June 9 – Rocky Mountain National Park
Today we woke up from Motel 6 and enjoyed coffee at the check in area….after all, that is all they serve. Nonetheless, on a trip like this, we graciously take any free bonus we can get! Our first stop in the morning was at the Red Rocks Amphitheater, on our way out of Denver on the northwest side. Red Rocks is an event venue that features many popular concerts throughout the year with a great view of the city and landscape. This is area is very similar to Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, relative to the colors and shapes of the rock formations. There is capacity for about 10,000 people and the venue is a popular place to perform for major names.
We only stopped to take a picture and look at the site which was worth it, unfortunately there were no performers the night we were there. This puts us about an hour and a half from Rocky Mountain National Park. Our drive there sent us through the University of Colorado and through multiple small towns before you get to Estes Park.
Estes Park is a popular tourist town, which is the primary area to Rocky Mount National Park’s tourism industry. It has many craft beer breweries and hotels to cater to all types of tourists. The hotel that the Shining was inspired by was here at the Stanley Hotel. This is the original inspiration for Stanley Kubrick’s movie, and Stephan King’s Novel. The hotel has a great bar inside and ornate fixtures that resembled the mid-1800s The building was built in 1903, and there’s a museum downstairs in the basement as well. This is a great area to learn about the history, and culture that existed back in western times in Estes Park.
We actually visited this part of the day in the afternoon, because in the morning when we arrived to Rocky Mountain National Park , we had to drive through Estes Park to reach the entrance itself. As the name entails it features the Rocky Mountains but they are definitely some of the most beautiful peaks in Colorado. The ‘Ridge Road’ through the park is one of the most dramatic in all the US National Park system.
Our goal for the morning was to get setup with a camp site, and in order to get to the more open sites, we needed to drive through the entirety of the park, before we found and available site.
This drive is quite dramatic as at the peak you are 12,000 feet above sea level and throughout multiple miles of the road there are steep drop offs of over 2000 feet. There are no rails along the road either which makes for a very intimidating and scary drives. The peak of the Ridge road features a rest area and a short trail that you can walk to the very top. You can order lunch and coffee and small snacks and enjoy the spectacular view from the top.
Our campsite that night was one of the few within the national parks that we were able to obtain on this road trip. We stayed at the Valley campground ,which was at the end of the ridge road and this proved to be a very cold night but not as cold as if we camped on the other side of the mountains…..which were another thousand feet elevated. The campsite featured a valley and river that ran through it, which was absolutely spectacular to cook some steaks near that night. As you can see the peaceful picture, we had a great set up.
After we set up camp by noon and we ended up turning around and going to the Stanley hotel for a beer, and explore as I mentioned earlier. This was a great thing to check off our bucket list, but we were able to do it early, and head back to the park, in order to hike. we headed back over the ridge trail again to the Bear Lakes hiking afterward. There are many trails throughout the park but I would be hard-pressed to believe there were any better than the Bear Lake Trail to Emerald Lake. This is a 4 mile trail inward and another 4 miles back. You must hike over 2500 feet and pass three lakes, the final one of which has a glacier lake surrounded by an amphitheater of huge Rocky peaks. One of the most amazing things about this hike is the river that constantly runs through it, fueled by glacial melt from Emerald Lake, and the fact that while it’s only 65° while there is ice and snow around you, almost any time of the year.
This is where we were using a selfie stick and I ended up slipping on the ice and broke the actual stick and so from henceforward, I had to use my hand to take selfie’s….but it was worth the struggle while I had it in one piece.
The return hike, was very interesting as climbing up ice is not nearly as hard as coming down due to slippery footing on ice. We watched the people in front of us try to go down and they decided to use the snow as a slide. We decided to do the same and enjoy the ride down in an almost winter wonderland in the middle of summer. Today was June 9 and it was perfectly sunny out. Once we completed the trail around 5 PM in the evening, we decided to head back to camp to cook and ended up eating sirloin, mix vegetables and pasta for dinner. Once it was dark we decided to catalog our phone pictures and enjoy the evening sounds. It was at this point in the trip that we started enjoying the night sky as it was very bright and unlike the east coast skies.
June 9 Expenses
19.05 gas
1.72 coffee
26 camp fee
4 mocha
2.06 sticker
10 parking stanley hotel
16 lunch at Stanley hotel
9 grocery
6 firewood
Total – 91.77
Denver to Rocky Mountain National Park – MILES DRIVEN – 130.2