S ‘23 Ep. 5 -Grand Lake, CO (8-1-23)

 We have been to the east side of Rocky Mountain National Park a few times, and I have been itching to see the west side. The closest town to the western entrance, is Grand Lake, Colorado. Our RV park is about 1 mile from the park entrance.

This is actually a perk, because like some other national parks, Rocky Mountain has moved to a timed entry system.

Essentially you have to “book” a 2 hour window for you to enter the park- and they sell out, so you aren’t guaranteed to get what you want. However, timed entry is required from 9 am to 2 pm. and being so close to the entrance, all we had to do is arrive before 8:30 to get in line. 

Our plan for our first day in the park was to drive up Toll House Rd. (the main scenic drive) to the Alpine visitor center and work our way back, hiking short trails along the way.

 The views along the way are spectacular.

 We got to the visitor center, but then we noticed that there is a one way gravel road that looked interesting, so we decided to drive that before looking at hikes.

The road was narrow, but in pretty good shape, so it was an easy drive. We stopped whenever there was a pull off to check it out. Some had nice views, some had hiking trails. One stop was Chasm Falls, a pretty cool waterfall that was a short walk from the road.  That was one of the more interesting stops.

 As we approached the end of the road (which is 9 miles long) the weather started looking a bit ominous.

We knew rain was in the forecast but we hoped to beat it. Just before reaching pavement again, we saw a bunch of people taking pictures- turns out there were some bull elk nearby.

Armed with my good camera, I got a few good shots before we moved on.

Soon after that the rain started- and the hail- so our plan of hiking went out the window, so to speak. On the way down the hill I caught sight of a bull moose, just a few yards from the road, but Paul was driving and it was a torrential downpour, so, no pictures.

After a day of vegging out, we decided to head in the other direction, towards the town of Grand Lake. Grand Lake is home to the headwaters of the Colorado River. It looks a little different here than it does at home in Arizona. The Lake, and town, are called Grand Lake, because the Colorado River used to be called the Grand River, before it was renamed due to the existence of the Rio Grande.

The town is a small one, typical of tourist towns, with restaurants and shopping along the waterfront. Our first item on the agenda was to hike to Adams Falls, technically a short trail to a waterfall, but the trail continues on, so we hiked for 2 miles before turning back.

I really enjoyed the trail, because every few minutes the view changed and we saw something new.

Done hiking, we headed to the waterfront to check out the annual Wooden Boat festival. There were a couple of dozen wooden boats to look at , which didn’t take long, and then we looked for a place for lunch.

The view from our table was the best thing about lunch. It gave us a decent view of Grand Lake. After a little more shopping, we headed home.

Because our plans to hike the short trails in the park was thwarted by the weather, the next day we did a “take 2” and headed up to the Alpine Visitor Center. Our first “hike” is affectionately known as Huffer Trail.

It starts at the visitor center and goes up. Its very short at .63 miles round trip, but it ends at 12,000 feet. Hence the name.  

There were signs along the way that explained why none of us felt like we could breathe. Although the oxygen level in our air remains constant at 21%, the air pressure is decreased, and the oxygen molecules are more spread out- so, each breath we take contains less oxygen than we are used to...hence the huffing.

As soon as we reached the top of the trail, we realized there were elk in the area. About 14 males, lounging around, enjoying the day. We couldn’t see too much of them except all the antlers poking up from the grassy area.

Once we had our fill, we headed down the hill to our next short hike- Medicine Bow Trail. Round trip is .83 miles, with essentially no gain.

From here we could see the same bull elks we saw before, from a different vantage point.  As we walked the trail, we realized there was a lone female, hunkered down on her own.

Very soon we were back at the truck and noticed people taking pictures. There were two cow elk munching on the greenery nearby.

Continuing down the road, our next stop was Irene Lake . No wildlife here, except the new to me Clark’s Nutcracker- but the lake is pretty and it was only .85 miles to walk around it. It was a bonus that there were nice picnic tables where we could have lunch.

Our final stop/hike of the day was the Holzwar Historic Site. The Holzwar family settled here in the late 1800s, and by 1920 had created a dude and trout fishing ranch. They owned the land until the 1970s, at which time it was the last parcel of private land to be sold to the National Park. One of the conditions was that they retain the historic aspect of the homestead, so several of the buildings are still standing.

Our “push” hike of the week was the 7.4 mile hike(1400 ft gain) to Grand Ditch. Along the way we met up with a small group of college students who were out measuring and making notes about beaver activity or lack thereof.

 

They are backpacking into the wilderness to make these reports. As we chatted with them, I mentioned some flowers and plants I had seen, and they all knew their flora and fauna-by name. It was actually really nice to come in contact with young people who care about our natural world.

