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| The Road to the Wild Basin Trailhead |
We only had ONE day to see as much of Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado as we could. AND--we certainly saw as much as possible that day!!!!!! This was during our trip out west in June, and this date was June 25. If you want to see more posts from this wonderful 3 week trip, go to my side bar and scroll down to labels. Click on Western Trip 2011.
AND--in order to see much larger pictures of this post, click on each picture.
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| We had to cross the creek several times along the path. |
Late in the afternoon on the 25th, we headed south from Estes Park on Scenic Highway 7. (This is where I found that adorable chapel I blogged about before. Click
HERE if you missed that post.) Anyhow---after leaving the church, we found a neat little lake (Lily Lake) where we stopped and took some pictures. That will be in an upcoming blog post.
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| This is what our trail looked like.. SO enjoyable!!! |
On the road between Meeker and Allenspark, we turned into a road which took us to the Wild Basin Trailhead. This trailhead provides the outdoor lovers (like us) the opportunity to get into the backcountry of Rocky Mountain National Park, and the chance to enjoy the natural beauty surrounding us.
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| Lower Copeland Falls |
Located in the southeast corner of Rocky Mountain National Park, Wild Basin is drained by the North St. Vrain Creek and its tributaries. The road going to the trailhead is gravel and narrows to one lane in many spots. This is a great hiking area --and there are several waterfalls along the way (which is what caught our attention in the first place).
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| Doesn't the water look just like silk???? So pretty--and peaceful to listen to!!! Be sure to enlarge the photos. |
I enjoyed the drive into the woods --and then the trail was in great shape and so enjoyable. After being in the hot sun and desert climate in Utah and Arizona, this was a wonderful change for us to get back to some SHADE and TREES.... We only had time for a short hike --- so we hiked to Lower Copeland Falls and to Copeland Falls... WOW--what beauty!!!
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| This is Copeland Falls. It was much larger than the Lower Falls. |
If you ever get to the Rockies and enjoy hiking, we can recommend this area. The trail goes on for miles and miles---and it also joins up with other trails for lots of back-country hiking.
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| Betsy enjoying Copeland Falls. |
Both Lower Copeland Falls and Copeland Falls were very pretty--but what made them special is the setting this far back in the woods... By the way, this area is at 8500 feet in elevation, and it wasn't hot at all that day. YEAH!
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| This entire hike was awesome. That is a gorgeous area of Colorado. |
Finally here is a distant picture of the area --including the falls.. As you know, we didn't see too many waterfalls on this long trip, but we did see a few --and loved them all very much. We recommend this hike (and a longer one on this trail) if you ever get to Rocky Mountain National Park.
Hugs,
Betsy
