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| Just east of Denver, Colorado is the Rocky Mountain National Park.
My favorite town in Colorado is Estes Park, on the east edge of the park
so that's where I always enter the park. There's a lot of history
in Estes Park and some interesting sights. The ark at the right is
actually a shopping mall.
Within the 415 square mile of the park are 76 mountain peaks over 12,000 feet in elevation. Longs Peak rises to 14,255 feet and is the highest. When I was 18 years old, I climbed Longs Peak. It was August and I got caught in a snowstorm near the top. Trail Ridge Road is a 50 mile scenic drive through the park and is the best way to see the highlights. There are 355 miles of hiking trails if you want to get away from the traffic. The Fall River Valley is overshadowed by Big Horn Mountain (11,4623') and is one of the prettiest spots in the park. |
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There are numerous overlooks along the drive and the view is spectacular
from all of them. Some of the geological formations like the Alluvial
fan are only appreciated when viewed from above.
The landscape changes from forest to alpine tundra along the drive. The picture on the left was taken at 12,210 feet. Well above timberline and even in summer can be quite cool. The glaciers that shaped the granite faces of the rocks were fairly recent. Only 10,000 to 15,000 years ago during the last major ice age. About 13,000 years ago, temperature changed and the ice melted, leaving rocks strewn along the edges and termination of their paths forming moraines, or ridges of rock debris. A terminal moraine is formed a the the foot of a glacier, creating a natural dam that creates a lake from the runoff of the melting glacier. Remember, do not feed the wildlife. It's important that they remain a part of the balance of nature by finding and eating their own food. |
