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.
[Illustration: ESTES PARK AND ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK]
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.
[Illustration: LOCH VALE
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK]
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]
[1] This bill passed after the above was in type. See map of
the Park.
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.
[Illustration: FERN LAKE
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK]
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.