Roosevelt National Forest: Mount Olympus

I woke up early this morning and made the drive down to Loveland, Colorado. My plan for the day was two-fold: 1) take some photos of the elk that congregate on the Mariana Butte Golf Course, and (2) hike up Mount Olympus, outside of Estes Park.

I stopped off at the Oxbow Natural Area, adjacent to the golf course to see if I could find some elk. I was not successful in finding elk, though I did see a red-tailed hawk perched in a tree to photograph.

After about 20 minutes of looking for elk, it was time to move on. I made the drive west on US-34 towards Estes Park. Just before reaching town, at the boundary of Roosevelt National Forest is a pullout on the side of the highway. It is marked with a sign stating that the area is closed during parts of the year to protect cliff-nesting birds.

I parked, donned my microspikes, 

and then hit the trail. Almost immediately I found some pretty nice views west into the mountains. 

The nice views just kept coming and though it was a steep ascent, soon enough I found myself at the summit of Mount Olympus. I grabbed my camera to take some photos and realized that I had lost the wrist strap somewhere along the way. I would have to look for it on the way down.

Anyway, I took lots of photos from the summit area. I took wide views of the surrounding mountains.

I switched over to my telephoto lens and took a few photos of individual mountains.

I also took a self-portrait from the summit.

It was incredibly nice weather for December. It was warm with no wind! After about 45 minutes, it was time to make my way down. Luckily, I found my wrist strap on the trail towards the bottom.

Back at the car, I headed back to Loveland for lunch and then a beer at Verboten.

I returned to Oxbow Bend and Marianna Butte, but no luck finding the elk to photograph.