Spontaneous Travels - Finding Adventure in Little Corners : Rocky Mountain National Park

So let me begin this tale with a story that comes from my family. We lived in Upstate NY about 200 miles from the Canadian border. Every year we would take a few weeks in the summer to go on a vacation in the "local" area, and by local I mean within driving distance. It almost always included camping at some big national park. One year we decided to cross into foreign territory and visit Algonquin Canadian National Park. For TWO WEEKS we camped, hiked, biked, swam, canoed, picniced, etc in a large national forest known for their abundance of Moose. We never saw even a glimpse. We visited the Adirondacks dozens of times, we would hear tales of Moose that had just passed through - we still never saw one. After years of chasing after this ellusive creature, our family concluded that there must have been a moose curse on our family. All moose could smell and see us coming, and would dash away just in the nick of time to never been seen by us.

Fast forward about 10 years. I'm living in Colorado, and I have many friends on facebook that are also living in Colorado, and also are photographers. Year after year I put up with "Hey saw a moose in Grand Lake! Here are the pictures!" or "Went to get ice cream, and ran into a moose. Here are the pictures to prove it!" I was determined to find a moose, someway, somehow....it was going to happen.

Years of searching on my own in Colorado ended up just like the vacations with my family; no moose. This year, I tried once again, this time as a newly wed who had recently received a new last name, and wouldn't you know it....

Well, I won't give away the rest of the story. Just scroll through to find out the ending :)

Day 1 - Camping on the Western slope of Rocky Mountain National Park

Josh and I wanted to go hiking on the continental divide. Lucky us, it's started hailing..

Clearly I wore the correct shoes.

It may have been cold, but it was also beautiful.

Then we went onto the top of the park. With all the rain passing through, it was breath taking.

Josh. :)

It was late June, and there was still snow. He's 6'4", so that's over 7'. Ah, Colorado.

The sun came out for a bit. The difference in temperatures between clouds and sun is staggering. One second you're bone chilled, and the next your sunburnt and fried. Still beautiful, either way.

Wait, wait, wait....what is that? Is that an elk??

I'm pretty sure that's not an elk!!!

We need to calorie up to go out and do some real hunting (with a camera). By the way, if you've never thrown a husk of corn on a camp fire.....you've got to try it. I don't even like corn that much, and that was delicious! I don't think I can even eat corn any other way now.

This looked like the perfect place to spot moose. I didn't see one (yet), but it was beautiful spot to watch the sun go down.

Not a moose. Still gorgeous.

Again, not a moose. Still beautiful.

So I went to bed, a little sad. Yes, I had seen a moose, but it wasn't really enough. It was so far away that I could only really see it through my long lens, and even then it was small. I went to bed and planned to get up early early...ie before the sun. Everyone "knows" moose don't like to be around lots of noise. The quietest time of the day is the early morning....Fingers crossed.

Oh....

....my....

...gosh!

The curse is broken!!

Oh yeah, there were elk there too (yawn).

The rest of the morning was beautiful. I walked around and got some amazing sunrise shots of wild life. Being up early does have its pay off. I need to take advantage of that more. The rest of the day Josh and I went over the pass and ended up taking a small hike along a stream on the eastern side of the park nearer to Estes. It was a cool rainy day - not like typical summer Colorado weather. I had an amazing time. Getting out of your comfort zone almost always pays off. I love my life!