Unquarantined

Getting a camping spot in Colorado is not that easy. Reservations are released at the beginning of the year, and you have to book as many as you can for the summer before they sell out. Dave and I managed to get three reservations, each for one night. Our first was in May, but was canceled due to Covid-19. The next was in June at Moraine Park. Thankfully by then Colorado was in phase three of reopening, which included the parks and campgrounds. This was going to be our first big activity since being quarantined. We actually thought about not going, but since we were taking our R-Pod and would be self-contained with our own amenities, we knew we could do it safely.

Our campsite was located at the end of the road overlooking Moraine Park. We were a little rusty setting up the R-Pod, but managed to get it level and ready. We quickly ate lunch and headed into Rocky Mountain National Park.

Following the reopening guidelines, Rocky Mountain National Park is now capping the amount of visitors to 60% of its capacity each day, and all vehicles must reserve a specific time to enter. Once inside the park, we made a strategic decision to hike to Mills Lake, one of the less popular trails. It was so great to be back in nature. Even before the pandemic, we haven’t been on a hike for a couple years because we were staying home with Biscuits. This was our second time on this trail, and it was just as pretty as we remembered. The trail crosses over several streams and rivers, weaves through aspen groves, has sweeping vistas of the surrounding valleys and mountains – there were even large patches of snow still on the ground from the last storm. We did have moments of our new reality when we passed other hikers wearing masks (us included)… that will take some getting used to.

When the next morning rolled around, we didn’t want to leave! We got a wild hair to check the Elk Meadow RV Resort in town for an available spot – and got one! The campground was actually pretty empty, which is a rare sight to see. It was our first time staying at a site with full hook-ups, and boy did it change our camping experience. We didn’t have to pay close attention to how much water or power we were using, and there was free Wifi & cable tv! We’ve always avoided campgrounds like this because they didn’t look very scenic, the RVs were pretty packed in and campfires were not allowed. But our camper pretty much acts as a home base; we are gone for the entire day and only return for dinner and to sleep.

After setting up the R-Pod we headed back into the national park. We are so glad we stayed another night because Trail Ridge Road opened that day! We stopped at some of our favorite overlooks, which were very moody due to some storms rolling in. We saw lots of elk and surprisingly lots of blooming wildflowers.

On the west side of the park, we stopped at our favorite trail that runs along the Colorado River. Dave went fishing while I walked around taking photos, hoping for a rare sighting of a moose. Well not only did I see a moose – we saw seven of them! The first one was in the distance along the river where Dave was fishing. And not far from that was a mama and baby grazing in a willow-filled meadow. At that point we were thinking how lucky we were to see three; typically in past years we’ll go a whole summer and only see a handful.

Well the other four moose sightings didn’t quite go the way I wanted. Walking back to the car, there was a younger male moose grazing about 30 feet from the trail. We waited for a bit, hoping he would continue off into the woods, but he stayed put, just as content as could be eating his dinner. So Dave and I gave him as much room as we could, basically walking on the rim of the river. As we passed him, he barely took his eyes off of his meal. But after we got about 70 feet away, I just happened to glance back and saw him on the other side of the tree looking at us! We picked up the pace a little, looked back, and saw him walking towards us! Going much faster now, we glanced back again and he was trotting after us!! It didn’t feel threatening, honestly I think he was just curious because we talked to him as we walked by, but that didn’t make it any less scary!

We booked it back to the parking lot, thinking we were in the clear… when suddenly another mama and her two babies scurried off into the woods! We quickly got in our car as the mama circled around with the hair on her neck standing up, patrolling the outer boundary of the trailhead making sure we knew she was not happy.

Once our heart rates returned to normal, we were able to enjoy the sunset on the way back to the campground. It was so nice staying close-by and not having to drive an hour back home. It allowed us to explore the park later into the evening rather than trying to make it back down the canyon before dark. And waking up to a view of Long’s Peak outside our window wasn’t too bad either.