Posts Tagged ‘Rocky Mountain National Park’

Calypso Cascades at Wild Basin – Another Great Rocky Mountain National Park Hike and Bears a Plenty

Monday, September 7th, 2009

For years upon years I’ve been coming to Rocky Mountain National Park, but I had never experienced the Wild Basin area near Allenspark. I have one word for this area of the park, PHENOMENAL! We decided to hike to Calypso Cascades on Saturday morning to kick off the Labor Day weekend.

After driving back to the parking area on a dirt road, we were greeted by our first surprise…bears!! Apparently, bears had shattered the window and torn out the metal door frame of two cars that were parked in the parking lot. The rangers were all abuzz. Typically, we have been told to leave all food, sun blocks, candy, etc in the car; however, the rules were new for these bears. They clearly knew how to get to the food they craved. Consequently, we were told to pack all of our food out of the car and take it with us on our hike.

Once I confirmed that the trail we were going to be taking was fairly busy, we packed up our picnic lunch and headed out. The trail was gorgeous. It followed a swift creek most of the way. The trail meandered through thick forest that reminded me of the Pacific Northwest, more than it reminded me of Colorado. Ferns, green mosses, and damp pine needles were all to be found during the entire hike.

After hiking about 1.8 miles in, we reached Calypso Cascades. The bridge crossing the stream below the cascades made for a perfect photo opportunity with the kids. Then, we settled in for our lunch. Although I initially had envisioned us hiking all the way to some larger waterfalls, storm clouds were approaching and the temperature was dropping. The kids were getting chilled, so we high-tailed it back to the parking lot.

All-in-all it was an exciting hiking trip…always on the look out for hungry bears. I can’t wait to head back and make it a bit further next time. I’d love to see the falls and eventually the lakes beyond that. One step at a time…I’m sure we will see it all…

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Posted in Hiking, Mountains | 3 Comments »

Rocky Mountain National Park – A Night to Ourselves

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

On a whim, my husband decided to take a vacation day on Monday. We wanted to go someplace close to home and so we headed back to our favorite stomping grounds on Sunday morning – Rocky Mountain National Park. It turned out to be a real treat!

To begin with, we felt like we had Rocky Mountain National Park to ourselves. We got what we consider to be a “prime” camping spot. We took a hike up a little hill, relaxed, took in the beauty of Longs Peak, while watching herds of elk in the moraine below.

The best thing about the entire night was that NOONE was there. My husband and I joked about whether it was the end of August or the end of February. There was not a single camper on the opposite side of the street and there were at least a dozen spots that were open on either side of us.

I know that camping on a Sunday night was the key to the entire process; however, we thought it would a bit more crowded with the busy Labor Day weekend just around the corner. How wrong we were – happily!!

The next day we tootled up to Bear Lake (there were tons of parking spots) and did a short little hike up to Nymph Lake. The lily pads are still beautiful up there – not in full bloom but still bright green and very tranquil looking. Then, we meandered back to the campground, packed up, and headed home. A true vacation and Rocky Mountain National Park to ourselves!

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Rocky Mountain National Park: The Bear

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

Last weekend, we packed up the car, the family, and the dog and headed to Rocky Mountain National Park. It was my son’s birthday weekend and his cousins, aunt, uncle, and grandparents were in town for a few fun-filled of the great outdoors. As we pulled into the check-in station at Moraine Park Campground, we were informed by the park ranger that we MUST put all food items, coolers, and other food containers in the car. He said the bears have been wandering the campground on a weekly basis and that he has been reminding ALL campers of the park rules regarding the storing of food.

I love the fact that the bears are in Rocky Mountain National Park and I want the bear population to thrive. Since I was a young child, the importance of keeping the food away from the bears has been instilled into me with little sayings like, “A Fed Bear is a Dead Bear”. So, on with the story…

Around 2 am, I heard a noise. It sounded a lot like a large animal snorting, snuffing, and grunting. I knew right away, it was a bear. I could tell he wasn’t at our campsite, but I could also tell he was nearby. The next morning, the shrapnel indicated exactly where he had been – at the campsite up the hill from ours. My father and brother-in-law also heard the thrashing of the cooler and the snorting of the bear.

Apparently, one campsite full of campers decided that the park ranger’s instructions to put their food away in their car did not apply to them. How sad! They left a packed cooler and a food container outside on their picnic table. Items like marshmallow, candy, and chocolate were consumed by the bear. Again, how sad!

The ranger picked up the empty plastic bags, the broken cooler, and the lid to the food container (the container itself was never found), the next morning. She said it was clear the damage was the handy work of a bear. She said this was the exact thing that could cause the bear to become a menace – all because some people chose not to follow the rules. I’m not sure if the errant campers were fined, I only hope they were…rules are rules.

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