In my “down” time, I took some pictures of the hummingbirds:

Loveland, CO (08-09-20)

Knowing that we would be in Loveland for a week, Paul and I got busy on Amazon, ordering things we “need”.  More coffee, some gadgets, and my favorite, an adaptor for the TV so Paul can listen to it through his Hearphones (a pretty cool Bose product- not quite hearing aids, but close), and now, woohoo, I don’t have to hear it anymore.

 I am not much of a TV watcher-although, we have now watched two movies together- The Big Short (eh, not great) and Knives Out, which was good. We have a few more on the list of movies that I will actually watch- The Green Book and A Man called Ove (I read the book and liked it).  In fact, we even bought popcorn when we went shopping, so we’ll have it.

Having a week in one spot also means we don’t have to run around trying to do everything we want, all in one day.  We have had quite a few “down” days, recovering from the hikes we have done.  We usually start each morning doing the Microsoft Solitaire Daily Challenge while we have our coffee.

 Every time I see that the pool is empty, I feel compelled to swim some laps, and have spent several hours doing just that.











About every 8-10 days we are forced to go to the store and buy food, so we spent one afternoon at Costco and Safeway, stocking up.

On the fun side of things, we found out some friends are also in town, so we met up with them and went to dinner at a brewhouse, where we could sit outside.  Tom and MJ met when they were both fulltimers, and now have a house in Yuma and escape in the summer, like we do.









Somehow we have not managed to escape the heat completely, and even here in the Denver area it’s been in the 90s almost every day.

We have managed to do some hiking, partly by heading up into the mountains where it’s cooler, and by starting early in the day. Ok, we don’t really start early in the day, we just suck it up and get hot while we hike.  Our first trail was in Button Dam Preserve.  Hiking up the road to the dam was easy and we found a nice quiet spot for a snack.

Watching the water come through the dam was pretty cool. 

We took the harder way back, going up and over a hill, where the trail was pretty steep and technical in some places.

5 miles total and 640 ft of gain.









As soon as we arrived in Loveland I checked Rocky Mountain National Park, to see if we would be able to get in.  They have a timed entry system right now.  Everyone has to make a reservation online, and only so many cars are allowed  entry during each two hour window.




 

Reservations opened a couple of months ago.  They did however, hold back some spots, so every day at 8 am some spots open for two days in the future.  I missed the first time I tried, but the second time I was able to get entry tickets for 8-10 am on Friday, so off we went.

I had chosen a 5 mile hike to Mills Lake- and it seemed like everyone in the park also chose that hike. We started the hike stressed because we had no intention of taking a shuttle, but our truck is too big and isn’t allowed in the parking lots, so  we had no choice if we wanted to hike. 








It was ok….half capacity made it better.

Once on the trail, our stress did not reduce.  It was overloaded with people to the point where we had to pretty much keep our masks on. We didn't even stop to look at the waterfall- too many people between it and us.

We found a less used path and took it, giving up the idea of the lake. 

It did lead to a nice creek, with no people near it.





The way back was much less crowded, and more relaxing, but it was a sharp reminder that we need to steer clear of crowded places.










As much as I complain about the heat, we were reminded last week exactly why we leave Havasu every summer....

What a difference a day makes

Our last day in the Denver area was spent hiking.  We hiked a looped that took us past several lakes.  Two of them were absolutely beautiful.  In Rocky Mtn National Park, you're not really allowed to swim in the lakes and rivers- the water is too cold (I can vouch for that) and too swift.  It was pretty warm though, so I did poke my feet in the water of Mills Lake, which is where we stopped to have lunch.  While there we watched an elk approach the lake on the other side, and take her calf  for  a swim.  It was incredible to watch! 
   After lunch, we continued on our way, coming to Haiyaha Lake, which is one of the most beautiful lakes I have ever seen.  We had to climb over boulders to get to really see it, and we didn't take the time to go around the other side so we could get close to the water. Thats ok though, we sat on the boulders and just enjoyed.
The total hike was about 7.5 miles, but it started at 9500 ft and went up over 10,000 ft.  I had adjusted pretty well to the altitude so although I was breathing heavy, at least I could do the hike.
After taking the shuttle back to our truck we headed into Estes Park for a well deserved ice cream. We wandered the River walk for a bit before heading home to a very light dinner.

