Rocky Mountain National Park



We got up on one of our Colorado Saturdays in July and drove the two and a half hours to Rocky Mountain National Park. Tyler had scored us a last minute campsite in the park for the night! We had Bailey with us, and Rocky Mountain is one of the National Parks that has strict dog restrictions. We weren't sure what the weekend would look like because of this.

We got into Estes Park outside of Rocky Mountain first and did a bit of exploring in the afternoon. Estes Park is a wonderful town to walk around. They embrace the mountain town esthetic; store fronts and restaurants had dark wood exteriors and there is a beautiful river running right through the town. Many of the shops are right on the river walk. It is definitely touristy, but I personally love embracing the fun of exploring, even if it is a bit cheesy at times.

We headed to our campsite and started setting up camp for the evening. The sun started to set, so we paused on setup and took a dive to experience the park during magic hour. It was perfect timing because it started to rain as we drove around. The cloudy evening made some breathtaking light and views. We saw our first heard of elk walking along the road as we drove through the park.

We finished setting up camp, started a campfire, and enjoyed the last light of the day from our campsite. This was our first experience camping in a national park. We were thankful for the Bailey friendly campsite and very excited for the next day we had to really explore the park.

We got up for sunrise the next morning and took Bailey for a walk along a quiet road in the park. On our way a deer jumped out in front of our car and jogged along the road in front of us for about half a mile. It was a magical morning with more beautiful views and morning rays.

We packed up camp and took the rest of the day to drive through the whole park. We stopped frequently at the different pull-offs and saw some amazing wildlife and mountain vistas. I saws my first marmot in Rocky Mountain national park, now my favorite animal! We saw a moose family, a heard of big horned sheep, and beautiful Colorado wild flowers. We definitely feel the need to go back and explore the trails we didn't get to go on. But we are so thankful for our first experience in the park!

On our way back home we stopped in Estes Park again to grab coffee and do a bit more exploring. We popped in and out of the shops along the river. One of the shops had games setout with tables and chairs and we played a version of ticktacktoe where the pieces are different sizes and you can cover up smaller pieces with larger pieces. There were also giant xylophones on the river walk that we stopped to play on. We felt like little kids exploring the town. It was the perfect silly end to our adventure! 








  

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