Day 1
Friday, August 21
Start Mile 0; End Mile 473; Miles/Day: 473
Destination: Hayti KOA, Missouri

We managed to leave around 7:30 AM (30 mins late – hope this is not a trend ?) and headed north on I-55. Today is mostly a travel day with a stop a drive by at Graceland in Memphis. To put us in a Graceland mood, we dialed in the Elvis channel on the XM radio. We heard most of the classics such as Jail House Rock, Hound Dog, All Shook Up, etc. Nathan now has a good Elvis imitation.

We arrived at Graceland around 2:00 PM. Instead of taking the full tour, we just parked on the short service road in front of Graceland. Behind a 6 foot tall stone fence, you could get a glimpse of the mansion through the trees at the top of a gently sloping hill. The stone fence was covered with graffiti such as “I love you Elvis.” Across the street were two of Elvis’ jet airplanes. One looked liked a 727 jet and other was somewhat smaller. We took a few pictures and hit the road again.

We needed to get a screw jack to provide additional support under the rear slide out when it is in the stowed position because the supports mounted in the ceiling rails have not held up very well on prior trips. We asked the GPS where the closest Home Depot was and headed out. When we rolled into the Home Depot parking lot, Kellie recognized the Home Depot and adjacent shopping mall; we had stopped there on the way back from the Buffalo River canoe trip last year to do a repair on the same slide out issue. What an amazing coincidence – we were all laughing! The screw jack idea is working out very well so far.

Within 3 miles of our destination, a KOA campground, we were involved in a serious accident. A car passed us on service road at high speed, swerved to give us room, fish tailed, ran off the road into a wide ditch, rolled at least once and landed upright on all four wheels. A motorist (a pastor) pulling a camper on the Interstate side of the ditch, pulled over and called 911. We pulled over and I went back down the road to see what happened. The driver was a woman and she was alone in the vehicle. Amazingly, she didn’t even have a scratch on her. The ambulance arrived within minutes, checked her out and left. The police took her statement and our statement. She said we didn’t cross the centerline when she passed us but was trying to give us extra room for the camper because the road was so narrow. There were only about 12 inches of shoulder and then a slopping drop off into the ditch; she went over too far, dropped off the edge and then went into the ditch. We were not held liable and were released to go. Needless to say, we were “All Shook Up!” We felt terrible because our presence on that narrow road caused the accident, however we gave Jesus credit for protecting the woman from injury. We’ve been praying for safety on this trip for several weeks leading up to today and, although the accident occurred, no one was hurt – Thank God. Obviously, this accident could have been much, MUCH worse. We spent a somber first evening in the camper.

Day 2
Saturday, August 22
Start Mile 473; End Mile 742; Miles/Day: 269
Destination: Graham Cave State Park, Missouri

We started out at a KOA in Hayti, MO and traveled to St. Louis to see the Gateway Arch. As we headed down the service road, we spotted a rabbit running down the road. We arrived in St. Louis around 11:30 and when Nathan first laid eyes on the Arch, he said, “I’m not going up in that!” We spent several hours at the Arch going up the North Tram (elevator to the top of the arch) and descending the South Tram. The tram was a small oval “car” with rounded walls and 5 seats in a semi-circle. There were 7 cars that made up the tram. After the ascent started, the car would ratchet periodically in order to stay level as it traversed the shape of Arch. We could have taken the stairs.

We spent about 30 minutes at the top looking out of small rectangular windows. Looking out one side you can see the Mississippi River and on the other side is the city. We took lots of pictures. We also watched a fascinating movie on how the Arch was constructed between 1963 and 1965. The notable observation was that none of the workers wore safety harnesses and they said no one died building it. The Arch is 630 feet tall. At 10 ft per story, that would be 63 stories tall.

We left St. Louis and headed to Graham Cave State Park about an hour and a half from St. Louis. The park was very nice and nearly full due to a local Antique Wheat Thresher Show nearby. Imagine that. We could have been there had we known! After setting up the camper, the boys and Mark headed out on the Rip Sticks and Kellie made a nice fire for us to enjoy. Cynthia slaved over the cook stove, then we ate dinner around the fire, enjoyed the cool, dry air and listened to the gun shots nearby.

