Day 4 - Arches National Park

We awoke at 4:45 AM and went to Arches NP for sunrise photos.  We hiked to the North Window area.  It was SO beautiful at this park. It seems that every turn had something amazing to see!  

We hiked behind the "Windows" on a 2-mile loop.  We really liked that a lot!  We hiked to Landscape Arch and that was a really nice 4-mile hike.  We drove to the Delicate Arch viewpoint and checked that out, but we didn't take the time to hike up there.  We hiked around the Balanced Rock area too.  We checked out more arches and formations on the way out.  We went back to the campground to cool off at the pool. Then we went to town to eat. We ate at Quesadilla Mobilla.  It was really tasty! 

It was really hot , but I had to go birding by the river for 45 minutes. Then we went back to Arches National Park and wandered around. Hiking around the rock at the Arches area is kind of fun!  We ended the day by hiking around Turret Arch and watching the sun set.  All total we ended up hiking 9 miles today!

Turret Arch was beautiful in the morning!

The lighting was so pretty this morning.

The desert flowers were beautiful!

These lavender, Aster-like flowers were in bouquets around the area.

This was a beautiful cactus flower.

Balancing Rock

Brad at Landscape Arch

The mountains in the background were so pretty too!

Some of the formations were really unusual.

This looks like its possibly a desert kind of cottontail rabbit.

There were several kinds of lizards around.  This one was the 
largest that we saw.

They were quite camouflaged.

Some lizards had a little more color to them.

This area is called Park Avenue.

The Sheep's Head formation

Sunset was beautiful this evening.

We had really delicious quesadillas for a late lunch today!

Day 3 - Moab

Now that we know where everything is in the car, we've got this tenting thing down and I love it!  We got up at 6 AM and within a half hour we had the camp down and headed to Boulder. We went to check on the University of Colorado and we just happened to see the Math building, so we took some photos for Michael.  I observed in these Colorado communities they don't keep yards and other outdoor areas so manicured as we do in our area.

Driving down I-70 was pretty with the colorful canyons and snow-capped mountains.  We saw one lone pine tree in the ditch fully decorated for Christmas. There are many signs in Colorado that say, "Don't text and drive.  Get your head out if your apps!" Pretty funny!

We've gone 730 miles on less than 2 tanks of gas. The car is much better than the Birdmobile on fuel!

After a beautiful nine hour scenic drive through Utah we arrived in Moab.  It was 92 degrees and windy. We checked into our deluxe cottage, which is really small, but surely meets our needs.  We will stay here for 2 nights. We did something I hadn't done in over 10 years! We went swimming at the campground pool. I forgot how refreshing that could be! There will be no photos if that moment however! 

After a bite to eat drove to Dead Horse Pt. for sunset photos.  It was beautiful, but too hazy for good pictures.  It is a fun place to hike around.  It was very windy there and hazy unfortunately.  I saw four Mountain Bluebirds and a cool little lizard that I got photos of and sent to an expert. 

The Moab, Utah area is a beautiful place!  With the colorful and unusual rock formation. Some areas look like the town of Bedrock.  Where are the Flintstones?

The Eisenhower Tunnel was pretty interesting.

This small cabin was called the "deluxe cottage", but it was pretty small.

It was cute inside and suited our needs just fine.

Dead Horse State Park is a beautiful place even if it is hazy much of the time.

I love the colors in this canyon.

This is the first time we'd seen lizards on the trip.  This is an Ornate Tree Lizard.

Day 3 - Life bird #1!

While this isn't strictly a birding trip, I have my eyes and ears alert at all times for birds hoping to spot something new.  Today I saw Common Ravens and some Clark's Nutcrackers.  The pair of Buffleheads came up rare on eBird. Other birds seen were Audubon's Yellow-rumped Warblers, many Ruby-crowned Kinglets, American Robins and a couple of unknowns that I didn't have time to figure out. Broad-tailed Hummingbirds are all over.  They make a rattling kind of sound and I hear them all around me.  They are louder than most humming birds.  I saw my first Mountain Chickadee this morning times three!  Here is a photo I took of my camera screen.

