Today started out rainy with most of the mountains obscured in clouds and mist. We were up and ready by 7:30 and hit the generator button right at 7:30 (the time generators are allowed to start) so that we could brew some coffee and heat up breakfast. With our rain gear on, we headed out of the campground on a trail to the Park and Ride bus station to catch the Bear Lake shuttle bus. As we were getting ready to cross the road into the Park and Ride, the campground bus driver pulled up and said he’d give us a ride across the street and up the hill to the Park and Ride bus stops. Once there, he told us which bus to catch for Bear Lake and suggested a good order of hikes to take in the morning.
The Bear Lake bus took us up the mountain further to Bear Lake. Our campground is at 8200 ft, and we were going up from there. Once at Bear Lake (9475 ft.), we took the trail around Bear Lake which was fairly flat, although a little interesting due to the mud from the rain. We all appreciated our rain gear and hiking shoes. We took several pictures around the lake and then hiked down to the Glacier Gorge area where the trail to Alberta Falls is located. We hiked up to the falls and did some rock scrambling too. I only freaked out once when the kids went up to the top of the falls and I couldn’t see them anymore. I sent hubby up after them. I don’t care that they are teenagers now, I still freak out at the edges of cliffs, waterfalls, etc. It could be my childhood growing up near Niagara Falls! After taking our time at the falls, we hiked back down to the Glacier Gorge bus stop and caught a bus back to the Park and Ride, then the campground where we fixed lunch. Over lunch we decided to do some more hiking at Sprague Lake, so we headed back over to the Park and Ride for the Sprague Lake bus.
By the time we arrived at Sprague Lake, the rain had cleared and the sun was shining. We headed down the trail to the lake and started taking pictures right away. It was a beautiful scene with the mountains reflecting perfectly in the crystal-clear water. Sprague Lake is also the location of the stables and horseback riding vendor, so there were horses around the stables at the trailhead area. While we were taking pictures at the beginning of the lake trail loop, I looked part way across the lake and saw a horse there. I said, “Is there a horse in the lake?” and then almost immediately I saw a foal come out from under the horse. That’s when it hit me, and I said, “Oh my gosh, that’s a MOOSE and a calf!” The kids immediately took off running around the side of the lake (hubby and I walked briskly). Once we arrived at the closest point to the mother moose, I saw that there were two calves near her and they were playing. At this point we were about 100 ft from the mother who was simply standing in the water, sticking her head under the water and pulling up some tasty plants to eat. The two calves were playing and saw the people gathering on the shore. They started to run toward us and I worried that the mother would charge to protect her young. Nope. She looked over her shoulder, saw the little ones playing and showing off for the humans and basically shrugged her shoulders and went back to eating. The calves ran and splashed, head-butted each other and stood up on hind legs “fighting.” They were within about 50 feet of us and we could hear the noises they were making. We sat and just watched the three of them for quite a while. I said, “how often do you get to just sit on a log and watch a moose family play and eat?” It. Was. Awesome.
After we finished walking around picturesque Sprague Lake, we caught the bus back to the Park and Ride where we hopped on the bus to take us into the town Estes Park. We had driven through it on the way in to RMNP and thought it might be nice to check it out. We sat on the bus across from a family of LSU fans and chatted with them about sports and camping. The bus took us down the mountain into town and dropped us off at the visitor center. From there, we walked along the River Walk through down town – basically the backside of all of the main street shops backed up to a river, so they built a river walk and the stores use both their front and back doors to bring in business. We walked along the river to the end of town where there was Fun City, a go-kart place. I think it’s because my husband grew up going to Myrtle Beach and Gatlinburg, TN for vacations, so for him, it’s not a vacation unless he gets to drive a go-kart at least once. So he took the kids for one session. After their first lap, it’s started raining, really raining. When they finished they were soaked, but they had a blast. We walked back through town on the street side this time and stopped in a few of the shops. We bought some homemade fudge and the kids got ice cream. There were lots of little souvenir shops, mountain home décor shops (antler stuff), and restaurants. We’re trying to watch our spending, so we opted just for the fudge and ice cream because we had dinner waiting for us in the RV.
(click on the photos below to open the gallery and see them larger)
We went back to the visitor center where we caught the bus back up the mountain to our campground. We talked to some people from Texas who have a class B motorhome on a Mercedes Sprinter chassis too and they love it. They get 20-21 mpg sometimes! (we got 14mpg on this last leg – even up over the mountains and across the Continental Divide.) Once back at the RV (which the kids have named Kali – because of course it had to start with a K, it seems like a girl to us, and we’ll have been to California in her twice now) we fixed dinner – Italian sausage and Caesar salads. After dinner it rained some more and I worked on downloading and editing some of the pictures I took earlier on our hikes. Once the rain stopped we decided to have a campfire and some s’mores. We set up our Bluetooth speaker and relaxed by the fire while the kids kicked a soccer ball back and forth and then played catch with a softball. It started raining again, so we went inside the RV to take showers and get ready for bed. Hubby wanted to see the evening ranger show, so he walked over to the amphitheater to watch the show which was about Long’s Peak. By the time he got back the kids and I were showered and in bed. I was working on organizing the photos on my laptop and the kids were reading. We went to bed early because we are leaving at 6am in the morning for our sunrise drive up to the top of Trail Ridge Road and over the top and down the western side. We’ll continue on into Utah where we’ll stop at Dinosaur National Monument then continue on south to Fruita, Colorado to spend the night.
