A Visit To Rocky Mountain National Park

My friend Stuart and I drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park yesterday to check out the scenery, and as usual it was spectacular.  This was the first time I have been back to the park since I bought my senior pass, which allows everyone over 62 to get into all the national parks for free.  That has to have been well over a year ago now.  And why haven't I visited more often since it is now free and Rocky Mountain National Park is a mere hour and forty-five minutes away?  The same reason people live five miles from the ocean and never visit.  It know it will always be there, but you just never get around to going.  In any case, our first stop was Bear Lake, one of the the park's most popular sites, where I snapped the photograph of Stuart on the left.

Bear Lake is a very pretty area, and there is a relatively easy hiking trail that goes around it, making it a popular spot for tourists.  As you can see from the photograph on the right, the lake is partially frozen, and there is a fair amount of snow on the ground this time of year.  After visiting Bear Lake, we headed down the mountain a mile or so to Glacier Gorge Trail, my favorite place to hike in the park.  It was a little muddy, and neither of us brought hiking boots, and so we decided to head up Trail Ridge Road to the point where it is closed due to heavy snow until next year.  I suggested that Stuart lift up the gate so we could drive onward, but since he was not enthusiastic about the idea, we turned around and parked at the overlook a short distance back instead.

The photo on the left is actually an optical illusion.  When standing at the overlook, you can see across the valley to the snow covered peaks beyond. However, if you stand far enough away from the overlook and take the photograph with a zoom lens, it looks as though the people standing there can actually touch those mountains, making for a very dramatic shot.  This technique, as well as many others used by photographers such as Ansel Adams, have been applied long before anyone ever thought of Photoshop. Just my little reminder that manipulating photographs is nothing new. And after admiring the views, Stuart and I left the park and stopped on the way back in Boulder, dining at The Post Brewing Company.  They have great beer and great chicken sandwiches there, by the way, and you can never beat the fun atmosphere of a college town like Boulder.  A perfect end to the day.