Diary/Photo Journal
Week of September 07, 2003
Because we had seen so much of the ruins, we decided not to linger too long and to get an early start to Denver. It really did not matter that we had already made this decision because thunderous booms and massive streaks of electricity got us out of bed and onto the road in record time. The rain did not bother us so much as the discovery of scattered ice patches along the road.
We wanted to take the well-known drive from Durango to Ouray which would take us through several 10,000' + passes. Being from Southern California, we were rather "naive" about when winter starts in other places of the country. As we ventured upward, we found our view obscured by fog and rain. As we crept toward the pass, we found the surrounding landscape taking on a rather whitish appearance and noticed so was Cindy. Next thing we know, we are tip-toeing through 2" of snow and being entertained by the lighter trucks (with no 4x4) slippin an a slidin.
Now, I have complete faith in Gerson's driving capability, but it twas I that had the fortunate view of the sheer drop over my side of the mountain so I was, shall we say, a tad nervous. Relief came about 500' from the highest pass when we again returned to the rain. All in all, that area received almost 4" of snow that day and we were fortunate to catch the first few hours only.
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My favorite trees Aspens |
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Cindy's first snow |
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Lots of little waterfalls from all the rain |
Denver was our destination so we could spend a few wonderful days with another good
friend, Lori. We were also looking forward to enjoying a few modern
amenities like a real bed, a good shower, a washer and dryer and even to catch
up with the news.
We ventured out to the Flatirons - a wilderness area that is named for its three
diagonal flat rock formations that jut out of the surrounding meadows. We
hiked along the perimeter of the mountain and enjoyed the view over Boulder.
We also happened upon a terrific happy hour with micro-brewed beer and great
seafood. Three hours later, we extracted ourselves from this fabulous
little town.
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Flatirons |
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Lori and Louise and the view around the |hill |
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Beautiful country around Boulder |
Our second day in delightful Denver was spent exploring Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). We were going to attempt what the locals call a "14" (which is to climb a mountain 14,000' or higher) but the unpredictable weather kept us in the car.
We drove up a road that winds its way along a small river and that has barely enough width to accommodate Lori's small car. The road carried us through the forest of pine and changing Aspens, along boulders and meadows, next to grazing elk herds, around waterfalls, and eventually ended at the Fall River Pass about 12,000' up. We hiked along the upper ridges, but with the wind chill blowing well below freezing, we quickly ducked into the warm cafeteria for some hot chocolate. Okay, we were wimps.
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RMNP Lake and hiking near Chasm Falls |
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Chasm Falls |
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The Aspens were just beginning to change colors |
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A large Elk buck and his ladyfriends |
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Louise found a friend |
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Various views of RMNP front and back |
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Flowers can grow anywhere |
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Lori and Gerson at Fall River Pass Louise at 12,000+ feet |
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Lori got a bit cold with freezing wind chill temps |
On our way out of RMNP and through Estes Park itself, we ran into several of the locals. When you see some of the pictures, we were really that close.
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A buck with his small herd |
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Just after this picture, this young buck was chased right by me by a much larger buck - see next pics |
This was so cool - they really are mellow and beautiful animals. The rack on the large buck was probably 6' across and each length extended approximately 5' - very impressive.
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A very large buck and a very assertive one at that |
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A young elk and one cooling off |
We left Colorado after wandering aimlessly around Breckenridge and saying our goodbyes to Lori. Thanks Lori for a really nice few days.
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Nice restaurant garden The way a Jeep should look Saying goodbye to Lori Cindy taking on the Rockies |
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Colorado River Cool rock formations Leaving the Rockies |