Miles: 115
Route: Denver, CO - Boulder, CO - Rocky Mountain National Park - Grand Lake, CO
Sarah and I spent the last two days exploring the area northwest of Denver - first Boulder, then Rocky Mountain National Park. Denver was a great stop along our journey but we were excited to get outside and see the beautiful mountains that Colorado is famous for!
We arrived in Boulder around 10am - it's not far at all from Denver - but the drive took us a bit longer than expected because there was a CU football game that afternoon and fans were already flooding the city. We even had guards at our hotel to make sure we had a reservation because so many fans had tried to park illegally! We checked in quickly and headed over to Boulder Mountain Park for a hike. The park was beautiful but more crowded than I expected, though this is the locals' version of Central Park so I suppose I shouldn't have been that surprised!
Setting off on the hike - couldn't have asked for better weather!
On our way up what turned out to be the most popular trail.
Looking down on campus (the red roofed buildings).
View from the top of the trail. It required a bit of on-all-fours climbing to get up here so Sarah decided to pass. I still think it was worth it for the view!
After our hike we headed into town to grab a bite at Fall Fest 2014 - a street fair featuring local artists, brewers and chefs. We ate a delicious meal and tried some local beers then headed back to our hotel for some rest in anticipation of a long day today...
We work up early this morning to drive up to Estes Park, the town outside the main entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. The drive was traffic-free and very picturesque - so we got pretty excited for our hike!
Stopped (along with every other tourist!) to get our picture on the way into town.
We stopped at a grocery store in "town" - if you can even call it a town - then headed to the park's visitor center to map out a hike with one of the very friendly, very helpful Rangers. We drove about half an hour into the park and left the car at Bear Lake, then headed out for a 7-mile hike. The weather started off very clear, but as the day went on clouds rolled in and there was an occasional (light) shower. Regardless, we still loved the hike and have some great pictures to show for it!
First stop for water about half a mile in: Nymph Lake.
After a while longer we stopped to eat lunch on a huge rock that had a great view of the mountains.
The clouds started to roll in as we got to Dream Lake but the views were still great!
The trail was almost deserted so we were happy to find a nice couple to take our picture at this overlook.
Though the leaves on the East Coast haven't started to turn yet, autumn colors are abundant out here.
We finished the hike by late-afternoon and began the drive to Grand Lake, CO, where our hotel for the night is located. On our way, though, we were treated to several more fantastic views of the park and even an Elk!
Apparently it's mating season because the males were "bugling" to nearby females.
Almost out of the park, but we had to pull over to look at the view!
At the top of the last mountain we drove over the clouds parted and we had a rainbow (briefly)!
Our hotel tonight in Grand Lake is more like a hunting lodge - there are taxidermied animals EVERYWHERE - but we're both so tired it doesn't matter. Tomorrow we have a full day of driving to Jackson Hole, WY but I expect the scenery will be a little nicer than our last full day of driving (Kansas City - Denver).