Heading Home: Day 2

Somehow loading the car was easier than unloading it. Once off and running, we nixed the idea of getting gas and breakfast where we were and decided to head west and tank up - in both senses - later. So of course that meant gas was $.30/gal. more expensive.

We finally found a section of the Platte with some water in it. And refreshed some memories of a previous trip where just west of Odessa, Nebraska,  the fields between the freeway and the river had numerous turkeys and deer out feeding, just like we were seeing now. The major difference was this was breakfast for them, while previously it was dinner time. Either way, the sun was very low to the horizon.

Heading down I-76 into Colorado was pretty much more nothingness. This trip I eventually noticed we hadn’t seen any oil wells like I remember from previous travels.  There were miles of wind farm lining the western horizon however. Had Colorado gone greener since our last trip through? Perhaps not, as once we hit 34 heading west there were clusters of them pumping away, not well spaced like we’d seen before, but lined up side by side by side, as  many as 7 or 8 together. Dang!

Air quality was definitely worse than previous trips. I remember back in ’85 on a family trip that our first glimpse of the Rockies was at Brush. A more recent trip hid them until Fort Morgan. Today we were coming out of Greeley before seeing their dim outlines, and they were still fairly obscured  as close as Loveland! It was a south wind, and apparently all of Denver’s air had arrived here.

We got gas in Greeley, figuring away from the national park it would be cheaper. Mostly gas was $3.66 / gallon, but we found a station for $3.49 and filled up. Prices in Loveland were even worse, but Just as we hit Estes Park we saw $4.49. We didn’t need any of course, but something to remember before heading out after two nights here. We’d be up and down the mountain before heading over Trail Ridge.

Rocky Mountain has instituted a new restriction for entrance. You have to contact them for a permit letting you in within a two hour window. It’s more complicated than that but either you get in before 5:00 AM or you need that permit. I’d been trying for a couple weeks, online, their recommended way. First the advanced slots were all full. However, 130 were reserved to go on sale at 5:00 PM the evening before you wanted to get in. I’d been trying to log in on my account (turns out I had one I forgot ever setting up!) but even though I’d actually written down username and password at that long ago time, the site didn’t recognize me. I was using the wrong password. WTF? Would I like to reset my password? Sure. Clicked the link, enter new password, send. Trying again, I was informed I had the wrong password. WTbloodyF ?!? Try again. Same non-result.

I pored over the information on the website. It had some conflicting information, but eventually one thing stood out. If I got into the park before 5 AM I could wander the park at will. One special section, Bear Lake Road, I had to be inside as well as the park as a whole by the deadline. This would mean getting up before 4 in order to dress, walk the dog, reload what was needed into the car (with a two night stay we could leave most belongings in the motel), and be sure to check in the park gate and get past the special section entry, all before 5. This had to take into consideration the elk. They wander through town, sometimes block roads, and could very possibly slow us down. Yes, they might be sleeping at that time, but who knows?

Then there was locating the right entrance, the one closest to the special section so I didn’t have to drive through half the park to get there. A trial run was in order. I’d pored over the maps and thought I knew which turn was needed where. I’d come out that entrance once years ago, on Hwy. 36, but never gone in any way besides Hwy. 34. So before checking into the motel, since we had time before we could anyway, I started navigating through town. Yep, there was the 36 sign, across from McDonalds. Now, look for it to bend and go into the park. Wait, what? We’re down by the big lake instead of finding that turn into the park? Oh, that was east 36! Find a U-turn, head back, reconfigure. Good thing I wasn’t trying to do this at 4AM in the dark, right? A little navigating, signs found, and we arrived at the visitor center just outside the entrance. I had a nice consult with a ranger on staff, made plans to try that 5PM phone call later, and see if we could get an extra hour morning sleep.

Once in our motel, we were pretty exhausted. I had Steve set his cell phone alarm for 4:58 PM and got ready for what I’d need. I was told to expect a bit of a time kill in their voicemail system, and the ranger wasn’t fibbing. First their recording couldn't understand which park I needed their assistance with since they are a private national system doing these arrangements. After three hard fails, I remembered the old trick of saying “representative.” Apparently even those have specific parks and attractions they deal with, but I managed to get put on hold for the right one. The estimated 5 minutes became 45 before a human answered, and at first the connection was broken up. But when I went and stood by the room’s patio doors, we had clear communication. Miracle of miracles by then, considering how many people were going online to do what I had to do old school, they had openings left at 5AM. I’d figured, not only did I really want to get in as early as possible, but fewer other people would even consider being awake at that time, so we stood a chance.

By the time I’d gone to bed, and was just drifting off, I was roused back to full awareness by a high pitched bugling sound. Elk? At motel check-in they’d mentioned a herd usually passed through the grounds in the evening. It was worth getting up for. The bugle repeated a couple times, and I pulled the drape back. A herd of about 30 or so was coming down the hill from the highway, lots of does with this year’s young, over half grown, a couple or more young bucks with one to three points per antler, no competition for the big guy. Keeping them corralled, jostling along the stragglers with its bugling, was the head buck, a rack needing to be seen to be believed. Some time I’ll review the photos and video and count the rack’s points.

The bugling brought all the checked-in guests out of their rooms to watch and take pictures. My camera tried to insist it needed flash, but I did get a couple minutes of video of the herd passing between our door and the pond perhaps a hundred feet away. A few does just walked right into the water, either to drink or for a cooling bath, much to the bull’s frustration. After they passed they ambled though a gap in the fence onto the adjacent golf course, an apparent source of tasty grass. (I noted the next morning the gap in the fence had a sign posted  that for safety reasons only golfers were allowed on the golf course. Did they need their clubs to keep the elk away?)  Our bugler vented his hormones on the bark of one of the trees on the course, knocking a 4 foot branch to the ground in the process. We could watch the herd on the golf course for a while out our rear window, and Steve got to watch for a while and be able to lean on the bathroom vanity at the same time. His back by then kept him from any extra effort like stepping outside to watch the herd go by. Eventually it darkened enough that we couldn’t follow the herd any more, and the bugling became fainter and farther away. The herd was getting ready to sleep and so should we.