Almost home, but there's still time for one more National Park. We drove up in to the Rockies today and found ourselves winding up and down and through a variety of greenery. The lower valleys (lush, grassy and home to moose and elk) gave way to the densely forested slopes, all aspen, douglas and lodgepole. Then the trees disappeared and we were up on the crowns of the smaller peaks: broad blasted arcs of fine grass cropped by bighorn sheep, dotted with wild flowers, and strewn with lichen-covered rocks. The weather moved fast, a kaleidoscope of sun, rain and roaring wind that didn't seem to trouble the tiny squeaking pika or the long-tailed weasels. Every 1000ft climbed is the equivalent of travelling 600 miles north, and at over 12,000ft the environment was a close match for Arctic tundra. My head goes a little funny that high up, but it was rather wonderful to be up there: great to peer across at the greater, greyer mountains above us, astonishing to stare down into the glacial valleys, so far below us that the forests looked like a fine lawn.
And then it was on down and down the very windy road to Estes Park, which is touristy but not in an unpleasant way. Tomorrow we'll grab another pair of Junior Ranger badges and head off for the airport, hoping against hope that we see a Hawaii plate on our way...
