Driving Trail Ridge Road_______
Like most of the other mornings, we woke up at 5:30 (mountain time). Today it was important that we got an early start. We wanted to be done driving and hiking Trail Ridge Road (which we nicknamed mile high road) by 1 PM (for weather reasons - every day we had been here it did in fact rain in the afternoon - this is very typical of the mountains)
Today was the day that we were going to drive Trail Ridge Road - some say the hightest paved road in the USA.
And it even has traffic jams….
Before we left the West side, we wanted to see Coyote Valley and the Never summer ranch. We had meant to do these the first day - but did not get to them. We got ready real early and were at the first of these - Coyote Valley by 6AM.
The road to this point was flat. We got out and hiked around. We loved the Kawuneeche Valley and found the trail to be an excellent trail for everyone…. With it being so early in the morning, there was beautiful mist coming up and over the mountains and river. It was very pretty. We soon moved on due to our schedule and drove a quick distance to Never Summer Ranch. This was also in the Kawuneeche Valley. Tad really liked the old miner cabin that sits at the entrance to this family hike. As we hiked the easy mostly flat hike in and towards the mountains, we saw a huge herd of grazing elk in the distance and in the direction of Coyote Valley. I really like the Dude ranch and found that the building structures were very similar to some of the buildings at Chalk Hills Camp.
The road all of sudden starts its climb upward and upward going very high. With a bend in the highway just a quick mile from the Never Summer Ranch the road begins to climb…. And we begin to see beautiful mountain vistas. The following is a listing of all of the stops we made as we traveled Trail Ridge Road
Irene Lake: This is a great place to get out of the car and take a walk. The altitude hit us both here - but we managed. We made the very quick hike down to beautiful Lake Irene and the climb up
Lake Poudre & Milner Pass: Yes we finally arrived to a spot right on the Continental Divide. There is even a big map/sign that states that you are right on the continental Divide. I always found this interesting - how on one side the water flows eastward and on the other side the water flows west ward. And there was water at this site. Poudre Lake and the start of the Cache la Poudre river to be exact was located on the east side and on the west there was also a small lake. From each of these, there were streams. We decided to walk closer to Poudre Lake and then we took the quick trip upward to the huge, and I mean huge granite boulders. These spires are named Poudre Lake Spires. We came back down and rested for a few minutes and then saw what there is to see on the west side, We took the quick walk towards the other lake - not going all the way - but close enough. When we got back to our car we noticed that everyone had their binoculars out and was looking at something ontop of this really huge mountain with jagged edges - this is called Sheeps Rock (not sure though). And on top of this crater were bighorn sheep. We noticed about a dozen or so and we noticed smaller sheep most likely children bighorn sheep.
Stop along the road to Alpine Visitor Center (I think that this is Medicine Bow Curve-11,640): As we continue our drive upward we finally make it above tree level and find a lookout/stop and people walking on a designated path. We get out and hike. We are hiking on the Tundra now. There is a park ranger here conducting a class on wildflowers/plants found in the tundra. We notice that way above us there is also a path. I think it is the destination of the steps at the Alpine visitor center. When looking down we see the Cache La Poudre River and Valley This is the same river that we had just stopped at.
