Denver Trip - Part 2 of 3

Journal from Denver vacation - Wed Aug 3rd - Sun 7th, 2011:

POST #2 of 3: Friday Aug 5th: Rocky Mountain National Park

After a late night at Dave & Buster's, we didn't wake up until 9 AM on Friday - and we took our time. I explored the hotel coffee shop aptly named "Perks" for some Starbucks and a breakfast sandwich while Tiffany got ready. Then we headed out to Rocky Mountain National Park, one of the highlights of our entire visit.

The journey to get to the main entrance to the park just on the other side of a town called "Estes Park" is half of the fun. The road from Denver to the park takes you through Boulder and the University of Colorado. This picturesque campus is supported by what appears to be an absolutely brand new downtown area through which you drive. Not only are you likely to find any store you are looking for, but they all appear to have just been built.

Leaving Boulder you head out into the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, edging ever closer to the park. I was astounded by the number of cyclists on these roads. They have bike lanes everywhere in Colorado, even on the Interstates you see "Share the Road" signs everywhere with very well-manicured bike lanes.

The drive into the park:

After another half-hour or so, you begin some winding ascents into the mountains and get closer to the actual park. This steep climbing put a strain on the car, but it was a lot of fun coming down later! Shutting off the air conditioning, we continued on to 7,000 to 8,000 feet or so to the park entrance. We picked up some maps at the first visitor center and then headed toward a hike that Tiffany had found on line - to Alberta Falls.

The short mile-long trail took us through several different environments within a few hundred feet of elevation. The trail followed a fast moving stream coming from the falls farther up the trail. We finally reached the falls for which the trail was named. Several outcroppings offered great views of the 100-foot falls as the water crashed below.

The hike to Albert Falls:

Leaving this first trail we went to Bear lake, the very end of this first road we took into the park. After reviewing the maps, I wanted to go drive up into the mountains further. We drove up to Trail Ridge Road, which winds around the entire park, up to a maximum altitude of just under 13,000 feet. Along the way there were lots of small pull-outs to park the car and take in the views. Driving on these small roads, very near sheer drops was nerve-racking at times, but still a lot of fun.

The journey to higher altitudes:

At these altitudes (still only half as high as Mount Everest) the air is thinner - there is less oxygen. I wanted to do some jogging around to see how this impacted my stamina. I'm no triathlete, but I could definitely tell a difference between running at 600 MSL and 13,000 MSL. I was quickly out of breath, and I had to take a lot of breaks. At this altitude is was also only about 50 degrees before wind chill. The other interesting thing of note was how quickly the weather changed. It went from bright and sunny to rain to strong winds in a matter of minutes.

We only went as far as the Alpine visitor's center. Anything over 11,000 MSL is considered Alpine, and is above the tree line where trees can survive due to the short warm season and bitter cold -30 degree temperatures in the winter. We turned around and headed back down at this point, passing a neat looking trail that I just had to pursue. It led me up to a rocky outcropping, up which I climbed and then took some 360 degree video to help capture the moment.

Look, no trees:

The drive down these mountain passes is tiring! I can see now how the newer cars have "hill assist" features that automatically downshift automatic cars to save on the brakes. Between braking and downshifting to go down, it was a physically exhausting process. When we finally made it back from the park to our hotel we simply went to the hotel's restaurant to get a late dinner.

Part 3 will finish up the trip details with our journey to the Garden of the gods and the Royal Gorge south of Denver, and our trip home.