was RMNP…for the second year in a row. We visited the park back in August, but due to some life changes (and some laziness), I am finally posting about it in December.
West Side
During our visit to RMNP this year we spent most of our time on the West side of the park. It seems less crowded and more wild. It’s more of a drive from the Denver area, so I would imagine that keeps the crowds away.
Anyway, we camped inside of the park again for 3 nights. It also rained every night (just like last year). During the day we generally had great weather.
Campground and Elk
We camped at the Timber Creek Campground. When we arrived, we could hear some of the male elk bugling around the river. We took a short walk down to the river where there were dozens of elk grazing. Timber Creek has an amphitheater on a hill that made for a great place to observe the herd moving upstream at dusk.
During our first night at the campground, I woke up at 2am hearing footsteps outside of our tent. Initially I thought it was a person walking by, but after a few minutes I realized there were several sets of footsteps and they wouldn’t stop.
I located the car keys inside of the tent and flashed the headlights only to see a few elk grazing near our tent. I felt a little better knowing there wasn’t a group of people or a bear lurking around the tent. However I realized that the herd of elk we observed earlier was now trailing through the campground. I guess the elk know the campers are sleeping at night and they take advantage of the grazing opportunity.
I poked my head out and looked over the top of the tent toward the small stand of trees behind us. There was one elk standing directly next to our tent munching on the grass. There wasn’t much I could do other than let him finish his midnight snack. After a few more minutes, the elk vacated our campground loop and we were able to go back to sleep without any more interruptions.
Grand Ditch Trail – attempt and fail
On our first day, we attempted to hike the Grand Ditch Trail to the Lake of the Clouds. After about an hour we were caught by a thunder and hail storm on the way up. We heard thunder a few times before deciding to turn around (despite no actual precipitation). About five minutes later, it started hailing. We minimized how long we were stuck in the rain/hail, but we still had to take cover a few times. It was a little disappointing missing out due to weather. Better to play it safe though.
Timber Lake Trail
Our second day we had great weather all day and we hiked to Timber Lake – about ten miles out and back. It is about a 2,000 foot climb and the official elevation at the lake is 11,040 feet. We saw a turkey and a bunch of elk along the way. Very different from hiking the year before around the Bear Lake area. We only saw a handful of people despite being on the trail for several hours. Like I said: much less crowded.
Spring/Stream toward the beginning of the Timber Lake Trail 
Trail sign on the Timber Lake Trail – we did not detour to explore Long Meadows 
Timber Lake Trail at approximately 10,000 feet 
Timber Lake looking East at the Continental Divide 
Snacking on the West side of Timber Lake 
Looking South at Timber Lake as the clouds rolled in – luckily we avoided any storms on our descent 
Timber Lake Looking North (Continental Divide on left) 
Happy Little Trees – view at the top of Timber Creek descending from the lake 
Elk calf at the Timber Lake Trailhead 
We stopped by Coyote Valley after hiking to Timber Lake – another great view from the Colorado River 
Driving over Trail Ridge Road – cold and windy, but worth the stop at 12,000 feet 
View of the valley from Trail Ridge Road heading toward Milner Pass 
After waiting out a hail storm on Trail Ridge Road – view before sunset 
After exiting the park we drove to Lily Lake – technically this is inside of RMNP, but much faster to access driving than hiking from the middle of the park
Summary
I tried to sum up our trip with pictures, mainly from our big hike day to Timber Lake.
We drove over Trail Ridge Road three or four times over the course of three days, but it’s difficult to catch good weather up there. We caught two hail storms and a lot of wind.
Lesson learned: if you camp at Timber Creek, be prepared to see some elk up close!
Animals encountered: moose, elk, turkey, chipmunk, marmot, deer
We certainly like visiting this park and the state of Colorado! We were able to relocate to Colorado in October which should enable us to explore the State and the surrounding area much more in the coming years.
Thanks for reading.
Beautiful pics.