Postcards from JR and Christa

THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS OF COLORADO

August 30-September 4

Colorado calls for big blue skies in the day and cool evenings at any altitude. It is no wonder John Denver sang about Rocky Mt. High.Whether one’s goal is “Summit or Bust” up the steep side of a fourteener or more of a lazy creek side amble, Colorado has hundreds of miles of trails that are just about anyone’s speed. Not only are they easy to access, but the catalog of available hiking experiences is incredibly diverse — paths through wildflower-strewn meadows, treks amid cliffs and canyons to petroglyphs left by ancient people, journeys through swaying grasslands that haven’t changed since pioneers first set foot here hundreds of years ago, walks that lead to rushing waterfalls and so many more.

Several times JR and I drove up Trail Ridge Road to the Alpine Visitor Center, which is the highest point one can reach traveling by car in the park. Its altitude is bone chilling cold at night.
A view of Longs Peak here could be seen off in the distance.

There’s no better way to get close to the state’s abundant wilderness areas than by making one of its campgrounds home, either in a tent under the stars or in our fully equipped RV. With campsites in 42 state parks, on more than 22 million acres of national forests and grasslands and in hundreds of private campgrounds, it has been easy to find a tranquil spot to get back to basics and revisit the simplicity of nature. Christa doesn’t like to unplug from digital life, but Colorado has made sure she has had all the inspiration to do so a bit. However a camera has never been
far from her pocket.

It is a special year for Rocky Mountain National Park, which with the National Park Service, is celebrating its centennial. This “park in the sky” captures the full grandeur of the Rocky Mountains unveiling an array of mountain peaks, 77 of reach elevations of 12,000 feet or more. There are 310 trails for hiking in RMNP making it a world destination and it’s understandably one of the country’s most frequently visited national parks. Denver is only 65 miles away. Think how grand it would be if the SF Bay Area was that close to Yosemite National Park.

Moraine Campground at Rocky Mountain National Park near Estes Park, provided us 5 days as a home base, which was perfect for our stay in the park. Christa’s cousin Ralph drove up to the park and spent a few days with us after we first arrived in Colorado.

He lives in Tennessee, but has spent every summer the past 10 years climbing peaks in the Rockies with his geezer 14er buddies (folks who climb Colorado’s highest 14,000 ft peaks). We decided not to embarrass ourselves heading on the trail with him and did a short day hike before he arrived at camp.

JR overly ambitious decided to carry a 35 lb. backpack calling it a “training hike” for himself as we laced up our hiking boots.

Boy did we both have sore feet and aching quads after a 6 mile rocky elevation climb to Cub and Fern Lakes at the end of that day’s hike. JR’s shoulder muscles ached for days afterwards. We were exhausted rolling into camp, but at least impressed Cousin Ralph who quickly became our inspiration guide for things to do in the park.

For an adventure we all decided to take the Old Fall River Road, a winding one way, single lane dirt side road for the daring and more brave at heart, up to the top. Christa, not being a fan of heights, didn't have time to think much about the edge of steep cliff drop offs without guardrails. For as the Jeep climbed in elevation rounding incline curves and sharp hair pin turns raising dust, JR and Ralph were teasing and taunting her along the off road adventure like two school boys out for a joy ride.

Grand Lake just below RMNP west entrance became a lovely place to stop later that afternoon. The lodge overlooking the lake gave us a chance to stretch our legs after the long drive around the park’s west perimeter.

We spotted a bull elk with his female harem herd as we returned back to our campground.

Ralph suggested we hike RMNP together to explore the edges of three small lovely subalpine pristine lakes the following day. Starting out at a trailhead off Bear Lake Road we picked up an easy trail with an elevation climb 225 ft marked 0.5 miles to Nymph Lake.

That was an easy climb after our previous “training hike” workout. Continuing the trail onward over numerous steep stair steps for 1.1 miles the elevation gained another 426 ft bringing us to Dream Lake.

The trail hike Ralph referred to as “easy” the park calls “moderate in difficulty”. Then climbing another 1.8 miles higher in elevation reached a gain of 605 more feet at Emerald Lake that same day. That’s when we realized why folks come to get their Rocky Mountain high.

Seeing backcountry hikers with 50 lb backpacks along the trail was an admirable endeavor to say the least. What goes up has to come down and our little “short ease/moderate hike” chalked off a round trip of 6.8 miles and we were proud.

We celebrated dinner that evening at Ralph’s favorite restaurant The Grumpy Gringo in Estes Park and bid him farewell until our trails would rendezvous again.

Our last day at RMNP JR and I made a 320 mile scenic byway excursion out of the park with the Jeep to check out Steamboat Springs ski area and Fish Creek Falls. JR became a true road warrior driving through some spectacular curved river canyon scenery. The Rocky Mountains provide us lots of opportunities to photograph wildlife and landscapes.