Rocky Mountain National Park

On Sunday, we decided to visit Rocky Mountain National Park. Fall is the time when the elk are rutting and you can hear them bugling. Unfortunately, you have to be there after 4:00 PM to see and hear the hundreds of elk. We had to leave by 3:00 to get home for Faith Formation classes.

We first stopped in Estes Park for the Elk Festival. We had a nice lunch first.

Then it was off to the festival which was not really worth our time.

Mia is wolf-sized and Anna is coyote-sized.

The hoof was much more interesting than the hide and antlers we've seen many times.

We got to see a few rescued birds of prey.

At the visitor center we learned how mountains are formed.  

We knew our chances of seeing elk in the early afternoon were slim but we went on a hike to try anyway!

It turned out to be more of a rock-climbing trip!

After leaving the park we drove through the town of Estes Park again and then we saw them! It was a huge elk with a magnificent pair of antlers and his harem of 30-40 does! I don't know why I did not even think of taking a picture! It was a perfect ending to a wonderful day.