Alpine Visitor Center (11,796): We made it - but wait…… we are not at the top - there are stairs - and I mean stairs - a ton of them going straight up. I am really feeling the altitude here ( I have always been a light breather and not very good with going up - and I can really feel it - later on - a couple of days later Tad admits to having problems at this point to) I see those stairs - Tad gleefully says that we are going up there - as he points upward - I can hardly breath I have not even made one stairs….. I finally realize that I better do this now or I will not do it. (Thinking about this as I write here I get short winded just thinking about it….). so we make the climb up - or rather walk the stairs up. (somehow I think the climb up with out the stairs would have been easier for me) I go a ways up and rest Tad jumps ahead and makes it all the ways up. He is always very good about going upwards. I remember a little trick and that is to not look at the top and just look at each stair alone and move fast and then rest. I do this and finally make it to the top - but wait - we are not at the top yet…… YIKES…… there is a walk over to another spot and a little ways to go still further up. We finally make it. I rest. I am soon rejuvenated and walk around and see the sign that says the altitude that we are at
(I think 12,000 feet or something like that) we take pictures and then go back down. We pop into the visitor center and what an incredible visitor center - what a view. We get something to eat at the deli and sit at the booth - but this is not a normal booth - this booth has a view - a view unlike any I have ever seen - the whole deli had huge windows - and the visitor center is perched over this mountain - we are in the tundra and it is a long way down we look down and then we look up - and see the mountains in an area we see more elk. What a view, what a visitor center.
Gore Range Overlook: Great place to stop and view the tundra from a different view point
Lava Cliffs Pullout (12,080): Has beautiful view of the 300 foot cliffs curved out of the hillside by glaciers. You see 2 small lakes. They each have beautiful green/icy blue colors to them. (that Lake Louise thing - I believe)
Rock Cuts (12,110)(0.8 mile hike): We are nearing 12 PM and clouds are moving in. We stop at the highest point on the road and make the hike to the rock cuts - these are huge boulders that just sit there in the open - in the tundra….. people are climbing all over them and it looks fun. We make the hike to them take a picture or two - but it begins to drizzle (we know to move on - due to any lightning that might be coming with the rain - later on in the trip - the visitor center does a great job explaining why it is so important to not be in the tundra area if it is lightening)
Rainbow Curve (10,829): This viewing area is a great little stop for viewing the mountains.
Many Parks Curve Overlook: This overlook is just below treeline. We park and notice that we have to cross the road and make it over to the bend in the road/switch back. There are many people - and we know that we are now coming upon the Estes Park area and the area at it’s peak of Tourism time - the 4th of July. The views are beautiful here - and one can see for miles. The views are of Moraine valley and I think Horseshoe park.
The road now makes is ascent into the valleys and we see the turn off for the Fall River Visitor Center.
Sheeps Lake at Horseshoe Park: We get out and look around and look up. We can not believe that we were as high as the mountains we see - and possibly higher. We read the information and find out that this is a well knows spot for Bighorn sheep. They come off of the mountains and into this valley for essential nutrients.
We then make the quick drive to the Fall River Visitor Center and check it out. We really like what we see and find a really nice restaurant inside with an outside porch perched high above the valley. The restaurant had great food choices and the store and museum were great too. We decide to come back for dinner.
We then notice that -- yep indeed our campground is right across the street and we check in.
That night we had a really tasty meal at the restaurant at the Fall River Visitor Center. we ate on the porch - what a VIEW….
After Dinner, we went back into Horseshoe Park stopped at Sheeps Lake and then parked and made the very easy walk/hike to Alluvial Falls. These were very beautiful, very easy to get to and very large waterfalls in the Horseshoe Park Area.
That night we enjoyed sitting and relaxing on the base of this mountain - named McGregor mountain. There are these huge boulders right in out campsite area - and it is fun to sit there and relax. Time for bed soon comes - but due to being a holiday weekend - a few people - namely just one couple had other plans for the night. Unfortunately, this noisy couple was nearest to us and we ended up about about midnight packing up and moving to the motol we had made reservations at the last night - instead we booked rooms for this night and the next night. We really liked the campgrounds, but our campsite was not level, there were noisy people etc…… (I think we both had enough of camping - I had done a lot of camping - but I did not realize how cold it gets up in the mountains - in the 30's. We did not have the correct sleeping bags and out campsite/tent was on a bit of slant and for me on a boulder - very hard surface - my air mattress had sprang a leak and I was sleeping directly on very hard surface.
Hikes: Hikes off of the Trail Ridge Road & Horseshoe Park
Dinner: The Restaurant at Fall River RMNP Visitor Center