This is the eighth in a series of posts sharing photos from a 21-day road trip I did with my older brother in June.
We had two days in Rocky Mountain National Park and we made the most of it. Rocky Mountain requires visitors who wish to go into the park before midafternoon to reserve an entry time. On the day we arrived in Estes Park, I’d reserved entry between 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. That ended up being a great fit with our travel schedule. We arrived from Laramie at about 11:30 am. After stopping at a local supermarket for supplies, we made our way into the park and spent the rest of the day there.
I’d reserved entry during a 6:00 am to 8:00 am window on our second day. The reservation also included access to Bear Lake Road, which is restricted to a limited number of visitors. It was easy to navigate the recreation.gov site to make the reservations. Timed entry only costs $2.00 per day. We never had a situation where a parking lot was full at an overlook we wanted to visit. We didn’t have the park to ourselves, but neither were we engulfed amidst swarms of visitors.
This new system works.
I ended up doing more landscape photography on day two. After entering the park, we drove straight to Bear Lake and made the short hike to a great vantage point offering a clear view of the lake with Hallett Peak overlooking the scene. Our next stop was Sprague Lake. We walked the entire footpath around the lake, stopping to photograph the reflection of the snow-covered Rocky Mountains on the glassy lake surface.
Most of the day was spent exploring the views and wildlife along Trail Ridge Road or at the Sheep Lakes in Fall River Valley. We saw marmots and pika in the high-elevation tundra environments of Trail Ridge Road. There were moose and bighorn at Sheep Lakes. The day’s highlight was sunset at Sheep Lakes in the Fall River valley. The light was magical…but in a way that made capturing it with a camera challenging. I’m pleased with what I got.
Here, are a few landscape photos from our time in magnificent Rocky Mountain National Park.
Early morning light bathes Hallett Peak with a warm glow while the glassy surface of Bear Lake mirrors the scene in Rocky Mountain National Park.
The snow-covered Rockies overlook Sprague Lake on a clear, calm summer morning at RMNP.
Hidden Valley Creek rushes downslope towards the Fall River valley in Rocky Mountain National Park.
A panoramic view of Forest Valley and the Rocky Mountains. (A 5-exposure panoramic stitch)
Dramatic late-date light illuminates Rocky Mountain National Park on a midsummer's day.
Glorious light spills into Fall River Valley as the Sun sets in Rocky Mountain National Park.
