Rocky Mountain National Park

We are dirty. 

If you know me you know my affinity for ironing, color coded sponges, and an intense laundry separating system. If OCD is the term coming to mind, I am okay with this. Nevertheless, I find myself in a bind. 300 sq ft does not allow room for indulging in ones OCD tendencies. 

Showers matter not at this point. We are dry camping with no hook up, but usually in this case I can shower everyone at the campground showers. Rocky Mountain National Park threw me for a loop. Solar showers. Okay, we can do a solar heated shower. I stopped by to check out the temp and was confused. All I saw was a pulley system and a hook. Perplexed. Turns out it's BYOB... Bring your own solar heated water bag. Hang it and pull. Um. No. No can do. We managed one shower this week for four on our tank and decided to rough it the rest rather than break down and move to refill. We're tough.

At $6 a load all laundry must be tossed in together. That is after I crawl in said washer and dryer and ensure no one has left pieces of themselves behind. I bring cleaner with me for worst case scenarios. I am not ashamed of this. Take a look back through Instagram and yes, we are wearing the same clothes. We pretty much wash one load consistently and wear it again, and again, and again. 

We use the same four dishes that without a dishwasher, well, one never knows. I do not trust all persons involved to hand clean to my standards. 

Then there is the outdoors. So, I love all things outdoors. I actually love to camp, hike, and just sit outdoors, but again if you know me, I also have deeply embedded, irrational fears about all things originating from nature and their potential hazards. But now, as I write, I am sitting with minimal fear beneath a pine tree from which a Lyme disease carrying tick could drop on my head (this has actually happened to me...no joke,) occasionally shooing flies, spiders, ants, and chipmunks while my children carelessly play on a gorgeous rock formation inhabited by a weasel which may or may not carry the Bubonic plague (I do not make these things up. They are in the NP newsletter upon check in)... and they are shoeless... and eating. On the exterior one would never know I am considering such things. 

We have a mini Dyson vacuum with us which upon running is frightful. This is what we have been living in, and it is thick. Daily play in nature, a dog who lies in it, and four humans just existing in 300 sq ft is well, dirty. There is no keeping up with it. I am loving this brown, 80's decor more and more each day.

So dirty finds us high in the Rocky Mountains and LOVING it. We crawled up here and I mean burnt some gas 8,000 ft to our campsite. We used every available pull out to let the grateful line behind us pass. We arrived to our rustic campground in Moraine Valley with views of the mountains and an elk herd grazing in the valley below. Gorgeous.

Each morning we started with school and then took off on a hiking adventure. Day one the girls picked up their Jr. Ranger books and we set off to learn. The girls earned a Jr. Ranger Fire Badge through a program on forest fires and met real forest firefighters. We were amazed by the difference in their gear and fire fighting tactics.

We rock hopped through the Alluvial Fan where a damned lake broke high in the mountains leaving the remains of a major rock slide down below. We drove to 12,800 ft and explored in the cold, Alpine Tundra. The drive up to the top is no joke; Shawn will attest to no guard rails as you traverse up the edge of the mountain. While it just cannot rival the beauty of Going to the Sun road in Glacier National Park for us, Trail Ridge Road is hair-raising and beautiful. At the end of our day we found a magical, secret spot for lunch in the forest.

We returned to the top again the next day to hike and earn our Jr. Ranger badge. The ranger quizzed the girls and they did great! He loved their honest interest and knowledge and went to the back and gave them a free copy of Scat and Tracks in the Rockies. We now know a lot about poop. And did you know many other birds cough up pellets besides owls: Ravens, Blue Herons and more. It's been quite enlightening. They are very serious about this book. We got caught in a rain storm in the middle of the day and waited it out at another Visitor Center. We had fun adding our memories of the park to their art wall of fame! 

We return early enough each day leaving daylight to burn and the girls have been playing hard. They are now explorers like Lewis and Clark and are cataloging the animals and plants they discover. They make their own tents and are very upset we will not let them sleep outside. They discovered a weasel that lives among them and are in love with this thing. He is pretty cute. R says the word, "Pretend..." every 10 seconds and we are given a script. "Pretend you didn't know the famous explorers you read about were in your area and then you see us and you say..."  We look up from our books, say our line, and scene. Off she goes. Once Elsa appeared much to the confusion of the other explorer, but M just roles with it. Bless. 

The next day we started off with a volunteer project in the park and soaked in the opportunity to give back to these beautiful places we've been enjoying. That visitor center was spotless when we left, and I must say people just do not care... in nature! Much respect for those that regularly keep these parks so beautiful! We had to drag the girls out of there as they wanted to double check the parking lot one more time. They were serious.

 

We then headed out for what became the best hike we've done so far. We hiked 5 miles to four separate lakes each gaining in elevation as we got closer and closer to the glacier that fed them. It was absolutely breathtaking.

Breathtaking, but it took us a LONG time. Shawn is a patient man, but for the love, these girls. The stopping, the picture taking, the dawdling. It is enough to make anyone mad, but alas mommas are naturally more tolerant of this behavior. The man does need to do a real hike, alone, one day. Bless him. I love their dawdling. They are never complaining; they are stopping to climb a fallen tree, rock hop (every rock,) M is very into photographing flowers and wildlife (all of it,) and R the explorer must conquer every boulder in sight and name it. It is a long process to the top.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

Speaking of bouldering... We discovered a new sport. Google it. We watched hikers go up with their crash pads and went in search of bouldering in action, but never found where they disappeared to. We're very interested! 

We never thought we'd top our animal sightings at Yellowstone, but here we've seen: elk, a weasel, big horn sheep, deer, snakes, chipmunks, and finally a bull moose! He was magnificent! I had been waiting to see one the whole trip!

Our final day we hiked to the top of Alberta Falls and enjoyed a picnic lunch at Sprague Lake. It was a beautiful day capped off by s'mores. I am really going to miss this spot. It has been a good one for this crew.  

Tomorrow we pack up this dirty crew and are off to Colorado Springs where hook up and a shower awaits sans the need to BYO Solar Shower Bag. 

Amen.