Rocky Mountain National Park - Day 12

There is not much to say about the Rocky Mountain National Park other than it is breathtaking every way you look! Since we had Toby with us we decided to just drive to the Alpine Visitors Center at the top. We realized shortly after we had entered the park that we were low on gas. Oops! The drive to the top is about an hour long depending on traffic. It was about 40 miles round trip from the park entrance to the top, so we didn’t take many detours to make sure we didn’t get stuck in the middle of the Rockies without gas.

The Elevation at the gate was 8,200 ft! That was just the beginning. We climbed up to around 12,000 ft. once we were near the top. The drive was pretty demanding so we made a few stops at overlooks along the way. Also it gave Toby a chance to get out of the car and run around as well

It was a hot mid 80s down at the bottom of the mountain. But it dropped down to a cool 54 once we were at the top! There was still snow up there too. The Alpine Visitors Center is at 11,796 feet. You can definitely feel the altitude up here. I was pretty dizzy and light headed just from the drive and walking around at the turn offs. 

Glacial Cirque. The birthplace of many glaciers, snow once filled this entire valley! As the weight of the snow caused the entire mass to move slowly down the mountain, scooping out this bowl shaped cirque on its way.

Time for the decent back to town. This entire drive has been so breathtaking (literally). It was impossible not to take a thousand photos because every where you look it was a beautiful view! 

We think the altitude affected Toby as well. He was way calm on the ride down and even fell asleep sitting up. Every so often he would freak out and whine a bit and we think it was because his ears were popping and he didn't understand the feeling. But he did very well and once we were at the bottom he was able to get some runs in!

We made it out of the park and found a gas station quick before we went empty. After we went into the little town of Estes Park and did a little shopping. The altitude affected me the most and once we were back at the campground I needed to lay down for a bit. Kyle went out and got dinner for us at PF Changs in town while I rested. We relaxed at the campground for the rest of the evening, tomorrow we will get to see Kim and Dave.