Up at 5:30 AM !! Everyone was grumpy about getting up so early – SADDLE UP I said. With the morning dew still clinging to the grass and the sun still low on the horizon, we headed down the long twisty road exiting the Graham Cave State Park. Before getting out of the campground, we saw another rabbit running down the road – maybe this will be come a daily tradition. This will be a long travel day at around 460 miles to go to South Sioux City, Nebraska.

We immediately noticed corn fields starting to dot the landscape with occasional soybean fields. As the day wore on, we continued to see more and more corn fields. We were heading west to Kansas City and then North to Sioux City. The corn fields were continuous. We saw a billboard that said something like Economic Stimulus and Ethanol. Then it hit us why we were seeing continuous corn fields – mile after mile after mile after mile. Has anyone seen any corn LATELY!! The corn is being grown and converted to Ethanol, thus the vast quantities of corn crop we were seeing. As we rolled into Sioux City, after over 450 miles, we were still seeing nothing but corn. We decided to stop and get a group picture next to a corn field to go with today’s journal entry. Has anyone seen any corn LATELY!!

The picturesque campground was located right on the Missouri River and we enjoyed the river view.

We had a Wal-Mart list going and wanted some ice cream too, so after we setup the trailer, we headed over to the Wal-Mart. Just inside the main entrance were two huge bins of corn still in the husk for 22 cents each. I started wondering how much all that corn was worth we passed today – it started to boggle my mind so I said, “Where is the ice cream?”

Cynthia's Journal Today

This morning’s travel began with a mixture of things just like the past few mornings – a combination of listening to the Christian music station, reading books, having a devotional from the book “Knowledge of the Holy,” and listening to a little Elvis. Such a variety streaming out of those XM stations! One thing that is missing from the previous journal entries is the Wall Drug billboards. They’re posted for hundreds of miles away from the store. Every day, all day, we see the signs. When I was a kid, my parents took us to Tennessee. It became a joke to find the “See Rock City” signs. They were real creative in their advertising. We’d find ‘em at the very top of a mountain, on the roof of a barn, across the side of junk vehicles, and on billboards. See Rock City! The same thing is going on in the west with the Wall Drug signs. For a while they were plain, just “Visit Wall Drug.” Then they began to promote their offerings, like the nickel sodas or coffee, trinkets, gifts, etc. A real tourist trap. After reading the signs for several days, they make ‘ya feel like you’ve just gotta go there! In our truck, we’re wondering, “What in the world IS Wall Drug?” I went on Wikipedia to find out. That place has been open since 1931! The next time we set out on a trip I’m gonna write on the truck, “Follow Me to Wall Drug!”

Have you ever heard of a jackalope? A vacation ain’t complete without one! It’s a jack rabbit with antelope antlers. They show up on the wall in restaurants, gift shops, and visitor centers. Look around, ‘cause they’re lurking somewhere! By the way, there’s jackalope at Wall Drug.

Today we saw something for the first time: fields of sunflowers. Such a pretty sight to see. Green leaves and stems, yellow pedals, and dark circular centers. Thousands of ‘em! They’re not like the usual fields of flowers where the flowers face every which-a-way. These are coordinated. Their little faces are all turned the SAME way. I’ll have to learn about why that is when I get home, but it speaks of God’s hand. It would speak of His hand even if they weren’t so organized, but this is a special aspect of creation, of God’s design. It’s everywhere!

Mark's Journal Today

Up at 5:30 AM again. Today was a little lighter on the driving at ONLY 360 miles. We were still seeing corn fields most of the day, but they finally started to fade as we approached the Badlands.

We had a little scare with a squealing noise suddenly starting. We couldn't determine whether it was coming from the truck or the trailer. I pulled over to look everything over and couldn't find anything wrong. We started out again, but the squealing was still there. An exit was just ahead and we took it. We finally determined that it was the front brakes on the truck. The truck has about 47K miles and it makes sense that the front brake pads may be getting thin and the wear indicator would start touching the rotor. But the sound was SO bad. The sound went away right after we returned to the interstate. I'm wondering how I'm going to get down from Pikes Peak later in the trip with THOSE brake pads? Maybe I'll replace them?

We arrived at the Badlands National Park around 3:00 PM and this gave us some time hike around at one of the scenic oversights. We then headed into the campground located on the White River. After setting up camp, we took a little hike down to the river. It was VERY shallow and silty. The children had fun playing in the water while I took a few pictures.

