Deer Mountain
Rocky Mountain is a very busy park! By the time we got ourselves out in the morning, and that wasn’t very late, the signs for the car parks at the popular Bear Lake Trailhead were already indicating full. We headed for the Deer Mountain Trailhead instead.
Climbing Deer Mountain is a 6 mile round trip and you end up at over 10,000 feet. Before you get too impressed, I’ll confess that you actually start around 8,900 – but some of it is very steep, especially at the end. My knees didn’t like that section one little bit.
Here are some views from the way up.
Just before the summit we stopped to get our (well, my) breath back and I made the acquaintance of this little guy. I think he was begging, but I didn’t give him anything. Too many titbits is probably what made him so bold, and animals should not be encouraged to become dependent on humans for food. But he was cute.
Pressing on to the summit, we could see right back down to our hotel on the edge of Estes Park.
Then it was time to retrace our steps, stopping for a quick picnic on the way.
In the afternoon, we took the one-way gravel Old Fall River Road which winds uphill for 11 miles and 3000 feet to Fall River Pass. The short trail at Chasm Falls made a pleasant stop on the way.
At the pass, we had a very welcome hot coffee at the Alpine Visitor Centre – it was cold up there and still had pockets of snow. Information boards told us more about the road which opened in 1920, and until 1932 was the only motor route across the park. Then it was replaced by Trail Ridge Road, our route back down.
The views from Trail Ridge were stunning.
We were really sorry to have only one full day in Rocky Mountain, but the next day we were off to Denver – and we were really excited about that.
Linked to Jo’s Monday Walks where this week she takes us on a stroll around Lucca.
The Glasgow Gallivanter 
Great views – and I appreciate the comments about Estes Park in the previous post. Paul and I are thinking about Colorado this summer, and I haven’t been to the Estes Park area since I was a little kid, when I didn’t have to think about things like where to stay and crowds. I’ll keep that in mind if we head that way!
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I would definitely stay further out if you can. We liked the place we chose.
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