Our Rocky Mountain NP camping experience
We had our first camping trip of the season over the weekend. It was a fun time, but there were quite a few "big fun" moments that were had!
George came home from work a little early on Thursday and I'd spent the day packing up the car. We left around 3:20. We hit a pretty big rain/hail storm on the way which slowed traffic down to almost a standstill. Once we got through the storm, the traffic eased up and the rest of the drive was fairly uneventful. We get to the park entrance and I realize I'd left our national parks annual pass at home. So, there's a $20 entrance fee we weren't counting on (we can get our money refunded, but it's mail-in and you know how that goes)!! We also found out once we got inside the park that there are NO shower facilities anywhere in the park. Not cool.
We get to our campground, which is absolutely gorgeous! However, as soon as we pull in, it starts to drizzle. We rush around to get our tent set up and everything, and by the time that's all done we are all wet and cold. We don't have a picnic shelter, since ours broke a few years back. The rain tapers off enough to get the fire started and eat some dinner, but quickly starts back up again after we'd finished. We ended up seeking refuge in the tent, played a few rounds of Go Fish, and went to sleep around 8:00.
It rained all night, but thankfully our new tent kept us dry all night long (something that can't be said about our previous two tents). We woke up sometime around 6-6:30 and the sun was out and the rain was gone! Cooked some breakfast, chilled out in the early morning sun for a while, and decided to go out for a hike. One of our camp neighbors suggested a hike called "Emerald Lake" so we headed out towards the trailhead. The trailhead started at around 9500' and ascended up to over 10,000' in elevation. Unfortunately for me, my lungs aren't cut out for a lot of exertion with that little oxygen, so it did take a while for me to adjust to the altitude. My legs were fine, but my heart was beating a mile a minute (combined with headache and dizziness) with each slight gain in elevation! Oxygen deprivation is not for the weak of heart. Fortunately though, I made it the whole way and after about a mile my body had adjusted and I was doing much better. There were three lakes in total on this hike, and also quite a lot of traversing over snow and ice. Next time I will remember to bring my hiking shoes with more traction. We headed back down the mountain and were about a half-mile from the trailhead and it started pouring rain. Evidently hail and lightning were also predicted to come from this storm, so we hustled back as quickly as possible. By the time we got to the trailhead (and a large shelter) we were completely soaked through, and very cold (it was about 50F). We decided to ditch lunch at the campsite and head into Estes Park to eat. We headed to the Estes Park Brewery and had a few pints to warm us up, some good food, and eventually dried off. Then we walked around downtown a bit, and got some ice cream.
Back to the campsite we went, hung out and hiked around the camp grounds a bit, then started preparing dinner. Yeah. More rain!!! Fortunately it was just a small shower and we were eventually back around the fire having s'mores. The kids went to bed and George and I hung out a bit before we got cold and just went to bed. Our air mattress was having issues the night before, so we had inflated it again in hopes that it was just an oddity. It wasn't. There was a puncture somewhere, and we ended up sleeping on the bare ground for most of the night! Unpleasant, to say the least.
So, we decided that the next morning we would pack up camp, stay for the day and then just leave after dinner (we were supposed to stay until the next morning). Saturday turned out to be the best day, weather-wise. We did a small hike around Lily Lake, and saw lots of interesting wildflowers and birds. Then we drove up Trail Ridge Road (which goes up and over the pass). Boy I hate those small, windy mountain roads. We did see a bunch of Elk, lots of snow, and a TON of tourists. We got up near the top (about 12,000 ft) and the kids walked around a bit, then we came back down. Once we got back to camp we started getting packed up, made some dinner, and the kids played with some of our neighbors for quite some time. They got along so well! We had some s'mores, finished packing up the tent and rest of the stuff. During this time I managed to step off the tent pad and hit a rock, twisting my ankle pretty badly. I was able to walk on it after about 30 minutes, but it's really swollen and bruised.
We headed out around 9:30pm. Eventually, we home around 11:30pm (because we took a wrong turn and ended up going about 20mins out of our way), got the kids in bed, showered and promptly collapsed!
Some notes for next time:
Bring raincoats!!