Day 5
Tuesday, August 25
Start Mile 1570; End Mile 1706; Miles/Day: 136
Destination: Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, Rapid City KOA

We got up early as usual and were on the road at 7:50 AM. We noticed that we were the ONLY ones on the road heading into the park. We found out later why. We stopped at a trailhead and spent a while playing around in the alien looking terrain. The Badlands have a very unique look. Up close, the surface appears to be hardened mud mixed with small rocks. If it were to rain, I’m sure it would have been a very messy outing. However, we continued to have nearly perfect weather so far. We spotted another rabbit at one of the scenic overlooks.

We left the Badlands Park around 10:30 AM and headed to Mt. Rushmore. We decided to stop at Wall Drug and see what all the fuss was about. It was a very touristy town with Wall Drug dominating the scene. It was like a mall with a lot of different stores under one roof, but very western in decor.

We passed through Rapid City as we turned off the Interstate to head to Mt. Rushmore. The terrain road grades were very steep uphill and downhill on the way to Rushmore. When I would press the brakes hard, I could feel the brakes pumping due to the worn out front brake pads – they HAD to be replaced before we left Rapid City. We spent about three hours at Mt. Rushmore hiking around the base, visiting the Sculptor’s Workshop, walking the museum and watching a film on how the sculpture was created. All in all, it was very fascinating.

We left Mt. Rushmore around 4:00 PM and headed into Rapid City to find some brake pads. I was planning to replace them myself if I had to since I normally do it anyway. On the way back to Rapid City, we realized we have been in the Mountain Time zone for a day or so now and it was really on 3:00 PM. It now occurred to us why we were the only ones on the road as we headed into the Badlands that morning. We really left around 6:50 AM – no body else was up that early!

Anyway, we asked the GPS where a parts store was and it sent us to an O’Reilly’s Auto Parts store. They didn’t have the pads in stock. They called NAPA and they didn’t either. OK – where is the Toyota dealer? We pulled into the Toyota dealer around 4:15 PM or so and asked about the brake shoes. The initial response was they could sell me the parts but couldn’t do the work that day. After I explained our situation, the manager checked the work load and then said they would install the pads and “turn” the rotors for me before 7:00 PM. We unhooked the trailer, fired up the generators for AC and waited for the brake job while watching Little Rascals in the trailer.

The brakes were done by 6:30 PM. We entered the Rapid City KAO address into the GPS and, to our astonishment; it was only 2 miles down the road. We rolled into the KOA campground, setup the trailer and enjoyed a nice evening knowing we now had good brakes for the rest of the journey. Again, we gave the Lord credit for the time zone mix up that resulted in giving us an extra hour with Toyota. I’m not sure they would have completed the brakes that day if we were an hour later and I would have spent the evening doing the brakes myself. New pre-trip checklist item: brakes on truck AND trailer. We all felt much better that Toyota did the work!!

Due to much confusion about the time zone and lack of communication about which clocks were reset, we ended up getting up at 6:15 AM rather than the planned 5:30 AM. By the end of the day, we were grateful for the extra 45 mins of sleep – it was a looooong 475 miles. Just to keep the rabbit theme going, we spotted another rabbit just across the road from our camper in the campground. We took pictures of this one too!

We got in high gear and still managed to roll out of the campground in Rapid City at 7:30 AM. We spent about half the day on I-90. We turned onto Hwy 14 around 1:00 PM and started a long twisty trek over a mountain. The new front brake pads really came in handy!! Turns out a long section of road in the mountain was under construction. We were on gravel road during most of the construction and on a very rough DIRT road for about ½ mile. Talk about slowing down to a crawl and I was worried about getting a flat.

We eventually exited the construction zone and the road was MUCH better the rest of the way to Yellowstone. For the entire length of Hwy 14 we were treated with a breathtaking display of God’s creation. We stopped at one point and took in a large waterfall. About 75 miles from our final destination, we stopped at Cody, WY and made our second Wal-Mart run of the trip to stock up on some more pop tarts, chips, cookies other health food.

We soldiered on for the remaining 75 miles. We entered Yellowstone park 25 miles from the RV park. We started to see buffalo and a few steam vents at this point. We arrived at Yellowstone Lake a few miles from the RV park and traveled along its bank. After passing a steam vent, we would suddenly be overcome with a foul smell. No one would claimed it, so we decided it must be from the steam vent.

