Early Morning Hiking

When we travel out west from the east coast, it usually always takes a bit to adjust to the time difference  even though it's only two hours difference.  This trip is no different.  The upside to waking up at 5:30 AM is getting an early start on hiking and beating the crowds.

We're traveling with our niece and nephew and they've never really done any significant hiking but they really wanted to go with us.  We decided to do some easier hiking with them so they weren't overwhelmed and could keep their interest (they're 7 and 9).  We drove into RMNP and traveled towards Bear Lake to the Glacier Gorge Trailhead.  Our goal was to hike to Alberta Falls and then over to Bear Lake and back -- a total of about 3 miles.

 RMNP is home to a large amount of wildlife -- from elk and mule deer to moose, marmots, pikas, and all kinds of birds.  There's also a few black bears, but they number fewer than 30 in this area and are mostly in the back country where we would not be hiking today.  On the drive in we saw several mule deer including one buck with an impressive set of antlers.  We also saw a couple of turkeys strutting down the road and some marmots up the hillside.  Sarah and Turner

hadn't seen this much wildlife up close, and the mule deer are a lot larger than the white-tail deer they are accustomed to seeing back home.

We were in the park by 6:30 and were able to snag one of the few parking places at the trailhead.  Bear Lake Drive is under construction and from 9 to 4 everyday is closed to vehicle traffic -- they'll let you leave, but newcomers must take the park shuttle bus.  The hikes were great.  We did a fair amount of stopping as the kids aren't used to the altitude and would need to catch their breath.  All in all a successful first hike.

Success reaching Alberta Falls