Hike up Old Fall River Road

Head into Rocky Mountain National Park to hike on the Old Fall River Road. 

A heavy fog hangs over the valley

Pass through a stand of Aspen

Fall River Pass is closed and usually doesn't open until 4th of July.

Just before the Fall River road is the Alluvial Fan.  In 1903 farmers put a dam in on Lawn Lake at 11.000 feet in the Rockies for irrigation to farms in Loveland, Co.  In 1982 the dam failed and released 30 million cubic feet of water a minute.  The Lake emptied in about 1/2 hour, leaving a huge alluvial fan of debris.  

You can see the fan in the distance in this shot from a look out across the valley

The resulting flash flood killed three people camping in the park and caused $31 million in damage to Estes Park and other areas downstream.

The flood continued down Fall River and hit the Cascade Dam about a mile downstream. Cascade Dam failed from the onslaught and added its waters to the flood.

Old Fall River Road runs one way to the Alpine Visitor's Center

 

Dogs aren't allowed on any hiking trails in the Park but allowed on this road until it opens.

It is a long winding dirt road.  It is 9 miles to the Alpine Visitor's Center - let's see how far we can go!

Tucson comes across some Marmots

A bridge over the River

The road is full of switchbacks

We come across Chasm Falls

We stop for a quick Power Bar and Milk Bones before heading back out and on the road

A couple miles in we encounter snow

Tucson is ecstatic!

We climb over a couple of downed trees across the road before we get to this sign.

The third fallen tree stops Gary and I, but Tucson is ready to keep going.  

Unfortunately, we don't have snowshoes with us so we turn around.

We had managed to go 3 miles.

 

On the way back I was looking up at the rocks in the distance and saw a small mark that was lighter than the rocks.  I was curious and zoomed in with my camera.  Turned out to be a Big Horn sheep.


On the final stretch,  Tucson starts going nuts sniffing the ground.  Suddenly he looks up at the Ridge and starts whining.  I scan the ridge and see what has gotten him so excited- a Moose.  I zoomed in and got a shot.  Glad it was on the ridge and not the road -  Moose hate dogs.

Looking forward to driving this route when the road opens in July!