We have been on a driving trip to Colorado from Florida to visit the kids and granddaughter, Savannah.  It was nice to leave Florida's hot humid summer to cool off.  Little did we expect that we would be greeted by a heavy snowfall when we arrived in the Rocky Mountains at Breckenridge.  It started snowing early this morning and has been dumping for at least 4 hours as I am writing this.

We were fortunate to have been able to drive Trail Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain National Park just 2 days prior to this snow.  It is common for the Park to close this highway following a snowfall.  Trail Ridge Road is just short of 50 miles from the town of Estes Park to Grand Lake, Colorado. My quest was to photograph wildlife on this 2 hour trip through the mountains.  This is what is called "the rut"  when the male elk "bugle" to find a mate.  We heard bugling when we left our hotel room in Estes Park before sunrise.  We were told that we would most likely see wildlife after we crossed the Continental Divide.  That's where we had seen many elk before. But we were surprised as we got our best sighting of elk on the east side of the Divide.  I photographed a huge bull elk bugling quite near the highway as well as a small herd of females.  Additionally, I was able to take photos of several bighorn sheep and a few mule deer.  A successful trip indeed. Photos eventually.