Aah, August in Grand Lake. I left early Monday morning for Estes Park to play golf in the annual Baron's Tournament. It had rained alot over the weekend and snowed up high! Trail Ridge Road had been closed for awhile Saturday because of the snow but was supposed to be open for the drive over to Estes.
Usually if the road's closed they post a sign at the entrance of Rocky Mountain National Park to let you know the road is closed. Not that morning, no I had to get all the way up to Milner Pass at the continental divide before I saw a sign on the gate across the road that read 'ROAD CLOSED'!
So I waited there along with a few others including Larry Bishop, my golfing partner and Skip Peck, the golf pro at Estes Park. It was a good two hours before a ranger came up and opened the gate. Naturally the road was just fine and the five inches or so of snow was only on the tundra and not on the pavement.
While I waited there at Milner Pass, I enjoyed a beautiful daybreak with the full moon just above the spruce trees and a small herd of mule deer foraging on the hillside. One little spotted fawn was bouncing all around and entertained everyone for quite awhile. I kept waiting for Thumper to join in and sing the Foot, Foot Song or something, but alas...no bunnies. Then suddenly and without any warning, a giant logging truck screamed past and ran over Bambi's mother leaving nothing but a greasy slick on the pavement...NOT....remember the road was closed! There was however, a pretty good size elk taking in a drink at Poudre Lake. He then relieved himself of his drink and I captured it on film. I'll post some more pictures here on the blob in the next day or two.
We finally made it to the golf course and enjoyed a beautiful day on the links. Don't ask me how I played but I might have a set of used golf clubs for sale. Oh well, at least the morning on the divide was worth the wait!
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