A Mountain Chickadee

 I also saw the bird below at the tundra on top of Trail Ridge Road, but I wasn't sure what it was.  A pipit was one of my two guesses.  It was an American Pipit - of the southern Rockies race. Thanks Doug for helping with the ID.

Trying to figure out birds that I've never seen before is kind of fun!  Thank goodness I have a nice camera with a great zoom!

This American Pipit is a pretty bird!

Day 2 - Rocky Mtn. NP 1

We were up at 4:45 AM to get to Bear Lake and go hiking! It was a strenuous hike for us flatlanders. There was a lot of snow on the trail. We were two of only a few people there. I saw a Common Raven and some Clark's Nutcrackers.  The pair of Buffleheads came up rare on eBird. Other birds were Audubon's Yellow-rumped Warblers, many Ruby-crowned Kinglets, American Robins and a couple of unknowns. Broad-tailed Hummingbirds are all over. Nymph Lake at sunrise was beautiful!  

Later we drove the Trail Ridge Road and there was a ton of snow there.  There is an image of me below to show how deep the snow was.  

We saw 3 moose, lots of elk and some Mule Deer today on our drive.  There were Yellow-bellied Marmots perched up on rock croppings. We are hoping to sleep better tonight.  Last night we had trouble sleeping as we usually do on our first night of camping.

I wasn't expecting to see this much snow in June.

It was a beautiful morning to be hiking!

There is nothing quite like morning light to bring the beautiful colors out.

I love snow-capped mountains!  The first time I saw mountains was at 
age 20.  I remember that I was so emotional that I cried. Now I cry when I have to leave.

The view atop the Trail Ridge Road was stunning and a big scary at times.

This range is called the "Never Summer Mountains".  I get it.

Even though there was snow on the ground, it wasn't that cold.

We saw twin moose lying in the grasses near their mother in the beaver dam area.

Brad is checking over the agenda for the day.

Here is our campsite from up the hill behind it.  Look closely and you will see our car and tent on the left.

Day 1 - At Rocky Mountain National Park Campground

This is a beautiful campground! Tenting proves to be a lot of work though as we can't find anything and we are going up and down the hill from our car to get supplies.

Right when we got there two bull elk were grazing in the nearby campsite while a Black-billed Magpie landed on our picnic table right next to Brad. It was snooping through our gear. There were many Broad-tailed Hummingbirds about, and Spotted Towhees. There wasn't time to go birding, but I did notice those.  There are chubby chipmunks too.  Putting up the tent was a a little tricky this first time, but I think we have it figured out now. We spotted over 60 elk in the valley below.  I could hear Western Wood-Pewees calling too.

I rarely see Black-billed Magpies at home and this was the first bird to 
greet us at the campground.

These chipmunks were all over the campground.  They were so cute!

These elk are really huge!  At one point it was rubbing its antlers on 
the tent and then it turned around to pee just missing the tent!

We are supposed to stay 100 feet away from the wildlife, but in this 
campground you'd have to really work at it as they are very comfortable 
around people.

We put up the rain fly this first night due to the chance of rain.

Day 1 - At Estes Park

We made it to Estes Park at 5:15 PM.  The mountains are beautiful!!  It has been a long time since I've been to the mountains, so I'm very happy!  We drove through some snow, but the temps were in the 60s.  I just saw a Broad-tailed Hummingbird!  Now we will make our way to the campground!

A Broad-tailed Hummingbird at the gas station.

The view from Estes Park is one of my favorites!

On the Road

We are in North Platte, Nebraska.  All is well so far and we had a nice visit along the way.  I didn't realize that the Sandhill area of Nebraska was so vast and desolate. It is a very different habitat. I saw three birds that I would've liked to had a second look at, but we need to cover some ground today.  Unfortunately the forecast for the Estes Park area shows rain until this evening.  That will not be a good way to set up the tent. Oh well...

 

We are packed tight.

These car photos were actually taken on the last day 
when we just crammed everything in one last time.  
I'd forgotten to take a photo of it earlier.