9/01 - Rocky Mountain National Park Trip Report

September 1-9, 2001
Rocky Mountain National Park, CO (by Terence Donovan)
On Saturday, Sept. 1, 2001 the Central Texas Trail Tamers made their annual pilgrimage to Rocky Mountain National Park, about 40 miles northwest of Denver. The group consisted of 15 adventurers (which included 5 AmeriCorps volunteers) and was led by the capable Lynda DeGroot.

After overnighting in Raton, New Mexico, we arrived at Moraine Park campground on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 2, and began setting up the camp that would be our home for the coming week.

Monday (Labor Day) was a free day to get acclimated to the altitude and enjoy many facets of this magnificent park. Several members packed lunches and set off on a 12-mile hike starting at the Bear Lake trailhead and winding back around to the camp in Moraine Park. The rest of the group piled into two vehicles and enjoyed a somewhat harrowing trip to the Alpine Visitor Center on Trail Ridge Road by way of Old Fall River Road. This scenic but narrow gravel road consists of hairpin switchbacks and steep inclines with no guardrails. It is so narrow that traffic only moves in one direction.

On Tuesday, our group met the park service trail crew at 7AM and set off to the Lily Lake trailhead to work on the last portion of Storm Pass Trail. As this was our 3rd year to work on this trail, the final 300 feet were saved for us to finish. By Wednesday afternoon, the last stumps were pulled up and the last tread was cut. After final touches, the four-mile trail was complete and ready to be added to the park's network of trails.

On Thursday and Friday, we worked at three different locations constructing retaining walls and building steps. Large 700-lb rocks had to be quarried and transported to the work area using grip-hoists on pulley systems. This work was different and challenging and afforded new experiences for many of us. We learned how to drill holes into granite with 90-lb Punjhars (gasoline powered drills), how to secure and hoist cumbersome rocks, and how to shore up rock steps. The trail crew provided excellent guidance on tool handling and techniques and then set us loose. By trial and error and a lot of hard work, we met our goals and felt the satisfaction of another job well done.

On our last evening in camp, we watched as snow dusted the top and sides of Long's Peak far across the valley from Moraine Park and Lynda wished it would work itself toward our camp. Her wish came true, as an arctic cold front pushed into the area and sent temperatures plunging, with over 6 inches of snow covering everything by dawn!
Prior to the snowy surprise, we were all awakened around 2AM by a loud noise reminiscent of a car crash. Instead, we fearfully discovered that a "bear-proof" trash container at the edge of camp had been ripped from its bolts in the concrete and tossed around like a toy by a very large, hungry bear! Flashlights shining from several of our tents apparently scared it away without further incident, but none of us got much sleep after that rude awakening.

The return trip to Texas was long and uneventful with another overnight stay--this time in Amarillo. Our weary crew returned to Austin at about 4:30PM on Sunday, Sept. 9, and another pilgrimage to the mountains had come to a successful end.