This was an amazing day that. It had been awhile since we have had a fun day with just the two of us. We took off super early to avoid the crowds and went up into Rocky Mountain National Park. We were able to get a Permit timed entry for Bear Lake corridor and Trail Ridge Road.
On Bear Lake Corridor Road we went all the way to Bear Lake and parked. We walked around the lake and took some pretty cool pictures and even got to walk on some snow. Then we started back down Bear Lake Road to Trail Ridge Road. We stopped at almost every view point we could see and kept watching out for animals. We saw a few Elk or Deer along the side of the road.
Trail Ridge Road is the highest continuous paved Highway in the North America. We kept watching the elevation go higher and higher as we kept driving. The highest point of the road is 12,183 feet. We made it to the top and kept going.
We did stop at one view point in what they call The Tundra. A portion of the path was still covered in snow. It was super windy and cold. We took our jackets and walked very carefully out to the end. What did we get see at the end of the view point, Marmots! Oh my I haven’t seen Marmots since we were in Glacier National Park and they were not as active as these ones we watched. You can watch the video below but those little animals are so cute.
We kept on going for a bit more and as you can see we were driving next to snow. The weekend before we went up there the road closed due to a snowstorm that rolled into town. The road had just opened a few days before. Our next stop was to the Alpine Visitor Center where I found out those little animals “Marmots” had just come out of hibernation, I did not even know they hibernated. Only a few of the little animals do not hibernate.
After that we headed back down the way we came to go back home. We called it a good day, we saw Elk, Mule Deer, Bighorn Sheep and a Moose and baby. Most of the animals were within the distance allowed to us but the Moose was very far from the road, but thankfully we had binoculars so we could see them clearly this time.
