Rocky Mountain National Park.

Yesterday we ventured up to RMNP for a little adventure. It was nice to get out of the house on this break... I've been a bit bored and needed an outing. We went to see elk and the fall colors however, most of the aspens are already dead, but it was still a good time. Here are the photos that I took while we hiked around the park.

This is my friend Anna. She too goes to the Art Institute.

This was are first hike we went on. It lead us up to Alberta Falls ... it was a 2 mile round trip hike.

We ran across a little creek just after we started the hike. Here's my favorite shot.

A panorama of the creek.
With this and the previous shot, I was trying to slow the water down to get the "cotton candy" effect. I think I did pretty well since I didn't have a tripod and this was all hand held.
A tree log I found interesting... An older lady on her way down stopped to say how pretty that was lol
Finally made it up to Alberta Falls :) It was gorgeous. I loved that everything around the waterfall was frozen or still snow.

On our way back instead of crossing the bridge, we took the rocks :)

We stopped for water right about here and I snapped a quick photo of the creek running from Alberta Falls.

Once we finished the Alberta Falls hike, we decided to take a stroll around Bear Lake.

We sat on a bench that over looked the water for a breather and water break and Anna and I had a photo war.



Some random plant things... I thought they're design was cool.

Whats left of the fall colors.

Pretty pretty!

Whats a trip without chipmunks?! lol

Leaving Bear Lake and heading back to the front of the park we saw a few cars pulled over just ahead so I knew there was wildlife and I watched out the window. Sure enough there is a female and baby elk. We pulled over to snap a few shots.

We continued to another parking lot and trail where we could walk in the valley were Zach and I saw elk last time. We saw people already gathering and new we were in luck!

We found a patch of aspens that were still alive... yay!


My favorite shot! I love aspens!!

This was the first herd we encountered. Male 1 and his herd...

The male was bugling in the shot! What an experience to sit, watch, and listen to them!! Wish I could have stayed longer.


Male 2 was a loner lol He kept trying to hang with the first herd and Male 1 would freak out and chase male 2. It was pretty funny to watch.

He kept twisting his head side to side and scratching his horns on any bush he could. Getting the rest of the velvet off perhaps?

Male 3
Male 3 and his herd. This is a panorama shot.

We were about 20 ft away from these females.

Check out the baby! SOOOO cute!!

Leaving the park...

We saw a few of these hand carved to totem poles. They were carved right out of a tree. The trunks where still in the ground... It was pretty neat.

We just reached Estes Park and there was a huge line of traffic. Again I knew there must be wildlife so I got my camera ready...

This was me shooting the male from the car window. He's camera shy... lol jk but between him moving and the car I missed a good shot.
However, we pulled over the first chance we got and went running back to him. There was the male, 2 females, and a baby.
Funny thing is...they're on a mini golf course! lol

The End!

XoXo