Deer Mountain
Posted by: 
Web-ling
N 40° 22.757 W 105° 35.062
13T E 450395 N 4470019
Deer Mountain, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, 10,013 feet
Waymark Code: WMV4W
Location: Colorado, United States
Date Posted: 10/13/2006
Views: 38
In May and June of 1993, my wife and I took a trip to Colorado. It was the first time she had ever been in the Rockies, and she had never hiked up anything resembling a mountain before. We decided to climb something easy, more of a day hike than a climb. We camped near Grand Lake, Colorado, at the western entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. June 2 was the first day that the road through the park was clear of snow. We drove across to the eastern entrance to the park, where Deer Mountain is located.
We parked at the junction of Trail Ridge Road and US 34. We hiked along Deer Ridge to the west side of Deer Mountain, then up the trail to the top. The top of Deer Mountain is pretty flat, and we crossed the top to the summit on the south side. After a picnic lunch and feeding Triscuits to some chipmunks, we returned along the same trail we had come by, then drove back across Rocky Mountain National Park to our campsite. By the next day, the road through the park was closed again. We were glad we had decided to make the trip across the park when we did, as it was the only day the road was open the entire time we were there.