Rocky Mountain National Park Bingo

A big deer with branching antlers. In fall the bulls bugle and gather a harem of cows in the meadows.

Only the bulls grow antlers, and they grow fast, up to an inch a day, then drop off each winter and start over in spring.

The subalpine lake at the end of Bear Lake Road, ringed by a flat nature trail under the Divide.

A subalpine lake at 9,475 feet at the end of the 9.2-mile Bear Lake Road, ringed by conifers under the Continental Divide.

The paved road over the Divide. Find the sign that marks the high point at 12,183 feet.

U.S.

The biggest deer, with a long nose and long legs. Look in the willows on the west side of the park.

The moose is the biggest deer on Earth. On Isle Royale a grown moose stands over six feet tall at the shoulder and weighs close to 1,000 pounds, the largest animal on the island.

An old dude ranch in the Kawuneeche Valley. Walk in flat and look for elk in the meadow on the way.

A preserved dude ranch the Holzwarth family ran from 1917 into the 1970s, on the Colorado River headwaters in the Kawuneeche Valley near the Grand Lake entrance…

The highest visitor center in the park system, at 11,796 feet, on Trail Ridge Road.

At 11,796 feet, the highest visitor center in the National Park System, on Trail Ridge Road at the top of Old Fall River Road and open only when the road is.

A small fish with a wavy back and red spots ringed in blue. Look into the clear water near Bear Lake.

The brook trout is not really a "true" trout at all. It is a kind of char, a cousin of trout and salmon, which is why its markings, pale wavy lines on a dark back, look different from other trout.

Pick up the booklet at a visitor center, finish the pages, and get sworn in by a ranger.

The top lake on the climb from Bear Lake, past Nymph and Dream. Three lakes on one trail.

Three lakes on one climb under Hallett Peak: Nymph, Dream, and Emerald, all from the Bear Lake Trailhead at 9,475 feet.

Frame the whole group: one bull and the ring of cows he is guarding, not just his antlers.

A flat loop where the Divide stands upside down in the water on a calm morning.

A flat 0.8-mile loop around a lake on Bear Lake Road, fully accessible and stroller-friendly, with the Continental Divide reflected off the water in calm mornin…

The gateway town at the east entrance, where the Big Thompson runs through downtown.

The east-side gateway town, at the Beaver Meadows and Fall River entrances.

Stand still in a meadow at dusk in fall and listen for the elk's squeaky-gate call.

The 14,259-foot summit, the only fourteener in the park. Find it from a Trail Ridge pullout.

At 14,259 feet, the only fourteener in the park and the high point of the skyline from the east.

Photograph Trail Ridge Road with no trees in the frame, just tundra, rock, and sky.

The park's biggest campground, sitting in the meadow where the elk bugle after dark.

The largest campground in the park and the only one open year-round, in Moraine Park at about 8,160 feet and reservable on recreation.gov.

Take the Tundra Communities Trail at Rock Cut, a mile above 12,000 feet, through tiny old plants.

Catch the long nose and the big shoulders between the willow branches. Stay 120 feet back.

Stand where the rain decides which ocean it runs to. Trail Ridge Road crosses it.

Whole hillsides turn gold the last week of September. Photograph the color against the dark pines.

High altitude is real. Drink before you climb and stop at the first headache.

The high lake below the Cathedral Spires, at the top of Glacier Gorge. A long day, not a first hike.

Sky Pond sits below the Cathedral Spires at the head of Glacier Gorge, reached past The Loch and a hands-on scramble up beside Timberline Falls, roughly 9 miles…

At Bear Lake, look down into the shallows for a small fish holding in the cold current.

In fall the peaks get their first snow before the valleys. Point out the new white line on the ridges.