We finally rolled into the RV park at about 7:00 PM. The office was still open and we checked in and setup camp. The park was nearly full, so making the reservation a few weeks ago was wise. We’ve made no other reservations ahead of time.

Someone told us a buffalo walked right in front of our camper location earlier in the day. We’ve locked everything up, especially the pop tarts, so the bears will not bother us.

Up at 6:30 AM today – we slept in. We didn’t see a rabbit all day, so I guess that trend is over. However, we saw LOTS of hot springs and geysers. Of course, Old Faithful was the most spectacular geyser we witnessed, but the hot springs at Midway Geyser Basin were breathtaking in beauty. Prior to the trip, Yellowstone was featured on the front cover of National Geographic August 2009. The picture was an overhead shot of Prismatic hot spring at Midway. It looked like all the colors of the rainbow were in the hot spring with deep blue in the middle. It looked “photoshopped” (or touched up). After seeing it today, we can attest that the picture was NOT photoshopped – it was simply a beautiful display of God’s creation.

At the Old Faithful site, we toured the Old Faithful Inn which was built in 1904. Inside the lobby area, you could see up 4 or 5 stories through the atrium to what was called the Crow’s Nest where the residents could watch Old Faithful from elevated vantage point.

We hiked around all the main geyser basins, including, Old Faithful, Lower and Midway, West Thumb and a few other minor ones. The hot springs/geysers typically had hot water overflowing around them which produced very colorful bacterial “mats” and mineral deposits in interesting shapes. The various species of bacteria accounted for the colorful mats. The blue color of the water was caused by the light being scattered by the minerals in the water. The spectrum of light that made it back to our eyes was blue – thus the blue color.

At Fountain Paint Pot Basin, we saw bubbling mud pots which, although I can’t describe as beautiful, were nonetheless fascinating due to their alien look. For the most part the geyers were not very loud, however, the Jet vent at Fountain Paint Pot was a very loud steam vent.

We drove through a canyon along Firehole river, stopped and viewed Firehole river waterfalls and wadded in the river. We saw a buffalo herd, Canadian Geese, squirrels, chipmunks, ravens, and elk.

Up at 6:30 AM again – I should say that is when the alarm goes off. It takes us about two hours to get rolling with everyone dragging out of bed in protest. For breakfast we eat grits, bananas, grapes, oranges, breakfast bread or some combination thereof. We started out by visiting the Fishing Bridge General Store – Cynthia and Kellie purchased a shirt and the boys bought the obligatory arrow heads. I called the Flying Pig rafting company in Gardiner, MT to setup our “scenic” raft trip for tomorrow afternoon.

As we crossed the Fishing Bridge leaving the RV campground area, we witnessed a herd of buffalo running down a steep embankment next to the road. They were amazingly agile running down the hill. We pulled over in a handy turn out to watch the action. Suddenly, two bulls started fighting right in the middle of the road. Traffic started backing up in both directions as everyone watched this unfold over the next 6 to 7 minutes. I grabbed my camera and we ran up as close as we dared and I snapped off a dozen or so pictures. One bull finally gave up and retreated – right at us - RUN– show over.

Artist Point was our first stop and is frequented by artists to paint the Yellowstone Canyon Lower Falls. True to the name, there were several artists there painting scenes. I selected an appropriate location and setup the now dreaded “tripod” shot. I typically have the camera set to take from 5 to 10 pictures on a timer. This time, the kids started making funny faces as the camera snapped the shots. Of course, I didn’t know as I was trying to make my best smile. They started cracking up as I reviewed the pictures – VERY funny. OK – line back up!!

We took Uncle Tom’s trail to get a close-up view of the lower falls. There were 318 steps involved plus a few steep slopes. The view was, as is typical in Yellowstone, breathtaking. The mist from the falls created a giant rainbow in the bright sunlight reminding us of God’s promise never to flood the entire earth again.

Mammoth Springs was our next destination. This is home of the original Army Fort that was initially tasked with guarding the newly created park in the 1904 timeframe. We took a walking tour around the buildings, many of which were built in that same timeframe. Ice cream time again – we satisfied this craving at the General Store while taking in the view of the Mammoth Hot Springs mountain. Mammoth Hot springs has an upper and lower terrace and we walked around the upper terrace. The geothermal features here were just as amazing as the other locations we visited yesterday.

