A short trip to get out of the house - RMNP is close enough
Let's see how much snow is up there (the yard at the house is nearly void of snow)
| General route map. Up into the Big Thompson River
canyon then split off towards Glen Haven at Drake. Head to Bear Lake
and then return via US-34. Something like 100 miles round trip. I left
at 2:15 pm and returned home about 4 hours later. An "I should have" for today would have been to bring a tripod. The sunset lighting tied with a telephoto zoom on the camera lead to several photos a bit blurry - sorry. |
| I like this view. Heading out of Glen haven towards Estes Park we climb a set of switchbacks and then pop over a rise. Just as we pop over the rise this is the grand vista. Estes Park is but two or three miles down in front / right. |
| At the main eastern entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. |
| On the way to Bear Lake I spotted a set of vehicles stopped on the
other side of the road. One of them had the right front tire
dropped down into the snow as if they were pulling over (to get a
photo) and then lost traction in the snow. The group of people were
somewhat standing about eyeing up the problem. As I pulled alongside I yelled out Anyone want a tow rope. A few smiles and a lone YES came from the group. I pulled behind the vehicle and grabbed the tow strap. One of the other guys crawled under the vehicle (4-door Saturn sedan???) to affix the strap. One smooth tug and it was back on the road. The operator of the car thanked me and said "I'm traveling from Texas - this stuff is new to me". Welcome to Colorado! It's always fun to be able to help out. Though not have to lay on the ground to tie/un-tie the strap - always a bonus. While there was blue sky to the east over the plains and a bit still remaining overhead, at the mountain top level clouds were skimming across the peaks. The wind was moving at a good clip. |
| Moraine Valley Panorama Click for a larger size |
| Panorama Click for a larger size |
| The fun "boulder section" of the Big Thompson River where Bear Lake Road crosses. A summertime photo can be found here. |
| Getting up to a consistent snowcover. The amounts were not huge though where drifting could happen the depths were greater. |
| Like this... |
| Closer to Bear Lake. |
| Panorama Click for a larger size |
| The main parking lot for Bear Lake. I tried to get a shot of the blowing snow. It was not snowing at the time rather the winds were strong enough to get things swirling (made walking interesting). |
| Bear Lake trail. |
| One large drift (hard packed
snow). Side rails buried. There's a bench, right, sticking out
of the snow. When I entered the park's main gate the attendant said the snow amount at Bear Lake was 42 inches. |
| Looking across the
frozen Bear Lake. I planned a multi-shot panorama of the lake but only
recorded two images before my bare fingers were too cold. A stinging
pain type of cold. Summertime photos of the lake are on
this page. While a few people, down at Fort Collins and Loveland were seen in short sleeves today (it was just cool enough to have a coat on) the temps at this higher elevation were significantly lower. Low temps, coupled with a fierce wind made bare hands for camera work a bit straining. |
| The sunset lighting is just starting to present itself. |
| Back at Moraine Park |
| Panorama Click for a larger size |
| Panorama Click for a larger size |
| Moving higher on the northern edge to Moraine Park, looking across the valley. Panorama Click for a larger size |
| I ended up being in the area for
the "Golden Hour". (ah, for that tripod for crisp, clear(er) photos.....) |
| Panorama Click for a larger size |
| Panorama Click for a larger size |
| Movie Couds whipping off the peaks (played at twice normal speed) 2008-01-31-rmnp-clouds.wmv WMV, 2.4 MB, 25 seconds |