Much like the sea, there is something about the mountains that just sort of calls to you. While we were in Denver, CO you could often see them off in the distance and it was almost a magnetic pull anytime you were outside. At least for me anyway.
After the debacle with the National Park Timed Entry Pass that led us to Eldorado Canyon State Park I think most everyone in our group was pretty content with our trip so far. There was still something gnawing at me though. As magnificent as they were, the formations in Eldorado Canyon were really just foothills.
I couldn't leave Colorado being this close to the mountains and not actually visit them.
I talked to 
The National Park system has a bit of a loophole though. If you get to the park before 9 AM, they let you in without a timed pass. She wasn't happy about it, but
It was a dreary rainy drive from the Denver suburb of Thornton to Estes Park and it took about an hour and a half. Once you get off the expressway it's a pretty narrow winding road to the entrance of the park, but that was nothing compared to what was in store for us.
Estes Park is kind of considered the gateway to the Rocky Mountains and it sits right at the base of the park entrance. It's actually cute town and it gets a ton of tourist traffic as you might imagine.
It's also home to the famous Stanley Hotel which was the inspiration for Stephen King's novel The Shining. I thought we got a photo of it, but I guess not. We did see if from the road though. Full disclosure, I was driving, so most of these photos were taken by
There are many areas to the Rocky Mountain National Park, but we decided to travel the trail ridge road. I had been on this road when I was in high school, but that was on a charter bus. It's a much different ride when you are driving yourself!
The trail ridge road is the highest paved road in the United States, so I now have the distinct pleasure of having driven on that road!
Thankfully, the further we went into the mountains, the more the weather started to clear up for us which actually isn't that uncommon if you are familiar with the area.
We even got to see a moose or elk or whatever. I know it's probably hard to make out, but he is there in the center of the photo above. There was a huge back up of cars on the road, but we couldn't see what or why they were stopping. Because the road is so treacherous and has many blind curves, passing the cars wasn't an option. It turns out they were all stopping to look at the elk. As soon as we got up in view, one of the park rangers walked up and said we had to keep moving, so
I'm sure the people ahead of us got much better shots.
The town of Estes Park sits about 7500 feet above sea level. The Alpine Lookout which was our final destination on the Trail Ridge road sits at just about 12,000 feet above sea level, so you can imagine the drive up from Estes Park is quite a trip! If I had to guess, we probably topped out at around 13,000 feet on our drive.
The mountains literally take your breath away. It's absolutely amazing. I was just in awe the whole time I was driving. My brother in law next to me had his eyes closed a lot of the time because he is not a fan of heights. The crazy thing about this road is that it has no guardrails, so many times you are looking down into a deep deep chasm. It's safe to say I was hugging that yellow line pretty closely quite a few times during our drive.
We took some snacks with us for the drive and everyone was a bit surprised to find the effect the rise in elevation had on the bags. We actually had one or two bags of chips pop on us because of the change in pressure. Good thing I was ready for it, otherwise the sudden pop might have startled me!
These are just some more photos of the amazing views. The switchbacks on the road were pretty easy to navigate, but I still had to use a measure of caution in my driving. I couldn't help but stare at some of the valleys and lakes off in the distance. I think many of them you can hike to if you are healthy enough and you have a full day to spare.
I was reading about one hike that leads you to a mountain lake and it was seven miles round trip, but it took you most of the day to do it because of how arduous the terrain was. Maybe in my younger years I could have handled it!
Just up the road from Alpine Lookout is the Continental Divide which would have been cool to see, but since we had already traveled an hour (from Estes Park), we turned around at Alpine Lookout and decided to head back down.
There is an area at Alpine Lookout where you can climb steps another thousand feet to reach the top of the peak. We started too, but soon realized it was going to be a bit too much. The fact is, the altitude was getting to us and it was just too cold. They say the temperature drops 3.5 degrees F for every 1000 feet you go up. The car was showing our temp somewhere between 35 and 45 degrees.
Many people didn't plan very well because they were running around in shorts and tank tops freezing their butts off. We planned a little better wearing long pants and coats, but the wind was tearing into us and knocking the breath out of our lungs. When my sister in law who runs marathons decided she couldn't handle the climb, I knew there was no way I would make it!
So we bought some souvenirs and then piled back in the car for the drive home. We did make a few more stops though and I will cover those in my post tomorrow! Be sure to stop back!
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All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or