Rocky Mountain National Park (2): Deer Mountain
12/12/21 My first NIH grant!!! …… is from institute of aging 🙂
The closest visitor center to Estes Park is the fall river visitor center. Deer Mountain is the first trail coming up entering the visitor center. It does not require special time permit, but the parking lot is small, so coming out early is recommended. Deer Mountain summit round trip is 6 miles. Advice for the normal hikers, bring some water and food, wear some layers and watch out for the weather. We did none of those, and as a result, our hiking became quite dramatic.
The trail starts with the open meadows and some trees. “ha? Am I hiking in Washington State?!” I love those open view hiking trails. You can see layers of mountains and snow caps reaching the horizon, with the sun rays and clouds playing light and shadow games with you.
At about one mile, Amos starts falling behind “mama, I am tired”. Aha, I’ve got an idea! I started a timer and acted like an interval training/tabata coach. So we were at the pace walking 10 minutes and resting 5 minutes. In the second mile, there are many rocks to rest and also many view points. The rocks are colorful!
In the last mile, there are a bunch of stairs to the summit. The weather started changing, cold, windy with some rain drops. I was still in a good spirit. In some section, I was carrying Amos on the back, sometimes carrying him on the front, and sometimes sleeping with him on the rocks, and we made to the summit with lots of admirers’ smiles. The summit has an impressive 360 view point. Far away, you see a lake peacefully laying down in the arms of mountains, whispering something?!… Search “Rocky Mountain summit trails” to find more of those trails in the park.
On our way back, the rain starts coming down with thunderstorms. It is not a good place to be among the trees when there were thunderstorms. Jeremy went down to fetch food and water long ago. I was alone with my little one. I walked as fast as I could and sang some songs to encourage him to walk. Thunders and rains were threatening and the woods were just us. At some point, Amos was not able to move, we were sitting beside a puddle, being wet and cold, and cheered from time to time like a pysco when the sun peeks out in the rain …. Still we made the 6 miles!
