Photos from the Weekend

Photos from our weekend in Estes Park/Rocky Mountain National Park:

Fern Falls Trail:

Elk in Estes Park lake:

We also had a close encounter with a moose on the trail. Had we been walking just a little faster we might have run right into him coming around the corner on our hike. Whew!

Elk Fest 2009

Elk at Rocky Mountain National Park, photo by Nathan Abels

Today we'll be in Estes Park for our third year in a row of attending Elkfest. One of my all time favorite sounds is the elk bugle - a haunting and beautiful call. Elkfest has come to be our stand-in for Fort Wayne's Johnny Appleseed Festival. The two fests are not related at all except for that they are fall traditions. While the cider, smells and foods Johnny Appleseed are hard to beat - so are the elk bugles in Rocky Mountain National Park this weekend.

Elk Sparring

Rocky Mountain National Park was packed yesterday. And traffic was backed up for miles because a few bull elk were sparring in the valley. We managed to get a glimpse of them in action on video. I added the music to cover up all the talking in the original video. It was cool to see this in person, although next year I think we'll go up to RMNP on a weekend that isn't Elkfest.

Elkfest 2008

Elk at Rocky Mountain National Park, photo by Nathan Abels

Today we'll be in Estes Park for our second year in a row of attending Elkfest. If we're lucky the elk will be doing their fall thing as well. It's no Johnny Appleseed Festival, but it is still pretty great.