Trip Report: The Perfect Family Trip!
EDIT: I wanted to add this link here at the beginning. Ragusa's Summer 2014 Trailer Hello friends! We have been home for two months, but I am just now feeling like getting to the trip repo...
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Rocky Mountain National Park: Part 2
After our Trail Ridge trip, we arrived at camp to a beautiful sky.
We had dinner and had our first moment of marital "tension" of the trip. In 18 years, we can count the number of fights we've had on two hands. Spending 6 weeks in this tuna can brought one on. :) So after we ate a silent dinner, I asked one son to take a walk with me. Here we are leaving camp.
We had only an hour of good daylight left, but decided to walk the 1.5 mile trail to Sprague Lake. As soon as we got on the trail, I was concerned about the daylight left, but was going to "teach my wife" not to get upset with me! LOL We walked a quarter mile and I asked my son to make a loud noise every 30 seconds or so to alert wildlife. Bears lurking in the bushes entered my mind and I couldn't shake the feeling. But we pushed on. After 10 minutes of hiking, my son stops me, "Dad..." I looked at his face first, and he looked frightened. I looked across the landscape and spotted about a dozen elk that were all scattered around us. We were in the middle of the herd. Some were as close as 30'! Too close! I told my son not to change our pace or the fact that we were talking. Just act normal and do what we had been doing. I figured they knew we were there long before we saw them and they had already decided we weren't a threat. We walked on slowly and all was fine.
At this point, between my thoughts of bears and the elk being so close, it had really sunk that spooky feeling into my mind. The sun was going down, it was pretty dark in the thick of the woods. And, I realized that we were not going to go back the way we came!
We were following a small creek. The area to the right of us was low and marshy looking. Being on high alert, I was scanning the woods pretty good. I looked to my right and saw a huge torso of an animal. It wasn't 10' from me! Just as I noticed it, the tremendous head and rack (wider than my arm spans together) of a bull elk lifted up out of the shrubs and looked right at us! He was so close I swear I could feel the warmth of his breath! And, every time I tell the story, he gets a few inches closer...
This isn't my photo, but it looks like my memory of the moment.
I reached back and grabbed my sons arm. We both froze for a moment. I told him to not make eye contact and we both walked slowly past. If it had been in rut, we would have been in trouble! But he never stopped his chewing, and didn't take a step towards us.
We moved on down the trail and came to Sprague Lake. At this point, we had the last bit of light and KNEW we were not going back to camp the same way. We couldn't be far from the main road, and knew what direction it was in, so we walked around the lake, through the parking lot and came to a shuttle stop...just missing the last shuttle of the evening. We got on the main road, and started walking. Just as we started on the main road, about 20' from us, a huge beaver ran off and jumped in the creek! My son didn't see it, but I did. Normally, this would have been just a cool beaver sighting, but on this night, I was on my last nerve. As we walked down the road, a car would pass every 4-5 minutes. We'd get off the road as best we could and I'd put my flashlight on so they could see us.
Remember, this started as a brief walk to blow off steam. But from my wife's perspective, she didn't know where we were, and we had been gone for about 2 hours already. I told my son that his Mom was not going to be happy with us! We walked very quickly down the road and ended up doing about a mile and a half. When we came to the campground, I could see all the way across to our campsite. I also saw a vehicle driving around. Turns out it was my wife and other son trying to find us.
When we met up with them, we told our story and she was very forgiving and happy we were safe. She said that they had hiked into the trail a ways looking for us, but when it got dark they turned around.
Lesson learned? ALWAYS tell someone where you will be! My decisions could have led to the whole family getting lost or hurt.
It probably wouldn't have been "high adventure" for some, but for us, it was! It was a bonding time for my son and I, and a story that we will both be sharing forever. From the perspective of a 9 year old, I'm sure it made an impact!
After our Trail Ridge trip, we arrived at camp to a beautiful sky.
We had dinner and had our first moment of marital "tension" of the trip. In 18 years, we can count the number of fights we've had on two hands. Spending 6 weeks in this tuna can brought one on. :) So after we ate a silent dinner, I asked one son to take a walk with me. Here we are leaving camp.
We had only an hour of good daylight left, but decided to walk the 1.5 mile trail to Sprague Lake. As soon as we got on the trail, I was concerned about the daylight left, but was going to "teach my wife" not to get upset with me! LOL We walked a quarter mile and I asked my son to make a loud noise every 30 seconds or so to alert wildlife. Bears lurking in the bushes entered my mind and I couldn't shake the feeling. But we pushed on. After 10 minutes of hiking, my son stops me, "Dad..." I looked at his face first, and he looked frightened. I looked across the landscape and spotted about a dozen elk that were all scattered around us. We were in the middle of the herd. Some were as close as 30'! Too close! I told my son not to change our pace or the fact that we were talking. Just act normal and do what we had been doing. I figured they knew we were there long before we saw them and they had already decided we weren't a threat. We walked on slowly and all was fine.
At this point, between my thoughts of bears and the elk being so close, it had really sunk that spooky feeling into my mind. The sun was going down, it was pretty dark in the thick of the woods. And, I realized that we were not going to go back the way we came!
We were following a small creek. The area to the right of us was low and marshy looking. Being on high alert, I was scanning the woods pretty good. I looked to my right and saw a huge torso of an animal. It wasn't 10' from me! Just as I noticed it, the tremendous head and rack (wider than my arm spans together) of a bull elk lifted up out of the shrubs and looked right at us! He was so close I swear I could feel the warmth of his breath! And, every time I tell the story, he gets a few inches closer...
This isn't my photo, but it looks like my memory of the moment.
I reached back and grabbed my sons arm. We both froze for a moment. I told him to not make eye contact and we both walked slowly past. If it had been in rut, we would have been in trouble! But he never stopped his chewing, and didn't take a step towards us.
We moved on down the trail and came to Sprague Lake. At this point, we had the last bit of light and KNEW we were not going back to camp the same way. We couldn't be far from the main road, and knew what direction it was in, so we walked around the lake, through the parking lot and came to a shuttle stop...just missing the last shuttle of the evening. We got on the main road, and started walking. Just as we started on the main road, about 20' from us, a huge beaver ran off and jumped in the creek! My son didn't see it, but I did. Normally, this would have been just a cool beaver sighting, but on this night, I was on my last nerve. As we walked down the road, a car would pass every 4-5 minutes. We'd get off the road as best we could and I'd put my flashlight on so they could see us.
Remember, this started as a brief walk to blow off steam. But from my wife's perspective, she didn't know where we were, and we had been gone for about 2 hours already. I told my son that his Mom was not going to be happy with us! We walked very quickly down the road and ended up doing about a mile and a half. When we came to the campground, I could see all the way across to our campsite. I also saw a vehicle driving around. Turns out it was my wife and other son trying to find us.
When we met up with them, we told our story and she was very forgiving and happy we were safe. She said that they had hiked into the trail a ways looking for us, but when it got dark they turned around.
Lesson learned? ALWAYS tell someone where you will be! My decisions could have led to the whole family getting lost or hurt.
It probably wouldn't have been "high adventure" for some, but for us, it was! It was a bonding time for my son and I, and a story that we will both be sharing forever. From the perspective of a 9 year old, I'm sure it made an impact!