Day 53, Estes Park waiting for better weather.

The forecast predicted snow all day again today so we weren’t in a rush to get up. Having said that, we were supposed to move room before 10:00 so I got up to speak to the front desk who then told us we could stay. Bonus! Better news yet, the sun was shining and with snow everywhere it look amazing out there!

I got Zoe out of bed and got dressed to take the bikes out for a ride into the park. The roads looked cleared and even dry for the most part so this could be a great day for photos. Bikes cleaned up and ready to go, we set off to the park entrance. As we got there a few ranger trucks were blocking the access and we soon found out the park was closed. Downed trees and snow to be cleared so no one was allowed in until that was taken care off. So we went for breakfast and decided on a new plan. Estes Park (the town) is home to numerous elk, sheep and deer so the odds were pretty good we would find something good along the way.

It wasn’t long before we encountered a few bull elks close to the road. We stopped to watch them for a while, took some pictures and then noticed the traffic stopped. In the middle of the road was a big horn sheep! He took his time getting off the road and scampered up in the rocks and out of sight. We carried on our little journey towards the lakes in town then on a side road towards the parks east entrance. There again we encountered a large heard of cow elk. The park was still closed and the weather was starting to close in again. We spent some time at the visitor centre then decided to head back to the hotel as rain / snow was on its way again… we had a few nice hours in the sun which was a lot more than what we had hoped for.