Old Falls River Road, Rocky Mtn. National Park

On the morning of September 17, 2012,  we headed back from our motel in Fort Collins to the ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK.  We had tried to go up the unpaved Old Falls River Road when we were there in 2011,  but it was closed last year due to snow.  This year,  we had had a little snow the night before we drove up that road ---so we were afraid that the road might be closed again... BUT--luckily for us,  it was open!!!!

This is OUR type of road,  a non-paved road up the mountain with many pull-offs along the way to enjoy the surrounding area.  We don't like crowds --and we love 'back roads'... This was OUR type of road.  For that reason,  I will have TWO posts showing you the area.

Hope you enjoy our photos.  Be sure to click on them for enlargements.   IF you have missed other posts from our latest trip out west,  go to my sidebar and scroll down to Favorite Sites and click on West Trip 2012...

The picture above shows you what the OLD FALLS RIVER ROAD looks like...  More pictures are below.

BEFORE we got to the the Rocky Mountain National Park,  we were driving along one of the beautiful Colorado scenic roads... GUESS what we saw that morning???? Some BIGHORN SHEEP !!!!!!

Of course, we stopped and both of us took alot of pictures of them..  The neatest thing to me was seeing them climb those STEEP rocks/cliffs.... AMAZING!!!!  (It was steeper than it looks!)

Once we got on the Old Falls River Road,  one of the first things we stopped to see was of course a WATERFALL.   "Chasm Falls" is another one of our NEW waterfalls on this trip.  However,  the main trail to the falls is being renovated --so George did ALOT of bushwhacking in order to get pictures of several of the drops of that beautiful waterfall.  Above is only one of several he saw..  I think he called this one  "Lower Chasm Falls".

The views going up the mountains were awesome...  The weather had started out cloudy (since they had had some rain/snow the night before)---but it gradually cleared up so that we could enjoy a fabulous day!

One can get an 'up close and personal' view of the ROCKIES from the Old Falls River Road.  I love seeing those peaks!

We actually took a short hike in this area---enjoying the beautiful Lodgepole Pines and a small creek,  complete with some  cascades... It was so pretty.

George is on the trail where we took a hike.  It was such a beautiful area --even though it was getting cooler and cooler---the higher we got up that mountain!!!!

Look at this pretty MOSS.  Everything looked so green and lush up here.

Higher and higher we go!!!!!!   WOW---look at that!!!  Betsy sees some SNOW on the mountain!!!! WOW!!!  Isn't it pretty behind those beautiful blooming ASPENS????

MORE to COME!!!!!  Hope you are enjoying seeing photos from this marvelous trip!!!!

I also hope that each of you had a fabulous THANKSGIVING.  We ALL do have much to be thankful for... Beauty is all around us!!!!!  Thanks be to God.



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A Happy Mom on Thanksgiving --with son Mark and family at Fall Creek Falls

We had a nice Thanksgiving this year --enjoying FAMILY, FOOD,  and FELLOWSHIP --plus being together with my Sweetheart,  and continuing our wonderful life together.

Hugs,
Betsy

Cantwell Cliffs, Ohio 10/16/12

We've had several trips this Fall  (our Yellowstone trip,  our Asheville trip,  and our Ohio trip)---and I am juggling the photos on my blog... Hope you don't get too mixed up!!!!!  Anyhow---today's blog is from our trip to Hocking Hills State Park near Logan, Ohio, which we took from October 15-18 with our friends Patti and NEAL.   (Be sure to check out Neal's blog.  They were on a trip to Glacier when we were at Yellowstone.  He has some amazing photos.

While at Hocking Hills,  we visited all of the different areas and did quite a bit of hiking.  The weather was perfect and the Ohio Fall colors were TREMENDOUS.  We had a great time together!

This post is at one of the areas we visited on 10/16,  called CANTWELL CLIFFS.  The trails at Cantwell were 'interesting'...  To say that we got lost is not totally correct.  However,  I think we walked to the moon and back before getting back out of that area!!!! ha.... BUT--we did see lots of pretty Fall Colors (as in the photo above) along the way... Be sure and click on the photos for enlargements.

The trail led us down some stairs!!!!!  (Glad I had lost some weight before going down there!!!!) ha ha

Here's a picture of some of the steps (there were many more), as we went down into that canyon.

I took this picture of George  (and Patti --who was tiny enough to easily get through these rocks) after I got down that rock trail...

Here is a picture of the big cliffs --after we got down into that canyon.

We hiked down into the 'bowl'....  The rock formations were SO neat!!!! (That is Neal on the right.)

Here is a 'waterless' waterfall...  But you can see where water does come down during the rainy season.

I like this picture of our TRAIL--as we hiked down into that canyon.

We hiked and hiked and hiked --once we got down in the canyon area.  The trail was supposed to be a loop trail --but somehow,  since it wasn't marked well,  we missed the loop.... At least,  while we were hiking,  we did get some great pictures of the trees above and around us.

Here's another beautiful photo of the Fall Colors that day.

AND---here's ONE more!!!!!  Did I say that the Ohio Colors were fabulous when we were there???

On the way back up that canyon,  Patti and Neal took off on one trail, and George and I went back another way....  I looked at that picture above and said:  "Yipes... We have to go up there through that???????"  ha ha .... We made it --but Neal said that THEY had chosen the better path!!!!!  Oh Well---we got lots of good exercise at Cantwell Cliffs.

Hope you have a wonderful week and THANKSGIVING.  We are taking a blog break and will be back next Monday,  Nov. 26...   God Bless each of you during this wonderful Thanksgiving Week.

AND---please take a minute to read this fabulous blog post (click HERE)  which is what Thanksgiving and our country is all about.  Thanks, Brenda, for this post.  Brought tears to my eyes.  

Hugs,
Betsy