On the way back, we stopped at Tower Falls, the tallest fall in Yellowstone – but not nearly the volume as the Lower Falls at Artist Point. We pasted through Hayden Valley in the late evening hopping to get a glimpse of a bear. No bears showed up, but plenty of buffalo, elk, Canadian geese and other waterfowl were there to behold. We also saw a Bald Eagle sitting a log on the bank of the Yellowstone River that flows through the valley. And it is done – another day.

This is our last day in Yellowstone! We headed out around 8:30 AM to Norris Geyser Basin on our way to Gardiner, MT for the afternoon raft trip. Norris is the last major destination within the park that we planned to visit. The largest geyser in the world, Steamboat, is located at Norris. The problem is no one knows when it will erupt again. It last erupted in 2005 and rose to a height of 300 to 400 feet (Old Faithful is between 100 and 200 feet). We left Norris around 11:00 AM and headed back Mammoth Springs for a picnic lunch at the base of the lower terrace.

After lunch we drove 5 miles north, past the north park entrance into Gardiner, MT. Along the way we spotted a Coyote along the road apparently taking advantage of some road kill. Gardiner is located at the north entrance. We located the Flying Pig and checked in. It has been rather hot (80’s) and sunny last two days, but today it was mostly overcast and in the 70’s. We were worried we would get wet and cold on raft. The guide gave us all splash tops (nylon pull over) to wear to keep some of the water off and heat in. We had on water shoes, shorts, shirt, and splash top. No helmet required on this trip as it is mostly scenic with a few class 2/3 rapids thrown in for good measure.

We loaded up in a bus with the raft on a trailer. We were the only customers on the 1:00 PM trip so we had the raft to ourselves. Our guide was a journalism graduate from Indiana named Caroline. She has been traveling the world since graduation before settling into a journalism career and has spent the summer as a guide at the Flying Pig. We traveled about 10 miles downriver from Gardiner for the launch point. Since the Yellowstone river flows north, we ended up 18 miles north of Gardiner at the takeout point for a total of 8 miles on the river.

We launched, listened to the safety briefing, learned how to paddle the raft and related commands from the guide such a “all forward easy” and “take a break.” The guide was responsible for steering the raft. The journey through the canyon was fairly mild with a few fun rapids along the way. Ragan and I were in the front and took all the water. Everyone else stayed fairly dry. Caroline pointed out a large home high upon a mountain that belonged to the owner of the Childress NASCAR racing team. We arrived at the takeout point about 2.5 hours after launch, loaded up and headed back to Gardiner.

We had to get back to the campground to take care of some housekeeping, such as laundry and tidying up the trailer before leaving Yellowstone the following morning. On the way back, just after re-entering the park, we spotted some Big Horn Sheep high upon an embankment along the road.

We left Fishing Bridge campground around 7:30 AM and headed towards the Yellowstone south entrance. Right after leaving Yellowstone, we entered Teton National Park and could see the Teton mountain range looming ahead. It was a very beautiful ride through the park. We took the 40 mile scenic route that passed by Jenny Lake and through Moose, WY. We stopped at Jenny Lake at the base of Grand Teton Mountain and hiked a trail along the emerald colored lake. The trail system at Jenny Lake takes hikers high into the mountain range. We saw several hikers coming out with overnight packs. We talked to two hikers heading in and they said they were taking a 20 mile two night hike into the mountains – sounds like a lot of fun. We had a picnic lunch at Jenny Lake and headed towards Moose.

We toured the Visitor Center at Moose and watched a film on the Tetons and Jackson Hole (the valley). We ended up spending a lot more time in the Teton Park that we planned so we were in for a late arrival at Rawlins. After exiting the scenic loop onto Hwy 26, we soon encountered another long construction zone of gravel and dirt roads that further slowed our progress towards Rawlins. We could only travel about 20 mph through most of the construction zone of around 20 miles. The truck an trailer tires held up nicely and we still haven’t suffered a flat tire yet.

We spent about six hours traveling Hwy 26 that turned into Hwy 287. The landscape continued to fascinate us the entire distance – very colorful mountainous landscape with various shades of red, yellow, even purple at times. We even spotted another Jackalope in one of the small towns in front of a store. I would much rather drive through this landscape than the endless corn fields that we encountered on the route to Yellowstone. There were very long stretches between towns on the highway and, at one point, I was worried about the gas situation before we hit a junction with a lone gas station. Curiously, the gas price was about 40 cents higher that the average we’ve been seeing. Either it costs a lot more to get the gas to that gas station or they are taking advantage of our desperate need for gas!!

