6-18-17

We were in bed by 10 and had plans to get up by 6:00 to breakdown our tent and eat a pancake breakfast at the campground. At 11:00 I awoke with uncontrollable shivering. The temp was around 48 degrees and I had on socks, pants, a zip up jacket and a hoodie. I got up to warm myself in the bathroom and found something I ate did not agree with me. An hour later and some texting with a friend about altitude sickness in addition to using my towel and outer jacket layer as blankets and I was warmly back in my cot and managed to sleep until 6:00. 

We broke down camp, ate a not very good pancake breakfast at the KOA and then got on the road. My stomach was still queasy and I still couldn't tell if it was the altitude or the stomach thing but we pressed on. An 8 mile drive on a county road (i.e. Dirt and gravel) and we were making our way through and over the winding roads to Rocky Mountain National Park. An uneventful and wondrous drive with several great view of the mountains had is arriving in Estes Park around 10:30 for a gas fill up. We then hit the Visitor center to pick up the junior ranger book and then we headed west with the goal of making it to Timber Creek to camp. 

We stopped a few times to take in the views and eventually to get out and enjoy the snow. By the time we go to the Alpine visitor center where is was very windy and in the 30's, I was feeling much better and was no longer worried about the altitude. We took the climb to the top of the mountain at around 12,000 feet and while we were cold, we enjoyed walking and talking. 

Heading down the western side we had already decided that we would not stay the night in Timber Creek but would instead go a little further west where we thought it would be warmer to sleep. The western side is full of animals and we stopped a few times to walk a mile on the trails. It was much warmer in the high 70's. We saw a mule deer waiting to cross the road and a herd of elk running through the meadow. But the real animal we were hoping to see was a moose. We've missed them in Acadia and John Rockefeller parkway on the way to Yellowstone. We saw tracks and scat on one of our walks. We had mostly given up but then we rounded a corner and saw the markings of what they call a bear jam in Yellowstone. People out of their cars staring into the woods and then we saw two moose. We pulled over, grabbed the binoculars and the camera and walked up to the field. We watched as the two moose in the field greeted the third as she came from the woods. It was awesome. After a bus load of people showed up, we decided to go one and within a half mile there were 4 more on the other side of the road but most of the people had not seen them so we drove down a side road to take a peak. These were a little further off and I could not get a good shot so on we went stopping at the last visitor center before leaving the park. It was only 1:30 and we had already driven Trail Ridge Rd. 

We drove another 90 minutes to Central City and a campground there. We washed clothes, made dinner and relaxed. I was asleep by 9:30 as the night was already cooling off.