Friday brought some changes and was not so fun.  Three weeks ago we had the Everest axles aligned and had to replace one of the tires- Friday we went to another alignment shop because Paul noticed that it seemed out of alignment again and he wanted to make sure it was ok.  We spent most of the day there, trying to figure out the best way to fix the trailer, since according to this place, not only is it out of alignment again already, the axles aren't big enough for the trailer.  We called the  manufacturer, and they will take a look at it when we bring it in this August.  A very frustrating and long day.  The only good part was that they had private waiting rooms, so the cat could have his own room to wander around in, complete with reclining chair. This all delayed our leaving, and we ended up making it as far as Seibert, CO, headed towards Branson MO. 
      Today was all driving, and another frustrating day. We left this morning and had a lot of miles to go.  In the early afternoon we heard a huge "pop", which turned out to be one of our trailer tires bursting.  Paul handled it all calmly- the truck didn't even lurch, so we were pretty impressed with that. The other tires held, so that was great, but we had to limp a half mile down the highway because there was very little shoulder and it was too dangerous to try and change the tire there.  We got it to a safer place and Paul braved the 104 degree heat to put on the spare and we were on our way.  We lost the fender to the trailer as well, so we'll have to see about getting a new one.
Tonight we are in Topeka Kansas, debating buying a second A/C unit for the trailer. We've never felt the need for it until now, but at 8 pm it was still 97 outside and when we arrived, the inside temperature of the trailer was 102.  It's taken hours to get it to a reasonable temperature.  Of course, we spent one of those hours in the campground pool, relaxing, so it hasn't been all bad.

Denver, Colorado

Denver is definately a place that Paul and I could live, if we could just ignore the winters they get here! There is so much to do in this area, both outdoors and indoors. 

   We explored the downtown area a little bit and were impressed with the importance the people of Denver place on fitness and the outdoors, even in the middle of the city.  Bicycle riders are prevalent,  and there are parks and open spaces everywhere you turn.  REI's flagship store is in the city, so we checked it out but were disappointed with the variety of merchandise.
Our first full day here, we headed to Estes Park, a small town on the outskirts of Rocky Mountain National Park.  We started at the Stanley Hotel, built by F.O Stanley, of Stanley Steamer fame.  The hotel was built over 100 years ago, and is reportedly haunted by more than one ghost.  There are even "pictures" of the ghosts shown on a TV screen.  Stephen King was impressed enough to use the hotel for his movie "The Shining".  Honestly we didn't stay too long (Paul has actually stayed in the hotel before) since neither of us are Stephen King fans, and  didn't want to take the ghost tour. 
    From there we went up the tram to the top of Prospect Mountain, where we had our picnic lunch and watched kids feed the chipmonks too many nuts.  We had a great view of the town and surrounding mountains while we ate.

    Once we were down again, we headed to Rocky Mountain National Park to drive Trail Ridge Road-the highest paved road in the country.  Its about 50 miles from the beginning to the end. This road climbs in elevation to about 12,000 feet, which is above the treeline, through the Alpine tundra, with beautiful views of the mountains along the way.  I know, I sound like a brochure. Anyway, driving along this road was a great introduction to the Park.  I wasn't crazy about the altitude, and some of the curves were interesting, to say the least, but not so bad that I couldn't enjoy it. It was much cooler and windier along the top, so much so that we didn't get out of the car much. Plus, at that altitude, just walking required a fair amount of effort. Once we came down off ridge, the road came down into a meadow area and thats where we saw quite a few elk and even a solitary moose! I didn't get a great picture of the moose, since they are very reclusive and he ran away.  We saw him again later, but he was laying down in a thicket. But- at least I got to see a moose!  We saw an elk cow and calf, and several bull elk lounging around in the meadow.  Every time we saw a couple of cars pulled over, we'd stop and look and sure enough there would be elk or something in the meadow.  On the way back to Estes Park we saw a herd of Bighorn Sheep- Paul couldn't pull over at that spot, so I took a picture as we drove by.  Estes Park has a River Walk, with shopping and restaurants, so we walked around for a bit before stopping for dinner on the river.
    This morning we headed to Golden, CO, home of Coors beer. We had heard that they have a great tour of the facility, and they really do.  They give you an audio guide - if you want to hear about what you are seeing, as you do a self guided tour, you press a button and it gives information about each stop on the tour.  Each adult is also allowed to taste 3 different beers- and by taste, I mean drink a full glass of it.  Paul is not fond of beer, so he only tried a little of two different ones, and I did two others, so we got to try 4 without having to stagger out of the place. Everyone is limited to one tour per day which seems to make sense since the two people ahead of us in line were well known to the employee. Apparently they come to the tour pretty often.
Golden also has an extensive Museum of Geology and since Paul is very interested in Geology, we spent a couple of hours exploring the museum. It was reasonably interesting seeing all the rocks and gemstones and where they came from.
We drove back to our RV by way of a scenic drive that took us past the gravesite of Buffalo Bill (Cody).  There is a museum at the spot too, but it wasn't free and we weren't that interested, so we just looked around and kept going.  We did drive by the herd of buffalo that roam a nearby park. There were a lot of calves in the meadow- you can tell its spring here because we've seen a lot of baby animals.