Bring extra air mattresses!
Get a picnic shelter!
George came home from work a little early on Thursday and I'd spent the day packing up the car. We left around 3:20. We hit a pretty big rain/hail storm on the way which slowed traffic down to almost a standstill. Once we got through the storm, the traffic eased up and the rest of the drive was fairly uneventful. We get to the park entrance and I realize I'd left our national parks annual pass at home. So, there's a $20 entrance fee we weren't counting on (we can get our money refunded, but it's mail-in and you know how that goes)!! We also found out once we got inside the park that there are NO shower facilities anywhere in the park. Not cool.
We get to our campground, which is absolutely gorgeous! However, as soon as we pull in, it starts to drizzle. We rush around to get our tent set up and everything, and by the time that's all done we are all wet and cold. We don't have a picnic shelter, since ours broke a few years back. The rain tapers off enough to get the fire started and eat some dinner, but quickly starts back up again after we'd finished. We ended up seeking refuge in the tent, played a few rounds of Go Fish, and went to sleep around 8:00.
It rained all night, but thankfully our new tent kept us dry all night long (something that can't be said about our previous two tents). We woke up sometime around 6-6:30 and the sun was out and the rain was gone! Cooked some breakfast, chilled out in the early morning sun for a while, and decided to go out for a hike. One of our camp neighbors suggested a hike called "Emerald Lake" so we headed out towards the trailhead. The trailhead started at around 9500' and ascended up to over 10,000' in elevation. Unfortunately for me, my lungs aren't cut out for a lot of exertion with that little oxygen, so it did take a while for me to adjust to the altitude. My legs were fine, but my heart was beating a mile a minute (combined with headache and dizziness) with each slight gain in elevation! Oxygen deprivation is not for the weak of heart. Fortunately though, I made it the whole way and after about a mile my body had adjusted and I was doing much better. There were three lakes in total on this hike, and also quite a lot of traversing over snow and ice. Next time I will remember to bring my hiking shoes with more traction. We headed back down the mountain and were about a half-mile from the trailhead and it started pouring rain. Evidently hail and lightning were also predicted to come from this storm, so we hustled back as quickly as possible. By the time we got to the trailhead (and a large shelter) we were completely soaked through, and very cold (it was about 50F). We decided to ditch lunch at the campsite and head into Estes Park to eat. We headed to the Estes Park Brewery and had a few pints to warm us up, some good food, and eventually dried off. Then we walked around downtown a bit, and got some ice cream.
Back to the campsite we went, hung out and hiked around the camp grounds a bit, then started preparing dinner. Yeah. More rain!!! Fortunately it was just a small shower and we were eventually back around the fire having s'mores. The kids went to bed and George and I hung out a bit before we got cold and just went to bed. Our air mattress was having issues the night before, so we had inflated it again in hopes that it was just an oddity. It wasn't. There was a puncture somewhere, and we ended up sleeping on the bare ground for most of the night! Unpleasant, to say the least.
So, we decided that the next morning we would pack up camp, stay for the day and then just leave after dinner (we were supposed to stay until the next morning). Saturday turned out to be the best day, weather-wise. We did a small hike around Lily Lake, and saw lots of interesting wildflowers and birds. Then we drove up Trail Ridge Road (which goes up and over the pass). Boy I hate those small, windy mountain roads. We did see a bunch of Elk, lots of snow, and a TON of tourists. We got up near the top (about 12,000 ft) and the kids walked around a bit, then we came back down. Once we got back to camp we started getting packed up, made some dinner, and the kids played with some of our neighbors for quite some time. They got along so well! We had some s'mores, finished packing up the tent and rest of the stuff. During this time I managed to step off the tent pad and hit a rock, twisting my ankle pretty badly. I was able to walk on it after about 30 minutes, but it's really swollen and bruised.
We headed out around 9:30pm. Eventually, we home around 11:30pm (because we took a wrong turn and ended up going about 20mins out of our way), got the kids in bed, showered and promptly collapsed!
Some notes for next time:
Bring raincoats!!
Bring extra air mattresses!
Get a picnic shelter!