Rocky Mountain Anniversary

David and I wanted to do something fun and special for our first wedding anniversary. We toyed around with different weekend trips close to home, but we both knew deep down what we really wanted to do… return to the Rockies! Nothing can compare to its alpine paradise.

We explored the majority of Rocky Mountain National Park during our honeymoon last year, so this time around we enjoyed the park at a more leisurely pace. We made sure to fuel up each morning on freshly made donuts from the Donut Haus. We returned to a few of our favorite spots like the Alluvial Fan and Kawuneeche Valley – spotting a few moose along the way!

The trip wouldn’t be complete without hiking, so we headed to the Bear Lake area to do some trails we missed the first time around. The hike to Lake Helene was gorgeous; after making our way through a rock scree, we ended at a peaceful mountain lake that overlooked Lake Odessa. We also hiked to Alberta Falls, a popular hike through groves of aspen trees leading to a 30-foot waterfall rushing down a small gorge on Glacier Creek.

On the day of our wedding anniversary we went back to where it all happened – Upper Beaver Meadows. We were a little anxious on the drive there – a few months earlier there was a wild fire that went through the Moraine Park area, which backs up to our meadow. We were afraid that the fire reached the two tall pine trees that we got married beside. But thankfully the trees were spared! Both were standing tall, side-by-side in the middle of the beautiful grassy meadow. We ended the day with dinner at the Twin Owls Steakhouse, where we ate dinner after our wedding.

David planned the final day of our trip. One thing he kept talking about the entire time was driving the Old Fall River Road, which made me a little nervous. The one-way road was primarily gravel and made up of several switchbacks that made its way through the park’s high country. But I was so glad we did it, it ended up being one of the highlights of the trip. We spent some time at Chasm Falls, climbing around the rocky creek that was fed by the small waterfall. The next section of the road ran beside Willow Park, where we saw more moose! The remaining few miles of the road lead you back up through the alpine tundra and ended at the Alpine Visitor Center. We continued west on Trail Ridge Road, making the trek all the way to Grand Lake where we spent the majority of the afternoon taking in the view from the porch swings at Grand Lake Lodge.

On our way back to Estes, we decided on a whim to stop by Moraine Park. The sun was going down, and we wanted to get some shots of the sunset. We parked near the aspen trees, which is fenced off from animals to restore the surrounding vegetation. Once inside the fenced-in area, we soon noticed that we were surrounded by a huge herd of elk! After taking a few pictures, something spooked them, causing the herd to stampede. The ground literally shook beneath our feet!

We quickly got in our car and drove in the direction of the herd. They ended up near a picnic area by the river. We sat there for hours watching the elk. Some of the younger ones played and splashed in the river, while the others grazed and rested in the meadow. When it was time to move on the buck stomped his feet, causing the rest of the herd to stand up and follow his lead down the park. After bugling down the valley warning any stragglers, and corralling a mother with her feeding calf, they all disappeared into the meadow to find another spot to graze. This was the best national park moment we have ever experienced. It definitely reminded us why we chose this park to get married in.