I heard the elk bellowing a couple times during the night. It sounds a bit like trying to open a rusted out metal gate. Once I figured out what it was, I could relax and enjoy the sound.
We both woke up early this morning and found our yard full of elk. There was a mother herd with some young ones and one or two male elks. It was fun watching them up close and personal and hearing the male sound their bellow. The nice thing about Y Camp is sometimes the wildlife comes to you.
Since we were up early we got going and left for Trail Ridge Road around 7:30. If you get through the gates before 9:00 you don’t need a timed entry pass. There wasn’t much of a line to get in.
We stopped at most of the over looks on the way up. The store at the top was still closed but we used the bathrooms and then continued over to Grand Lake. The weather was picture perfect for the drive today. It was colder and windy at the top but otherwise perfect.
Grand Lake is as beautiful as I remembered. We drove up to Shadow Cliff where I attended retreats for four or five years back in the day. We met the current caretaker. They had their last guests of the season Sunday and are in the process of closing it up for the winter. He was a nice person and we visited for a bit.
We walked up to Adam’s Falls but the water was dried up and the falls weren’t running. It was a perfect day for a short hike.
We went to SageBrush and had a late breakfast. Service was excellent and food came out fast.
I thought I had a park timed entry pass for noon but when I double checked it I realized my pass was for tomorrow. So we had to kill two hours until we could get back into the park to come home. You can renter the park after 2:00.
We drove down to Granby. There is a hardware store there I like to visit. I got some cards and then we came back up to Grand Lake. We went up to a resort that over looked the lake and walked around there for a bit. I went to the car and took a short nap. A little before 2:00 Kathy woke me up and we headed home. The line to get into the park took about 30 minutes to get through. However the drive through the park was fairly easy and not too backed up.
We ran into an elk jam almost to the end. I am surprised people aren’t run over as they act stupid as they jump out of their cars to take pictures of the elk. It took about 10 minutes to go 1/4 mile as a result.
When we got back to the Y Camp we saw our herd of elk lounging on the miniature golf course. They must have had to suspend play to allow the elk to have a turn.
It was a beautiful day with perfect fall temperatures. Tomorrow we plan to hang around the cabin and do some hiking on campus. Lots to see and do here and we need a break from sitting in the car. Wednesday we head home.
We have been so lucky to get such perfect weather. I have loved watching the Aspen trees shimmer in the sunlight. I took a video of them today as I found watching the leaves shimmer mesmerizing. They are as beautiful as I imagined they would be.
It will be good to slow things down tomorrow and take more of a rest day. When you are only here for two full days you can only do so much.
Grateful for this time away from home, grateful for the picture perfect day, and grateful I crossed off seeing the fall aspen colors and hearing the bull elk bellow from my bucket list.