On Top Of The World

During our visit to Rocky Mountain National Park, we made several stops at the Alpine Visitor Center. This place is a very popular spot in the middle of the park, just off of Trail Ridge Rd. near its highest point. The Visitors Center has one building used mainly for information and education and one building that is a huge gift store, restaurant and snack bar. They are linked by an expansive stone plaza, and all three places share a spectacular view. The facility sits on the rim of a glacial cirque, which is sort of like a three sided bowl where glaciers were once formed before flowing down the valley.

The weather at the center can be very chilly, even in high summer, in fact they don't normally even get the road plowed until sometime in May. I was curious about why there were so many tall poles in the parking lot and along the road. The Sherpa Girls informed me that these poles, many of which exceeded 20', are used by the snow plow drivers as guides. It keeps helps keep them from plowing into stone walls or damaging buildings buried by the snow and from running off the road. There are few guardrails, and at many points a distracted driver has only about a foot between the edge of the pavement and a deadly plummet. I can't imagine having to plow 10-15' of snow off of a road you can't see, in a big unruly tractor, next to a sheer drop off - my hat is off to the professionals.

On each visit to the Center, the air was filled with many languages, most but not all were European. One large group was speaking something that sounded like Icelandic, and all of them had this impossibly blond hair. The parking lot was full of cars from all over North America, giant RVs, tourist buses and there were numerous bicyclists. I could not imagine pedaling through the park, fighting the inclines and dodging drivers distracted by the view - my other hat is off to the determined.

On our second visit, the clouds started rising up Fall River Valley towards the center, and by the time we left the view was completely obscured from the Visitor Center. However just below the rim on the western side a wind was blowing the clouds back into the cirque. One thing that will stick with me about the Rockies is how quickly the view, the weather and the biology can change, even differing on opposite sides of the same road or trail.

The last three shots were all taken from the same location within a day of each other.

(the cute critter is a Marmot, and he/she was working the crowd)

Before we leave the center, I need to turn away from the view and make a comment about some of the people that work in the park. Every NPS employee, park ranger and park volunteer we came in contact with was pleasant, knowledgeable and enthusiastic. While on the Ute trail one hiking ranger stopped to ask us how we were doing and did we have any questions. He even dug into his backpack to pull out one of his well-worn reference books to help us ID a wildflower, all the while carrying on a pleasant and informative conversation. This "park culture" among its employees and volunteers is amazing considering the general state of the underfunded park system. My last hat is off to the passionate.

This stood in stark contrast to the people who work for the private company that holds the contract to operate the snack bar and restaurant. The mainly young people employed there stayed very busy - very busy conversing with each other about which one of their fellow coworkers pulled their share, who was a slacker and whose shift was over when. Too busy to even look a paying customer in the eye, saying anything beyond "that will be $10.49", let alone uttering anything along the lines of "thank you". What was even more disconcerting was that the worst offenders where the American employees, the foreign-born summer help was more hospitable. Now that this grumpy, nearly-old man got this off of his retail oriented chest, we can get in the car and head back down.

Next Colorado Post: The Never Summer Ranch