Image Gallery:
Around the Upper Loop, September 13, 2007
(click on image for larger version)
We were camped at West Yellowstone KOA several miles west of town for nearly a week in September 2007. Our camper was a Big Horn fifth wheel by Heartland. We were set up with satellite TV and satellite internet and had almost all of the conveniences of home.
For all of the conveniences, though, we found that we were not doing the kind of camping that we really preferred. We prefer national and state park and forest campgrounds, but found in some of those kind of campgrounds that maneuvering into sites that could accommodate the size of our 5th wheel was often difficult and, in some instances, there just were not any sites that we felt comfortable with trying to get into.
We now have a small motor home and are able to get into just about any campground that we want to with little or no difficulty. The only ones we can’t get into are those restricted to tent camping and those that we can’t get to with the camper. We’ve visited a couple of places where the curves were so tight that our 25 foot motor home was over the length limit. We’re also not quite yet prepared to go too many miles down an unpaved road.
In 2009, we camped in 4 national park* campgrounds, 4 nights in each one. We didn’t have satellite TV or internet and we were doing the kind of camping we really prefer.
See more of our
Image Galleries at Haw Creek.
* Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Shenandoah National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, and Mesa Verde National Park
Estes Park, September 5, 2009
Located in Larimer County, Colorado, Estes Park is a popular summer resort and the eastern entrance into Rocky Mountain National Park. The town lies along the Big Thompson River. It is named after Joel Estes, who founded the town in 1859.
Trail Ridge Road, the highest continuous road in the United States, runs from Estes Park through Rocky Mountain National park to Grand Lake on the western side of the continental divide.
The town suffered severe damage in July 1982 from flooding caused by the failure of Lawn Lake Dam. In October, 2009, a fire in the Park Theatre Mall – caused by a natural gas water heater in a small closet – destroyed eleven businesses and several apartments. The building had been built in 1914 to house Stanley Steamers.
Gallery:
Estes Park and then up to Trail Ridge – September 5, 2009
See more of our Image Galleries at Haw Creek.
I’ve completed another photo gallery from our visit to Rocky Mountain National Park. It includes images from Moraine Park, Bear Lake, Nymph Lake, and Dream Lake, and has photos of elk, deer, a couple of chickarees, a chipmunk, birds, wildflowers and more. (For more of my travel images see Haw Creek Galleries.)
I’ve added two new photo galleries for Day 3 and Day 4 of our visit to Rocky Mountain National Park, including images from Moraine Park, Trail Ridge Road, Fall River Road, Bear Lake, Nymph Lake, Dream Lake, elk, deer, a chickaree, chipmunks, and more. For more of my travel images see Haw Creek Galleries.
Arrival at Rocky Mountain National Park, August 31, 2009
Rocky Mountain National Park - Eastern slopes - September 1, 2009
I’ve added photos from our September visit to Rocky Mountain National Park to two new photo galleries to my Haw Creek Galleries. Because of the number of photos I took on the trip, I’ll be dividing them up in to galleries by location and, under that, by date.
The first gallery is Arrival – August 31, 2009 and has ten photos.
The second is from September 1 and is primarily from the eastern slopes of Rocky Mountain National Park, with 48 photos. We wanted to take a couple of days to acclimatize at lower elevations before went up over 10,000 feet above sea level.
I’m working on the next gallery and will be posting more from other days of our September trip. I also have galleries to work on from trips in May 2009, September 2008, August and September 2007, June 2007, and January 2007, as well as older trips from before I retired.
