Moose Encounters and Making New Friends in Grand Lake, CO

So we've moved on up to Grand Lake, CO for a couple of weeks. It's a lovely little mountain paradise that sits on the shores of the largest natural lake in Colorado and is right outside the West entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park.

The town of Grand Lake on the shores of Grand Lake
as seen from the Grand Lake Lodge.

Getting mooned by a moose our first evening in camp!

We're staying at Elk Creek Campground and RV Resort and have seen moose in the RV park two of the four days we've been here! This park looks more like a state park campground than an RV park, with lots of trees and bushes separating the sites. The first morning we woke up to a very nervous Rosie, acting really weird and just not herself. Turns out there was a moose right across the road munching on the willows next to our neighbors rig!

Good morning Mr. Moose!

We've gone on a couple of nearby hikes since we've arrived. Both of these hikes start right in Grand Lake so they are quite popular in the middle of summer. Even on weekdays we saw several people on the trails.

First we hiked the 9.6 mile RT Shadow Mountain Lookout trail. This was a very gradual 1,500 foot ascent to just over 10,000 ft elevation. We were able to climb the historic fire lookout tower to enjoy the 360 degree views for many miles around.

Historic Shadow Mountain Fire Lookout

View to the South West includes Shadow Mountain Lake and Lake Granby in the distance.

We've also hiked to Cascade Falls from the North Inlet trail head. This 7 mile RT hike had minimal elevation gain and traveled in and out of forest, along interesting rock walls and led to a gorgeous cascading waterfall. The trail continues on for many miles and we saw several people heading out for multi-day backpacking trips.

North Inlet is one of several branches around here that make up the Colorado River.

Some of the interesting rock along the trail.

Cascade Falls at the top...

Cascade Falls under foot...

Cascade Falls in its full glory!

The wild strawberries are starting to ripen!

One more shot of the horse pasture because it's just so pretty!

The icing on the cake here in Grand Lake is that we finally got to meet Amanda and Tim of the blog Watsons Wander! After months of hitting the same areas just a few weeks apart, last night we met for dinner at the RV. Looks like our paths will cross again in a few months, maybe next time we'll get out for a hike together. We so enjoy meeting other full time RVers and sharing stories of the road!