America's Ceiling

Our last obstacle between ten days of exploring and an amazing home cooked meal was Rocky Mountain National Park. Now, I was thrilled about having been above 10,000 feet a week before at Yellowstone. We blew through that milestone on the interstate highway in Colorado. Once we reached Rocky Mountain, we made our way up from the lush Colorado River valley (yeah, the docile-looking Colorado River is the same one that managed to create Canyonlands), where we saw moose grazing, into the arctic tundra zone above the tree line. On that drive, we reached two miles above sea level and kept climbing. We also crossed the Continental Divide yet again. Finally, we arrived at the ceiling of the lower 48 states, where 12,000 foot elevations were a mere nature walk from the road.

Think about this: Mt. Washington, generally regarded as the king (or perhaps the president) of the Appalachians, is 6,288 above sea level. It seems puny. But the visitor center at the entrance of the park already higher than Mt. Washington. The Rockies are so named not just because they contain a lot of rock, but because nothing much taller than a blade of grass can grow at their highest elevations, you can see the rock in all its glory. On August 22, snow continued to sit in place atop many of these peaks.

For the record, my new personal elevation record is 12,304 feet. I don't plan on eclipsing it for a long while.

For my Rocky Mountain photo album, click here.