VIII Rocky Mountain National Park
Magnificent mountains in the sky, peak after peak along the horizon,—an inspiring skyline,—such is the setting of the Rocky Mountain National Park. In this playground is a twenty-five-mile stretch of the most rugged section of the Continental Divide. Here are fifty peaks with summits more than two miles high. From one hundred miles distant, out on the plains of Colorado or Wyoming, these snowy, rugged mountain-tops give one a thrill as they appear to join with the clouds and form a horizon that seems to be a part of the scenery of the sky.
Splendidly grouped with these peaks and mountains are cañons, moorlands, waterfalls, glaciers, lakes, forests, meadows, and wild flowers—the Rocky Mountains are at their best.
On approaching the Park by the east entrance, through the long-famed Estes Park region, even the dullest traveler is thrilled with the first glimpse, and those who frequently behold it find the scene as welcome as a favorite old song. From the entrance, one looks down on an irregular, undulating, green mountain meadow, miles in extent. This is Estes Park. Great pines are scattered over it, singly and in groves; rocky points and cliffs rise picturesquely in the midst; and the Big Thompson River, sweeping in great folds from side to side, goes majestically across. High, forest-walled mountains surround it, and the great jagged snowy range stands splendidly above.
The Rocky Mountain Park is glorified with transcendent forms of the beautiful and the sublime. In it bees hum and beavers build; birds give melody to the forest depth, and butterflies with painted wings circle the sunny air. Mountain sheep in classic poses watch from the cliffs, eagles soar in the blue, speckled trout sprinkle the clear streams, and the varied voice of the coyote echoes when the afterglow falls. From top to bottom the park is beautified with dainty, exquisite wild flowers of brightest hues; they crowd the streams, wave on the hills, shine in woodland vistas, and color snow-edges everywhere.
This Park has an area of about three hundred and sixty square miles. Its terraced alpine heights are about equally divided between the Atlantic and the Pacific slopes. It is twenty-five miles long, from twelve to twenty miles wide, and about one mile high from lowest to highest altitudes.
The greater part of the Park lies above the altitude of nine thousand feet. Its southeast corner is within forty miles of Denver; the northeast corner about the same distance from Cheyenne. A number of railroads run close to it, and the Lincoln Highway is about twenty miles away. The Park is only thirty hours from Chicago, and its accessibility adds to its invitingness as a playground.
Side by side in it are two dominating peaks. These are Long’s Peak, 14,255 feet high, and Mount Meeker, 14,000 feet above the sea. These great summits were a landmark for the primitive red man who saw them from the plains. For generations the plains Indians spoke of them as the “Two Guides.”
Viewed as a whole from a neighboring mountain-top, either on the eastern or the western side, the Park presents an imposing appearance. My favorite near-by view-point is the summit of the Twin Sister Peaks.
In commenting on the appearance of the eastern slope Dr. Ferdinand V. Hayden, the celebrated geologist, wrote as follows:—
Not only has Nature amply supplied this with features of rare beauty and surroundings of admirable grandeur, but it has thus distributed them that the eye of an artist may rest with perfect satisfaction on the complete picture represented. It may be said, perhaps, that the more minute details of the scenery are too decorative in their character, showing, as they do, the irregular picturesque groups of hills, buttes, products of erosion, and the finely moulded ridges—the effect is pleasing in the extreme.
Mountain-climbers will find a number of towering view-points. Long’s Peak is the superior one, and the most dominating single feature in the Park. It is a mountain of striking individuality and peculiar ruggedness, though not extremely difficult to climb. Standing a little apart from numbers of other peaks, it is placed so as to command rugged near-by views as well as wonderful far-reaching vistas that vanish in the light and shadow of distance. Among the other peaks that climbers would do well to stand upon are Mount Meeker, Hague’s Peak, and Specimen Mountain. Among the lower peaks that command magnificent scenes, I would name Meadow Mountain, at the southern end of the Park, as one of the best. Among other excellent views are those from Flat-Top Mountain, Gem Lake, Echo Mountain, near Grand Lake, and a number of places along the summit of Trail Ridge.
The topography of the Park is one big glacial story, which in places is of unusual interest. This fascinating story left by the Ice King is for the most part well preserved and forms one of the Park’s chief attractions. Nowhere in America are glacial records of such prominence more numerous, accessible, and easily read.
A few small glaciers remain—one on the eastern slope of Long’s Peak, and Andrews, Sprague’s, and Hallet Glaciers in the north half of the eastern slope. These glaciers are mere remnants, but none the less interesting.
Altogether there are more than one hundred lakes and tarns in the Park. Most of these are small, but each has its peculiarly attractive setting. With few exceptions, these lakes repose in basins of solid rock that were excavated for them by glacial action. In the Park are also many stupendous moraines.
Each year more than a thousand varieties of wild blossoms give color and charm to this favored spot. They are to be counted among the four chief attractions, the other three being Long’s Peak, the glaciation, and the timber-line. Of the brilliantly colored wild flowers many take on large and vigorous form, while in the alpine moorlands numerous species are dwarfed and low-growing. A few bright blossoms jewel the summits of the highest peaks. Flowers grow wherever there is a bit of soil for them to live in.
On the summit of Long’s Peak, nearly three miles up, in a number of places I have seen bright primroses and polemonium, blue mertensia and lavender-colored phlox. There are ragged wild gardens of alpine flowers nearly thirteen thousand feet above the sea. More than one hundred varieties of flowers brighten the ledges of the cliffs, fringe the snow-piles, and color the moorlands of the heights above the limits of tree growth. The alpine blooms that live in dry or wind-swept places are dwarfed and flattened. They keep their beauty close to the earth. Many of these little flowering people are so greatly dwarfed that the plant with its leaf and blossom does not rise a quarter of an inch above the earth. Among these are the phlox, harebell, and the columbine.
