Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park-Day 6 - Contagious joy...Catch it!

Day 6. Howdy! This was our last day to hike and to be in Estes. We were up at 5 a.m. getting ourselves and everything ready to go for our hike to Bridal Veil Falls, a 6.2-mile round trip. We once again traveled past Lumpy Ridge on Devil’s Gulch Road as we wound our way out to Cow Creek Trailhead. We drove by rustic houses with awesome views out in the quiet wilderness and saw a black beauty of a horse roaming carefree on endless acres. We arrived at the trailhead early to get a parking spot and so that the trail wouldn’t be busy.

Starting at McGraw Ranch, we headed out on a gravel drive which transitioned into a wilderness path and took us through a mixture of grassy meadows and groves of trees such as aspen, ponderosa pine, blue spruce, and other conifer trees mixed in.

Trail to Bridal Veil Falls via Cow Creek Trailhead

Off, we go!

Bug on wildflower

Nice little foot bridge; I like the twisted log 🙂

About 2 miles in, the trail began to get moderately steeper, and soon we were passing through a fairly dense forest. The trail became a little bit more primitive and rugged due to rocks and roots.

We continued on, and the hike started getting much steeper with a series of rock “steps”. We made it to the bottom of the falls in pretty good time. There were only 2 people there, so it wasn’t crowded. They told us of a way to climb to the top of the falls.

We decided that we did want to climb to the top so, after a short rest, we clambered up the steep side of the waterfall, holding on to trees and roots to help pull us up.

“Cozy” trail, soft to walk on

A few more steps to the bottom of Bridal Veil Falls

We are beside the falls looking down. See the two people down there?

It wasn’t easy, so I was glad we didn’t have far to climb! I was wondering how we would get down. 😯 Rick was ahead of me and went exploring further up for a few minutes, then came back and we continued on together. The terrain flattened out and, for a while, we followed the stream that forms the waterfall. It was quiet and peaceful up there with the stream being calm and shallow.

We could see for quite a distance even though it was a cloudy day. It was a nice view; we could see some of Lumpy Ridge. We were able to walk right beside the waterfall, which was invigorating! There was a flat area with a cool “dip” in the rock between the water falling from the top and then continuing down. It looked like a miniature whirlpool to me, and I wanted to sit in it!

Nice view from top of Bridal Veil Falls

Rick investigating the area

Looking up the falls

He’s pretty cute 🙂

Me and Rick exploring the top of and beyond Bridal Veil Falls

Great view of the falls from the top

This spot so invited me to sit in it! But I didn’t 🙁

So peaceful. I wouldn’t mind eating lunch here every day!

We (very carefully!) climbed down and then ate lunch as we enjoyed the waterfall and surrounding view.

This tree “says” a lot!

Be sure to watch this video in fullscreen. You will feel like you were really there with us. 🙂

I love that so many wildflowers are my favorite color!!

I like this umbrella-shaped dead tree!

Reluctantly, we left the falls but enjoyed the scenery again as we hiked back down to the trailhead.

Rick, by a tall butterscotch-scented tree 🙂

Have you ever seen these “feathery” lichens? They are Usnea, a type of fruticose lichen, per Lacey. She did her masters in Lichenology 🙂

This rocky, dead-treed landscape is peaceful and familiar to me

Got back to our room and took a short nap! We drove OFRR for the last time this trip; saw deer and elk. We went into town and found another place in our Estes book. It was the Elkhorn Lodge, established in 1874. There was no one around, which I thought was strange. It was kind of eery, such a big place being empty. I looked into the front window not knowing what I would see, actually expecting disrepair and abandonment, but I was pleasantly surprised! What I saw was a beautiful foyer with a big, gorgeous wooden check-in counter, a huge stone fireplace, mementos of the past, and everything neat and in order. It was very inviting, and I sure wished that I could go inside and really check it out! I guess it was closed because the place is for sale. 🙁

We ate at Bob and Tony’s for our last night in Estes. They serve sandwiches and some of the best pizza in town. One of the inside walls is the outside brick wall of the next building, and for many years people have signed the bricks. It’s a fun place.

Afterward, we walked a bit and shared a Carmel Mocha from Starbucks to warm us up because it was cool and lightly raining.

We went back to our room and started packing; we were leaving the next morning. 🙁