2017 Road Trip - Rocky Mountain National Park & Homeward Bound (Days 12-14)
With the beauty of the Tetons behind us, it was time to make tracks southeast across the state of Wyoming. We learned once again that Wyoming has extremely long stretches of road in between infrequent and sparsely populated towns. One pit stop brought us to the town of Fort Washakie on the Wind River Indian Reservation. On the way through the small town we decided to stop for gas, and we saw a small brown sign indicating that down the road was Sacajawea’s gravesite. Having heard more about her tale and role on the Lewis and Clark expedition, we decided to head down the road after topping off the gas tank. Pulling into the first cemetery we saw, the gravesite of Shoshone Chief Washakie who was the namesake of the town. After walking around the cemetery briefly I realized that we had not found the right cemetery. We made our way to the other cemetery and saw a huge memorial statute to Sacajawea adorned with flowers. After paying our respects we were back on the road towards Rocky Mountain National Park and arrived just before dusk.
Checking in to Aspenglen Campground with the Ranger went well enough until we had the RMNP bear talk. It started out simply enough:
“Do you know how to secure your campground from bears?”
“Oh Sure!” I replied. “We’ve just spent time in Yellowstone and the Tetons, just keep the stuff in the bear box or the car and we are good to go right?”
Rolls Eyes. . . “Well we encourage guests to put everything in the bear box, all food, water, stoves, coolers, stoves, cooksets, plates, utensils, toiletries, . . . pretty much anything that would maintain a smell, food or other you need to remove it from your vehicle. The bears here in RMNP know how to get into cars.”
The ranger then proceeded to show me several severely damaged cars with their windows busted out. I am fairly certain that the idea of bears in the car pretty much broke my will to camp two more nights. I am not sure if it was the 9hours that we spent that day on the road, the cumulative hours and activity we had spent over the last two weeks, or simply looking into the van and seeing goldfish and empty juice boxes just tempting enough a wayward RMNP bear. It was a bit too late to find other accommodations so we made our way around to the campsite. We set everything up, cooked and cleaned up from dinner, and cleaned out the car careful to get all the caches of candy everyone stashed away as well as all the crumbs we could scattered across the van. By the time that was done, I had made up my mind that we cut our stay to just the one night instead of two. It didn’t take much effort to convince the crew that we would spend the next day enjoying the park and then start on the journey towards home.
The next morning, we were up early, and we planned out a full day and then packed up the camp. Getting out too late to get in a hike around Bear Lake, RMNPs most popular trail, we opted for a hike on the Fern Lake Trail. This trail remains relatively flat and follows along a stream in a narrow valley. We came across several other hikers on the trail including one family that had backpacked and spent the night in the backcountry. We were able to get in a little over 3 miles of hiking on the trail while knocking out the remainder of the Jr. Ranger Books. After spending a couple hours on the trail, we decided to drive Trail Ridge Road up to the Alpine Visitor Center which sits 11,796ft above sea level. The winding mountain road provides stunning views as you move up to higher elevations of snowcapped rocky peaks and the expansive valleys between them. We even enjoyed some wildlife on the drive, a bull moose that finally offered more than a fleeting glimpse, and a portion of RMNPs herd of elk. The visitor center was packed, but the girls were quickly sworn in as Jr. Rangers (they earned a total of 7 new badges on the trip). After bribing the girls with skittles and chocolate covered pretzels from the gift shop, we were able to talk them into one last hike up the Alpine Ridge Trail. This is a short hike straight up from the Alpine Parking lot to 12,005ft. We were able to coax them up to the top, with only a moderate amount of complaining, which Julia and I considered a victory after the full hike earlier in the day. Summit hikes almost always offer great views but this view well above the tree line, provided a pristine view to other mountain tops some as far as 60-75 miles away. It was a great last National Park experience for the trip. We started trip home heading back down Trail Ridge road past the herd of elk, past the bull moose still hanging out on the side of the road towards the Fall River Entrance that we had come through the day before.
From there we were simply anxious to make the 900 mile trek through the plains of Kansas back to the comfort of our own beds. With our compass set, we didn’t deviate much. We drove until well past dark, spent the night at a hotel. We woke up way later than we wanted now that our sleep deprived states could take full advantage of a bed for the first time in almost a week. The last day on the road was equally uneventful, and we made it into the garage just after 10PM.
All in all, the trip could not have been more memorable. We all enjoyed a large portion of the US that we had never experienced before. For two solid weeks, we traveled 4000 miles taking it all in. We walked through our home on the range, where buffalo roam, where deer and antelope play. We marveled at the beautiful and spacious skies, the amber waves of grain, and looked out from the tops of the purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain. We even got to experience a piece of what the earth may have looked like in its earliest days via the bacteria laden primordially soupy thermal features of Yellowstone. While we may have made our hikes back home a bit more mundane now that we will not trudge in grizzly bear and bison country, we are excited to keep venturing out of doors, and see what new things we can discover close to home. We look forward to another trip like this in the future, the Grand Canyon, Yosemite or perhaps the Redwoods. That said, I believe our next summer vacation may involve a place where we can sit and relax, perhaps a sandy beach.
Until our next adventure we wish you Happy Trails!