The Mariposa lily’s, perhaps, is the most classic petal in the Park. Among its conspicuous neighbors are the fringed gentian, the silver-and-blue columbine, the elaborate calypso orchid, and the graceful harebell. Among the other abundant and beautiful blossoms are violets, daisies, asters, black-eyed Susans, paint-brushes, rock-roses, pasque-flowers, which Helen Hunt called Maltese kittens, tiger lilies, golden pond-lilies, and anemones. Many of these flowers are perfectly formed and carry petals of cleanest, deepest color.
There are many kinds of wild life in the Park. Mountain sheep probably number several hundreds. Elk are increasing in number; so, too, are deer, which are already common. There are a number of black bears, possibly a few remaining grizzlies, and a few foxes, wolves, lions, and coyotes. The beaver population is numerous, and in many places are extensive beaver colonies with dams, ponds, and houses.
Among about one hundred and fifty species of birds are found a few golden eagles. These nest in the heights. The rose-finch and the ptarmigan live the year round near the snow-line above the limits of tree growth. Among the common birds most frequently seen are the robin, bluebird, blackbird, hummingbird, pine siskin, goldfinch, magpie, white-crowned sparrow, house wren, and Rocky Mountain jay.
During the flower-filled, sun-flooded days of June, while the evening shadows are crossing the openings, the song of the hermit thrush is often heard, its beautiful silvery notes mingling strangely with the wild surroundings. In June, too, the ever-cheerful water-ouzel carols most intensely by his chosen home along the alpine streams. Likewise in this month the marvelous solitaire sings among the crags far up the slopes, close to where the forest ends and the alpine moorlands begin.
Here are primeval forests, torn by cañons and pierced by crags and rock ridges. Among the more common trees are the lodge-pole pine and the Engelmann spruce. Other species are the alpine fir, Douglas spruce, limber pine, and Western yellow pine. The aspen is found in groves, groups, and scattered growths in the moister places all over the woodland.
The timber-line in the Park is one of the most picturesque and interesting in the world. It is strangely appealing and thought-compelling. This is the forest-frontier. Its average altitude is about eleven thousand five hundred feet above the sea. Timber-line in the Alps is only about sixty-five hundred feet. Thus it will be seen that the climate of this Rocky Mountain section is far more friendly to wood growth than that of the Alps.
The trees persistently try to climb upward, and their struggle for existence becomes deadly. The wind blows off their arms, and cuts them with flying sand. The cold dwarfs them, and for nine months in the year the snow tries to twist and crush the life out of them. Many have limbs and bark on one side only; others are completely stripped of bark. They seldom grow over eight feet high, and numbers grow along the ground like vines. In the drier places at timber-line the limber pine has sole possession, while in the moister places the Engelmann spruce predominates, and is sometimes accompanied by dwarfed aspen, birch, subalpine fir, and willow. Above the timber-line are crags, snow-piles, and alpine-flower meadows.
Traveling along the eastern slope of the Park, one encounters a number of prominent attractions.
In the south, Wild Basin, a splendidly glaciated realm of several square miles, almost completely surrounded with high peaks, contains lakes, forests, moraines, and gorges. It retains many wild glacial records of peculiar interest. North of it is the Long’s Peak group, consisting of Long’s Peak, Mount Meeker, Mount Lady Washington, Chasm Lake and Gorge, and Mills Moraine. This moraine is one of the most interesting in the park. Chasm Lake, at the foot of the precipitous eastern slope of Long’s Peak, has the wildest setting of all the many Park lakes.
To the east of Long’s Peak lies Tahosa Valley, and just beyond this rise the Twin Sister Peaks. Between Long’s Peak and the Range is Glacier Gorge, a deep glaciated cañon. At the end of this, in the Continental Divide, is the Loch Vale region. Here the terraced floor is varied with tarns, waterfalls, flowery meadows, grassy spaces, and storm-battered trees. Around it and rising above it are stupendous cliffs and precipices of glaciated rock. Above it to the west is Andrews Glacier. Eastward from it lies the Bierstadt Moraine, named after Albert Bierstadt, whose pictures gave fame to the region. A trail crosses the Continental Divide from Flat-Top Mountain, which is approximately in the center of the Park.
To the north of Flat-Top Mountain lie Fern and Odessa Lakes. They are the best-known and most popular lakes in the Park, but there are a number of others of somewhat similar character and with equally scenic surroundings. Beyond these is Sprague’s Glacier; also Forest Cañon, above which extends the scene-commanding Trail Ridge. Again beyond, the Fall River automobile road crosses the Continental Divide.
In the northeast corner of the Park lies the Mummy Range, the highest peak being Hague’s. On its northern slope is Hallet Glacier. A bill now (1917) before Congress provides that Deer Mountain, Gem Lake, and the Twin Sister Peaks be added to the Park.1
On the western slope, at the south end, is a combination of lovely and magnificent scenes. The great feature on the west side is Grand Lake, the largest lake in Colorado. It is the source of the Grand River, and furnishes a part of the water that roars through the Grand Cañon of the Colorado in Arizona. The North Inlet and the East Inlet are scenic gorges through which streams rush from the heights down into Grand Lake. The East Inlet region, between Shoshone Peak and Grand Lake, has a remarkable glacial story of its own.
In the northwest corner of the Park stands Specimen Mountain, an excellent view-point. This is probably a sleeping volcano. It is the most famous mountain-sheep range in the Park. Its grassy slopes and summit contain spaces of salty ooze that attracts them. Many times I have seen a flock of one hundred or more in the crater.
Notes
1 This bill passed after the above was in type. See map of the Park.