The Rocky Mountains.
Just the name brings up images of snow, skiing and wildlife. An escape into wilderness that few places in the USA can provide. I have driven over them multiple times but never have had the pleasure of stopping in the national park. When I realized that there was a supercharger right next door (at the hotel Stephen King wrote parts of The Shining in no less), I went and bought some chains for my tires, and set out on an adventure that few places have compared with so far.
As soon as I turned my first corner on my way to a back woods hiking trail, herds of deer started appearing out of the woods. I had seen groups of four or five white tail as I drove up here, but now, there were groups of at least 20. I took a few shots, and went along my merry way to the hiking trail.
I pulled into Estes Park early in the morning, and was happy to see that a fresh powder of snow was covering the ground. Even though it was late April, winter still had a grip on this small mountain town. As I pulled up to the park entrance, the ranger commented on how many Tesla’s he had been seeing recently, and that she was surprised at how well they seemed to get around on the snow covered roads. This made me feel especially confident as I pulled off into the wilderness.
When I arrived at the trail, it was decently crowded, but that was expected. My plan was to get to the end of the lake trail, which had three stops on the way and was a round trip of six miles. Hopefully after the first stop, the crowd would start thinning out.
I wasn’t disappointed. The crowd grew thinner and the wildlife started to appear. Eagles diving in the distance, elk grazing in open areas, sheep running along the sides of the mountains;. I was in a winter wonderland that could only be dreamed of. As I clicked away with my camera, it turned into a semi nightmare. I realized I had forgotten to replace my memory card and hadn’t got any of the beautiful shots that I thought I had.
When I got back to my car, I was thoroughly disappointed, thinking I had missed out on an entire afternoon of shooting, but to my pleasure, as I drove through the rest of the park, the sights kept coming. I continued to see massive amounts of wildlife, and as the afternoon droned on, the crowds left and at dusk, I was left with the entire park coming out for dinner time, and it seemed as if I was the only human around.
Closest Supercharger Estes Park 3 mi
1624390, 333 W Wonderview Ave, Estes Park, CO 80517
Rocky Mountain National Park
