Sunday, September 1, 2013

Adam Falls, RMNP - 09/01/13

Sunday – September 1, 2013

Adam Falls

Saturday it rained on and off throughout the day here at the Timber Creek Campground in the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, so we spent the majority of the day quite cozy inside our trailer.

Today, we explored Adam Falls in Grand Lake, Colorado. It is a beautiful short hike of .6 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 80 feet. We hiked about a ½ mile further upstream from the falls and were rewarded with a great view of a glaciated valley with a shallow stream winding its way through it. The stream is approximately 20 feet wide with a water depth of approximately 2 feet. The water is crystal clear and contains trout. You can literally see the trout swimming in the water. This has got to be a trout fisherman’s paradise. On our visit today, there were six fisherman spaced about 50 yards apart casting their lines in hopes of snagging one or more of those elusive trout. This area of the valley is rich with lush green vegetation, which is prime habitat for elk and moose, however, we did not see any on this visit.

As the stream approaches Adam Falls, it narrows, the water building momentum as it rages around and over the jagged rocks of the falls with a vengeance, until it becomes a gently flowing stream again, finally emptying into Grand Lake. Grand Lake flows into Shadow Mountain Lake. The Colorado River enters and exits Shadow Mountain Lake and then flows into and exits Lake Granby near Granby, Colorado.

The source of the Colorado River is at La Poudre Pass in a mountainous region of the Rocky Mountain National Park. It is a magical point where rain and melting snow begin their journey to the sea, a course of some 1,400 miles to the Gulf of California.

We returned to our campsite in the late afternoon refreshed from a day of exploration in another area of the Rocky Mountain National Park.

Tomorrow another adventure begins.

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