We watched several thunder storms and lighting shows around us (we could see forever) however, we never encountered the rain. We finally pulled into Rawlins around 7:00 PM. We decided to eat out and then stock up on groceries at the local City Mart. There was not a Wal-Mart in Rawlins. We ate at Sue’s Diner, a 50’s style diner with checkered floor, neon lights, Elvis pictures on the wall and playing 50’s/60’s music. While talking to our waiter, she revealed how she ended up in Rawlins – her jeep broke down in Rawlins while traveling through and she has been there ever since – humm...

The KOA had wireless Internet, so we caught up on email and posted a few more days of our trip journal on the website and went to bed.

We ONLY have to drive 211 miles today so we slept in and left Rawlins around 9:30 AM. We had an uneventful drive into Estes Park, CO. The drive from I-25 on Hwy 34 into Estes Park was very scenic as we drove down the twisty road though numerous canyons. We arrived at our initial pick for a campground and decided to take a look at another one. We ended up at Elk Meadow Lodge and RV Park around 3:30 PM after looking at two other campgrounds we were not pleased with.

While I was registering, the kids spotted a rabbit on the premises and we took its picture. The rabbit thing is getting weird. We spent the rest of the day hanging around the campground and resting. We played put-put golf and took in the swimming pool and hot tub.

After we were all back in the camper for dinner, we heard a knock at the door. The next door neighbor, an elderly woman that was staying in the park for the entire summer, locked her purse in her vehicle. The rear window was about half-way down, so I lifted Nathan into the window and he was able to reach the purse and retrieve it. She was very grateful and came back with a bag full of salt water taffy as a reward. She lives in Tucson, AZ and stays in Estes Park every summer to escape the heat of Tucson.

We had dinner, read a little and went to bed anticipating a day exploring the Rockies.

We were up early and headed out by 8:00 AM to Bear Lake for some hiking. We arrived at Bear Lake around 8:30 AM and started our short ½ mile hike around the lake. We encountered several friendly Golden Mantle Ground Squirrels. They are about twice the size of Chipmunks. We didn’t have any food, but Ragan and Nathan would stick their hand out like they were offering food and the squirrels would come to their hands to check it out. We played with the squirrels for a while and continued out hike.

We then decided to hike to Alberta Falls which was a 2.2 mile round trip hike with about a 700 ft elevation change. We crossed the mountain stream below falls on the way up. When we reached the falls, we were greeted by more squirrels looking for handouts. We took numerous pictures and started out hike back to the truck.

We left Bear Lake and headed to Sprague Lake Picnic area. We picked a table next to the outflow from Sprague Lake and setup for lunch. We were soon joined by several Mallard Ducks and two Golden Mantle Ground Squirrels looking for handouts. We fed the ducks some bread and the squirrels some carrots. After lunch we went to the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center to watch a film on the Rocky Mountains and rest a little.

We then headed to Old Fall River Road, a 9 mile dirt road that weaves its way up to the Alpine Visitors Center at 11,800 feet. We could see several snow packs at the higher elevations that were still feeding the streams we were seeing. We decided to stop and walk in one of the streams. The water was so cold, no one could take standing in it for more than a minute or two. The drive up this road was just absolutely amazing. Due to the narrowness and tight switch backs, we could only go about 10-15 mph. At one point, we spotted a very large male Elk about 30 yards from the road rubbing the velvet off his antlers using a small tree.

We headed on up the road, past the tree line and closer to the snow packs. We eventually reached the “pass” and stopped for a hike to the top of a ridge. We were at about 11,000 feet at this point. When we reached the ridgeline and looked over into a lush meadow several hundred yards below, we saw a herd of Elk grazing. It is currently the rutting season for Elk and we could occasionally hear the males making their distinctive bugling sound. We hiked over to a snow pack and played in the snow a little. It was very steep and we had some fun throwing rocks down the mountain and watching how far they would go.

We then drove on up to the Alpine Visitors Center where the Old Fall River Road intersects with the paved Trail Ridge Road. We looked around the center, selected a few souvenirs and headed back to the campground via Trail Ridge Road. We arrived back at the campground around 5:30 PM. We relaxed for a while, had dinner and then went over to the community campfire area. We started a fire, had a few smores and enjoyed a time around the campfire sharing stories.