Rocky Mountain National Park Colorado

The Colorado river, one of the many beautiful streams that you can see while hiking. Lots of fishing here!

Grand Lake Golf Course

Cascade Falls near Grand Lake Colorado

One of the many elk we saw in Rocky Mountain National Park. This one was near the road and was looking right at us.

One of the peaks you can see while driving on the Old Falls River Road leading from Estes Park to the Alpine Center at the top of Trail Ridge Road.

A snowshoe hare that was on the road as we drove up the Old Falls River Road.

The is a view as we walked around Sprague Lake which is on the east side of Rocky Mountain National Park

The family photo on the walk around Sprague Lake

Our campsite on Granby Lake.

Kirk fishing but this one was very little!

Mama Moose and baby moose near the trail where we were hiking

This picture was a view of the mountain meadows and the beautiful sky

The boy on the right is a relative of Bucky's! Actually it is Brady and Kelbie posing with some old time outfits.

At Holzwarth Historic site we all dressed up in bonnets and aprons so we could look domestic! Believe me it is only for photographic purposes!

Another moose in the meadow as we walked a trail

A large herd of elk at the top of Trail Ridge Road

The Salvation Show left Wyoming to camp at the last national park - Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. There we met Patti, Brady and Kelbie who came to stay with us for 4 days. Kent could not take off from work so Patti came with the children. She borrowed our van and drove out with them. What a trooper driving so far by herself!

Our campsite was in Stillwater Campground which is located next to Granby Lake. We have never explored the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park and had only ever made a brief visit to Grand Lake years ago.It was quite the adventure! Initially we all were surprised about the absolute devastation of the park because of the pine bark beetle infestation. Our campground at one time was totally tree covered. Now there in not one single tree left in the campground. However, the lack of trees provided us with a 180 degree view of the lake since the campground is on a peninsula on the lake. It was beautiful! At night it was clear skies and a full moon and the light danced across the water while we sat by our campfire and made s'mores. We were delighted to have family with us. I really missed them and even though Kelbie was restricted to a wheelchair, we had lots of activities. We found as many wheelchair accessible trails as possible and walked all of them. One of them was at the very top of Trail Ridge Road, 1/2 mile hike with a 200 foot elevation gain. Pushing a wheelchair up that path was quite the chore but the view was great. A rain storm came up and we rolled Kelbie down the hill at breakneck speed. It was cold and by the time we arrived at the car there were snow flakes.

One of the pleasant surprises was that the west side of the park was much less crowded, had lots of nice trails and wildlife. We saw moose, lots of elk, deer, a snowshoe rabbit, marmots, pikas and tons of chipmunks. All to the delight of Brady and Kelbie.

Kelbie and Patti eaned their Junior Ranger badges by completing the activity workbooks available at the visitor center. It was quite the big deal and I did not have my camera with me at the swearing in ceremony. Brady regretted that he did not participate and get his badge.

One of the walks we did was at the Holzwarth Historic site which is a group of cabins that were used in the early days of the park for visitors. Very primitive. We had a lot of fun donning the bonnets and we made Brady put on the bearskin coat and a hat so we could photograph him. We told him he looked like Bucky's son!

We thoroughly enjoyed taking the ride up the Old Falls River Road. Kelbie particularly enjoyed sticking her head through the moon roof of our van to see the sites.

It was a sad day for me when they left and I realized it was getting time for me to come home. I miss family and friends.

Kirk and I managed to get in another round of bad golf at the Grand Lake Golf Course.

Kirk was also able to do some flyfishing. While he did that I went hiking on some other trails. There were so many more hiking trails that I would have liked to try but we ran out of time. After 7 days at the park, it was time to pack up and get to North Platte Nebraska to meet our good friends, Wendy and Terry for three days of power golf before the Salvation Show heads back to Omaha.