Day 8: Sometimes life just wants you to look at an elk's rear.....

We hit the road this morning from Colby, KS at about 11:00am after we had briefing and confirmed our worst fears....the ridge of death persists. So we decided it would be a good day for Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. It was a quick 5 hour drive compared to the standards of this trip. For some reason I was in a quiet and reflective mood today as I thought about things in my past and things I hope to have in my future. I can't totally say it was a totally positive experience, but it was a good thing to do none the less.

Rocky Mountain National Park was absolutely amazing. The views were great.

Grand Canyon and The Painted Desert are still my favorite National Parks but RMNP is a close second. On our way up to the summit we took atmospheric readings at 4 different spots to see how the the temperature, pressure, wind speed, wind direction,  headwinds, crosswinds, dew point and humidity all changed. I was a cool little experiment. Our trip up the mountain also surprised us with some wild life. We saw an Elk grazing near the road and then a little further up the road the rest of his herd was there.

We made it to the top but the gift shop was closed. Much to the dismay of some in the group.

As we headed back down the mountain, mother nature presented a graupel and rain shower mixed with some lightning and thunder.  More elk were seen, which I guess is a rare occurrence.  They must have known I was coming and decided to show themselves.

The sky gods were shining down upon us when we stopped to take a picture of a rainbow and we were treated to a cloud to cloud lightning strike behind the rainbow we were looking at. It might be the single most amazing sight in my life.

After a drive of about an hour, under an amazing Colorado sunset, we made it to our hotel and then had dinner at the olive garden. I always eat too much when I go there.

Tomorrow we might chase...it depends on if the models agree with the current NWS outlook of a slight risk of severe weather in NE Colorado.