RoMo: Top of the World

Doesn't that look like you couldn't get any higher?! And we weren't quite to the highest point on Rocky Mountain National Park's Trail Ridge Road, just as far as we could get in the time frame we had for our drive. (Don't the tiny cars in the red boxes make the human intrusions into this stupendous space seem insignificant?)

The pull-out where we ended our drive is Rock Cut, named for the engineering marvel that allows the road to get to the amazing views I'm going to show you (note the waning moon in the red box):

It took 4 years—1929-33—to build the whole road (your tax dollars put to very worthy work—well, not your taxes, most likely, but your parents' or grandparents'). And it's getting a lot of use in 2017.

The road up to Rock Cut is incredibly scenic (and only scary in a few spots)...

still plenty of snow in early June

can you believe the blueness of that sky?!

...it's really easy to take amazing photos just holding your camera out the window, when this is what's out there.

But it's even more fun when you can stop and really take all this magnificence in. Rock Cut pull-out is well-equipped with toilets and a trail for more intimate communion with the Tundra Communities that live up here at 12,000+ feet. Henry hiked the whole trail, but I could only manage a little ways, since the double whammy of thin and chill air wasn't welcomed by my lungs, just recovering from a bad chest cold. Here's a shot of the trail just before I turned back to the parking area:

I had a rather long wait here for Henry to return [alert the media] but I was never bored in the slightest. There was so much to see and photograph and just feel! To get a quick, in-motion, view of what this amazing landscape is like, check out this video I put on YouTube. (It was really windy up there!)

Yes, those are bighorn sheep just over the edge of the parking area, providing all kinds of entertainment for tourists and photographers amateur and professional. Here are some closer shots (the amateur variety) of this handsome group:

just chillin' in the living room by the picture window...

The grownups were content to just sit and watch the scenery and the tourist, but the youngster was up-and-about, a normal hungry teenager...

These guys weren't the only wildlife on offer. Here's either a marmot or a pika, depending upon whether you believe Henry or me. I thought it was too big for a pika, but Henry thought it was too small for a marmot. Any ideas, readers? S/he blends in pretty well with the rocks, so I put a red box around him/her:

Of course the inanimate scenery was just as compelling from this vantage point. Across the way was a tarn, high up the mountainside. I didn't see it at first when I was there, so I put a red box around it to make it easier for you to find:

btw, "tarn" is a great Boggle/Scrabble word

Two more fabulous views:

More wonderful from-the-car-window scenery on the way back down to Estes Park...

We were so lucky to have this opportunity for sight-seeing at the beginning of what was supposed to be a work-only trip. Thanks again to our Estes Park host-with-the-most for lodging, meals, and the car loan that made this top-of-the-world excursion possible.

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Sad P.S. Unfortunately, RoMo hasn't been immune to the pine beetle scourge. (If you want to really get depressed, just search "beetle" at this website and learn that there are now spruce and other beetles on the rise in these wonderful mountains.) We saw several hillsides that seemed to have more dead trees than live ones. Take a look here, at the far mountainside:

The views up here are going to look a lot different when our grandchildren bring their children up here, I'm afraid.