It seemed like “coming home” when we got back up here from Colorado Springs. Rocky 
Mountain National Park is such a great place for us. There are elk that roam all over the place and we really love to smell the scat that they leave. Every night at about the same time - around midnight - we all 
wake up and listen to the coyotes. There must be hundreds of them howling. If you’ve never heard them then you can’t imagine how eerie 
they sound. They go on and on - first from one area then answered from another area. One of our friends, Zach the dog, even saw a coyote on the dog trail around the campground. The coyote just went on about his own business. Wish I’d been there, too.
We stayed in the same spot as we did before and you should have seen how happy Zoe was to be back. The campground has open spaces 
between sites plus we weren’t full so Dad would throw the Kong. Run, run, run until she drops. One silly dog. Elk also come into our campground. Lucky for Papa and Mama, I’m on guard at all times. they were reading peacefully one afternoon and wouldn’t have even noticed if I hadn’t barked at two elk who were right next to us - I kept those elk away!
First day, we all drove into the park to look for
animals. We saw nothing. So we went back to the camper and saw 49 elk within our grounds. Amazing! Zoe wanted to chase them. See, silly dog, I am so much smarter.We were lucky to have friends visit us in Rocky Mountain. Zach’s and his
family, Linda and Dave, from California/Taos and Carla from Florida came to see Zoe and me. We were left home alone when they went adventuring. I don’t know what it is about Zoe, but people can’t seem to resist her pleading looks and her subtle ball handling. 
This last week, though, we had the folks to ourselves. They took us looking for sheep almost everyday, but we never saw any. We missed them a couple of times by a half hour. But we had fun trying. We all went over Trail Ridge Road, which is the highest road in the 
country at over 12,000 feet. We were looking for moose on the west side of the mountains. We never saw any on that trip, only a marmot. We went back to the top a few days later and 
saw bull elks next to the road. They were not even scared when I started barking. We did get to picnic at the Continental Divide at Milner Pass. Zoe almost jumped in the lake when Mama took us down for a little jaunt while Papa got out the food. I loved all the smells.One day after scoping out Sheep Lakes to no avail, Papa and Mama saw
their first moose on the eastern side of the mountains. I guess there are only about 5 on this side so seeing one was really lucky. Also, all of the elk are coming down from the high country, now, getting ready for the 
yearly rut. The males are gathering their herds and trying to see who’s the strongest. We drove out nightly to watch and listen to them. The bulls start to bugle if other bulls come near their herds. We
even saw two start to bump heads. It was not a real fight because one was a younger bull and he left after a little pushing and shoving. I bet I 
could get all of those elk to go wherever I wanted them to go. You know, I am half Sheltie and half Border Collie. Those breeds are known to be the smartest breeds of dogs, so I could have nipped and yapped them into shape without having to butt heads with anyone! I wasn’t allowed out of the car!
It’s a real shame that the parks don’t allow dogs on trails. We missed out on a hike around 
Sprague Lake. Mama and Papa were surprised how different it is this year because of the loss of so many trees due to Pine Bark Beetle. The last time we were here, there weren’t but a handful of trees 
affected on this side of the summit. Now, everywhere you look you can see dead trees.Coffee on the Rocks has been a fun hang-out for us this time too. All of the people who work there think we are locals. We even get a discount on our coffee and bagels. Well, Mama and Papa do anyway. Zoe and I don’t drink coffee. We do love all the ducks on the pond, though.
It’s been a great way to end our trip even though we still have about 1800 miles to go home. Mama will do a lot of the driving which helps Papa a lot. Hope you have enjoyed our journey. We are looking forward to our next one.
Happy Trails to one and all.
Phaedra and Zoe
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