We entered Rocky Mountain NP at Estes Park, CO, which is the eastern side of the park.

 The park road to Alpine is closed until Memorial Day, so we headed for Bear Lake.  Unfortunately, the road to Bear Lake is under construction for the next two years.  Expect delays, but, with scenery like this, it isn’t too much of a chore to sit and look while waiting in line.

The elevation we climbed had an effect on all sealed items in our truck.  This is what happened to the bag of chips we picked up on the way to the park.  Luckily we opened it before it exploded, LOL.

As we passed Horseshoe Park, we caught sight of a herd of Yellowstone Elk grazing in the meadow.

Released here in 1913 because they had been hunted out of this area, this herd comes down to Horseshoe Park every spring to mate.

The Rocky Mountains stretch from Mexico to Canada.  They actually rose three times, over a period of 200 million years, eroding down between each lift.

The most recent was over 55 million years ago, with subsequent sculpting by glaciers.

The Rockies used to be like Tibet, a high plateau.  A complex series of techtonic plate action, subduction and glacial erosion has created the terrain we see today.

Here are a few Rocky pictures.