Rocky Mountain National Park - B.Taylor

     After two long days in the van we finally reached Rocky Mountain National Park. As we drove to our cabin by the river we kept on the lookout for bighorn in the big mountains above. When we reached our destination we unpacked the van into the cabin. We checked out the river for bears and then we headed out to Old Fall River road. Fall River road is a dirt road that curves up a tall mountain that not many people take. A few minutes up the curvy road a male elk as tall as our van walked right towards us! He had huge antlers.

At the top it meets the paved road that holds the highest up visitor’s center in North America. We went back down the mountain and had macaroni for dinner in our cabin. When Sage fell asleep we got into the hot tub and then went to bed.  

The next morning we woke up early to try and see moose at the marsh, but then we heard a big bull elk bugle a challenge to a nearby harem (group of females and young). We sat for a long time waiting for it to charge but it didn’t. We drove on and not long after we saw a lot of people taking pictures of something over the edge. Mom went out to see what it was. Then a second later Mom came back shouting for us to come see the bighorn sheep down the cliff side.

After many pictures were taken we saw the harem running away by the sheep. The big bull had charged! We saw him catching up to the harem and its bull leader. All of the sudden we saw the ram and its sheep family starting to run after the elk down the mountain. We tried to follow them from the road but we lost them as they headed down the mountain.

We kept on going and I saw a snowy owl in the forest. Mom had to put that idea away claiming it was a piece of wood. We had a picnic in the meadows where the moose were supposed to be but we didn’t see any. 

After driving the entire length of the park we headed back. There were lots of elk on our way  back home. We relaxed for a little while then went to the side of the park to bear lake. We hiked around it and had a lot of fun.

When we exited Bear Lake a park ranger pointed us to Moraine meadows where we could see elk. Parked there we saw smaller bull elk practicing rutting. After a bit the bulls challenged a big bull for his harem. The big bull being outnumbered 3 males to 1 bugled a retreat and herded all his females away from them. A few rebellion females stood there ground then zipped to the other side of the battlefield. After a lot of bugles, retreats, and practicing we called it a night.

The next day when we were packing up the van a big mule deer scattered out of our front yard we followed him to the river. He gracefully hopped across the river and up the cliff. When all the excitement was over we jammed back into the van and left  ROCKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK.