It was the first full day at Rocky Mountain National Park for my family including myself, wife, two daughters, and my dad in early July. Fireworks exploded high overhead the night before celebrating Independence Day, but this day was about exploring this vast, mountainous park. We had all day to wander through the mountains in search of picturesque landscapes, wildlife, and waterfalls. Since we had the full day, we decided to work our way up the mountain to reach the Alpine Visitor Center high atop these Rocky Mountains. On the way there are numerous overlooks each begging you to pull over and view the scenic landscape. Many of these succeeded in getting us to stop, rewarding with spectacular views of this wilderness. Eventually we began resisting the desire to stop at every opportunity, otherwise getting to the top may never happen on this day. Nearing the top we pulled into an alpine overlook. This was my first time seeing an alpine climate and was stunned at all of the beautiful plants in full bloom. What a remarkable environment! As we would soon discover, the miniature plants blooming in brilliant colors would not be the highlight of this overlook.

While at the end of a short trail, created to view the mountains stretching on eternally, we began to hear an unusual sound. This sound was coming from somewhere close. What could be that close to all of these people meandering around this area? Finally we began to follow the noise and looked on the other side of a rock wall which had been built as a path for people enjoy this overlook. There was a creature running along side the wall darting in and out of rocks still laying near the wall. Finally capturing a good look at this rodent, it looked familiar to one of the signs we’d read earlier about some of the wildlife. It seemed to be a marmot. Watching it for awhile confirmed it to be a Yellow-Bellied Marmot. We had never imagined this would be a spot to come across such a thing. Wildlife typically is found away from a lot of activity. Not marmots apparently.

This little creature seemed to be going after minerals in the rocks, or possibly the concrete used to bind these rocks together forming a wall. We watched this critter for quite some time scurrying around the overlook, stopping occasionally in its quest for a meal. It became a major highlight of our adventure in the mountains. Now, whenever we’re in an alpine setting this becomes one of the animals we seek out to confirm we’re high up in a mountain. Since that first sighting we’ve returned to Rocky Mountain National Park to hike to some of the mountain tops enjoying the Marmots along the way. Only now we’ve discovered one of their companions in the alpine environment –  Pikas.  A smaller and friendly mammal of these rocky summits. Still, the marmot holds a special place in our memories and will continue to be a creature reminding us of the harsh environment we’ve entered.