RMNP Suggestions for Small Children / Feeble Adults?

[hurley842002]

Wife wanted to head to the Scots festival today, now I'm kind of having second thoughts.

[JohnnyEgo]

We had a pretty good time. Left at 11:00 AM. Traffic was a little snarled through Estes Park, but no more than about 15-20 minutes. The Fall River entrance to RMNP was pretty clear. There was occasional congestion on Trail Ridge, but nothing more than a few minutes wait, with plenty of long stretches of solitude. We ate lunch at Hidden Valley, then drove Trail Ridge, stopping at a few of the more scenic and/or rocky points along the way. Didn't get a ton of pictures of my boy because a.) he hates them and b.) I spent most of my time pulling him off the cliff ledges. We made the Tundra hike to the Mushroom Rocks, which involved me carrying him the last half mile up the trail. A five year old weighs a lot more at 11000+ feet. We brought jackets, hats, and gloves, and we needed them above the timberline, where it was about 50° with strong winds. We watched all the freezing people in shorts as they would pop out of their cars and pop back in.

Decent sized herd of Elk at the Elk Observation Point near the Fall River Entrance about 6:00 PM. Coming back, we saw a good sized black bear mid way up the canyon walls outside of Drake, about 7:30 or so. Got home about 20 minutes before 9:00. Boy went right to sleep, which was awesome. Couple pictures:


Mom about had a heart attack when she saw this, but it was actually less scary then it looked. There were about 3' of additional ledge on the other side of the wall for most of it's length.




Beautiful Day:





This path was paved, and the grade was not too steep, but my boy on my shoulders took the wind out of me pretty quick.

[JohnnyEgo]

Also, when my son fell asleep in the car, I took a bunch of pictures of my cooler instead.

[theGinsue]

Good looking young man - clearly owns dads heart to get you to carry him at that altitude.

The pics of the cooler substituting for your son are hilarious.

[cableguy11]

Awesome pics...The one on the wall is great...after all he does have his spiderman shirt on!

[Ah Pook]

Oh dear heavens gents, you really have no idea how bad it was. I've never dealt with it this bad.

Oh yes I do. Try driving through Nederland on any Sat or Sun, in the summer. Stalled traffic and 1/4 mile long lines is not uncommon.

Glad y'all had a good time. That is a pretty area.

[Great-Kazoo]

Good looking young man - clearly owns dads heart to get you to carry him at that altitude.

The pics of the cooler substituting for your son are hilarious.

He was signaling. Surprised his satchel wasn't in the picture.

[blacklabel]

He's Spiderman, what were you worried about? Looks like it was a great time. We always make the yearly drive through the park but rarely take the time to actually stop.

[TEAMRICO]

We always go to EP during the MLK holiday weekend in Jan. we book the same cabin very year for the next year at check out. Never really seen it crowded but always have a good time. Still cold with snow and plenty of wildlife roaming the roads and town. We always look forward to this trip.

[Gman]

Looks like a great time was had by all. Nice pics!