Rocky Mountain National Park

Our next stop was at our friends Ay and Em's home in Lafayette, CO. We broke the trip into two short-drive days, stopping in a small town in Silt, Colorado en route. We stayed at the Silt/Colorado River KOA - right off I-70 and in a valley with the river running just a few yards from the campground. This was a beautiful spot and an extremely nice (albeit young) campground. The youthfulness of the facility meant that the trees were small and did not offer a lot of shade. But, the proximity of the river, cleanliness of the facility and friendliness of the staff made up for that. Temperatures were in the 90's on arrival and our A/C had difficulty cooling down our rig once we had everything connected. We made use of the nice laundry facility and ordered pizza for dinner from a local pizzeria. It was good.

During our stay we say a lone elk on the opposite bank of the river, grazing on the vegetation and drinking from the swift-running water of the Colorado. Later, we saw a lone bald eagle perched in a dead tree, also on the opposite side of the river. I've provided some photos of the elk and eagle. As darkness set in, we took a look a the sky and were wowed by the clarity and number of stars visible. I've been wanting to get a photo of the Milky Way and thought this might be a good opportunity. Photo provided below - it was amazing!!!

We left at a reasonable hour the next morning for the 4-hour drive into Lafayette. I-70 passes through amazingly beautiful canyons along the Colorado River before climbing through 10,000 feet over the Continental Divide. Our RV had some trouble climbing these steep hills - but we made it over the Rockies, through Denver and Boulder and into Lafayette. On Friday, Al and El made the drive through Estes Park to Rocky Mountain National Park, the second most-visited national park in the US (the most visited park is Great Smokey Mountains NP). RMNP was gorgeous - rugged, wild, and beautiful. Photos follow.

 This is my first attempt at astrophotography. Conditions were not ideal as you can see the affects of lights from the town of Silk in the lower left corner of the photo. But, otherwise, the Milky Way shows nicely in the rest of the photo.