After acquiring our rental car (Hertz takes forever, so I only use them when we get quadruple credit on Southwest), we headed west to Boulder and our first stop of the trip—Boulder Falls.

The sun was pretty strong, but Eric managed a darn good shot of this beautiful falls, regardless. It’s an easy hike to the falls, but most of it is on slippery rocks, so watch your step.

In Nederland, after a delicious BBQ lunch, we picked up the Peak to Peak scenic byway that took us north to Rocky Mountain National Park. We encountered both snow and sun on the way.

We also saw quite a few elk, both grazing on the side of the road and sprinkled throughout the meadow areas.

Many of the roads were closed still, which we knew could happen, so we had to discard some of the hikes we wanted to do. We were also at the mercy of daylight, but fortunately, the hike to Alberta Falls is only about 2 miles roundtrip.

In the snow.

Totally worth it.

The trail (what we could make of it anyway) paralleled a gorge, passing aspen groves and a creek. We even saw a beaver! The falls itself was very lovely, too.

We left the park after sunset, stopping at the alluvial fan for a quick shot of Horseshoe Falls before Eric had to retire his camera for the day. This shot was about 3 seconds – thank goodness for tripods!

Best of all, by the time we got to the park, all the stations were closed, so this visit was entirely free! Don’t worry though, they’ll get us on a future visit… we’ll definitely be back.