The Foxloft

Rocky Mountains National Park Roadtrip - September 2008

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Bison grazing at Custer State Park, SD.

It is hard to write about the Rocky Mountains, they are the sort of thing you really have to go to experience – the sheer size, majesty, and power of the mountain range. Unlike a lot of the places I’ve traveled to, the Rockies feel ‘distant’ – being a newer mountain range, still growing (maybe in the aggressive ‘teen’ years) – a bit intimidating, cold, beautiful.

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It is really hard to capture the beauty and size of the Rockies. Cowboy Roman on a really wonderful tour of the RMNP on horseback. Hiking in the park, you find many surprises like this beautiful hidden lake.


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Being able to watch the bison is a wonderful experience – and to imagine the grasslands once looked similar to this. A view from horseback of the entrance to the Rocky Mountain National Park area. You can ride inside the park. If mountains are hard to capture – caves are nigh impossible.  Wind Cave, South Dakota.  I love the amazing, unique textures caves produce. There were lots of pronghorn wandering about in Custer, totally unafraid of people driving and walking by.
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The colors at Custer are amazing! Another of the many varieties in landscape and denizens of the area. No trip to the Rockies, or Colorado for that matter is complete without ample elk.  

The feel of the Rockies is very different than for instance southern Utah or Zion national park – also an amazing mountain range but an unimaginably old one. Where Zion practically invites you to clamber all over the cliffs, press your face to the sandstone, and be a part of the park – the Rockies feel more independent, something to view and appreciate, but not to touch.

We made a roundtrip from Minnesota out to Denver, Rocky Mountain National Park and back – passing through Custer State Park in South Dakota, Wind Cave National Park, and the Badlands on our way back. We were lucky to be able to spend some time hiking, camping, and horseback riding in the parks – in my opinion the best way to experience them!