~*~ Being a Touron on a Friday Afternoon ~*~

“Oh…My…God…”

Date: Friday, July 27

After our good-byes to Bob, Cathy & Ryan, Brad and I headed for Estes Park, CO. We would be spending the next two nights at Moraine Park Campground in Rocky Mountain National Park. I was very much looking forward to being in the mountains and having some down time together being silly and playing the part of a touron!

The drive was amazing and as the mountains got closer and closer, I grew more and more excited at the notion of having some time to play in them. Once we finally hit Estes Park, we were driving in the shadows of some of the most massive mountains I had seen, aside from the Canadian Rockies. We were fortunate to have a really beautiful day, despite being slightly overcast and cloudy. The clouds were huge and white and just stood beautifully against the dark mountain landscape. We arrived at Moraine Park Campground right around noon time and although check in was at 1pm, we were able to get in and get set up early.

Our campsite (#104) was the perfect location. We were separated enough from others, had a nice amount of shade and tree cover, and a nice amount of sun. It was nice too because you don’t have to park your car in your tent to fit everything into the site. It really made a cozy space when all was said and done. I set up the tent while Brad pulled coolers and stoves galore out of the Jeepasaurus. He said that I was going to have my introductory class in Car Camping 101 and he wasn’t kidding. He went to work cooking leftover brats from the reception for lunch. Have I mentioned that I had never had brats before? Oh lordy…they were so yummy!!! It’s probably one of my new favorite foods. Preferably with sauerkraut and/or mustard, please. Delicious!

After scarfing down our lunch, we decided to leave our sleeping bags, pads and other stuff in the car until we came back later in the afternoon. I don’t know what possessed us to do that ~ but as you will soon see ~ we made the right decision!

Upon leaving the campground, we drove back up to the main road and decided to take a nice afternoon drive along the Trail Ridge Road. We also scouted out the route that we would take in the morning to get to Old Falls River Road – easy enough to find! Trail Ridge Road makes so much of the alpine areas of the park accessible to so many people. It is the highest major highway in North America, topping out at 12,183 feet above sea level. It amused me that the highest I had been to date was when we climbed Eiffel in Banff National Park…and that was a mere 10,124 feet. We would be driving higher than I had ever climbed. I was amused by that prospect but also insistent on getting out and hiking higher than we drove. I will not allow my feet to be outdone by a damn car.

As we slowly made our way along the twisted and winding Trail Ridge Road, I remained in a constant state of awe. Everything was so beautiful to me. Every tree, snowfield, piece of vegetation, view, et cetera. There are several times in my life where I have wished my head was just on a swivel and this was definitely one of them. We passed through Beaver Ponds and the Hidden Valley area where I mused about Hidden Valley Ranch dressing. Brad assured me that they were not related, but that’s all I could think of from that point on. There are several incredibly sharp hairpin turns on a road that is not particularly wide to begin with. It seemed as we climbed, there were times when we were driving through the clouds, only to resurface above them.

At Many Parks Curve, we stopped briefly to snap some pictures and scramble up a few rocks for a better view. Longs Peak was looming in the distance and looked simply majestic to me. At one point we had considered climbing it over the weekend, but thought better of it because I wouldn’t be acclimated, the weather was sketchy at best, and it’s a hell of a hike that would take all day. We were more interested in seeing as much as we could and enjoying each other’s company.

As we drove, I would occasionally snap photos from the window of the car. You could always tell when there were elk on the side of the road because traffic would come to a stand still, people would stop in the middle of the road, and everyone is jumping out of their cars with cameras in hand. I was slightly amused by this as well because, although I love to see wildlife, there were about a bazillion elk all over the place and I didn’t see the need to stop at every single one to take a picture. It was reminiscent of flatlanders visiting New England in the fall. Just stop wherever the hell you feel like it because THIS red leaf is better than the last one. Seriously, folks. Think!!!

When we reached a nice little area called Lava Cliffs, we decided to get out and scramble the 50’ or so up to the rocks to take some pictures. Now, we had been in the car virtually the whole time since Many Parks Curve. I had not gotten out and I had not tried to walk. Within about 15 yards away from the car, I was immediately dizzy and could not focus on the little path ahead of me. I didn’t feel as though I was going to faint, I just felt woozy and “not right”, made worse by the fact that I could not seem to shake it off no matter what I did. Brad pointed out that I had been in CO all of one day, and we had just gained substantial elevation very quickly in the car. Apparently, this was a little bit of altitude sickness kicking in. I made it up to the top of the rocks without incident and was happy to just sit down for a minute and let my head clear. We took in the view of the surrounding mountains and got a couple of great pictures. LL Bean is requiring we submit a few before the winter catalog comes out (haha!).

I was happy to be back in the car and we passed over the highest point on the road just past Lava Cliffs. Colorado Rocky Mountain High, baby!!! When we came around the last bend, the Alpine Visitors Center was just down the road a stretch. There is some construction going on and I was taken aback by the fact that there was an actual traffic light on the Trail Ridge Road. It was generator run, obviously, but the road went down to one lane and traffic was being carefully controlled. It was just a funny and unexpected sight to see.

At the Visitor Center, we got out and wandered around checking out the views and the Ranger Station. From there, we could see tomorrow’s hike of Mount Chapin, Mount Chiquita, and Mount Ypsilon. We could also easily make out the Old Fall River Road coming up from the trail head we would be at. After 20 minutes or so, we headed back towards Moraine Park Campground. We’d been driving and snapping pictures for hours and were actually getting a little bit tired. We decided to go into Estes Park and spend a little time walking around the town. We did make one more stop to take a picture at the 12,090 feet above sea level restrooms! For Katie!

By the time we got into Estes Park, the rain had started to come down. It rained fairly hard for awhile but we had a good time wandering around and going into little stores to see what they offered. A few little gear stores drew our attention as we looked at stickers, patches, tee-shirts and everything else for sale! It’s a cute little town and sort of reminiscent of Lake Placid in the Adirondacks of NY. After perusing for awhile, we stopped in at Estes Park Brewery for a beer and a good carb loaded dinner. The beer was excellent and the food wasn’t too bad either! Brad purchased his signature pint glass from the local brewery and all was right in the world. I’ve decided that he must have a huge cabinet to put all of these glasses in because every single brew pub I have been in with him, he’s bought a glass. I bet he has hundreds.

When we made it back to the campground, we learned that while we were gone, the rain came down in a torrential downpour and flooded a few peoples tents. Fortunately, we had left our gear in the car but we were lucky because out tent remained unscathed! Woot! There were, however, about 7 million pinecones that had gotten washed under the tent so I got busy removing those. We put a wool blanket underneath our sleeping pads just in case but the inside of the tent was dry.

We called it an early night since we would be up early in the AM to hit the trail. We managed to get all of our stuff packed and ready to go before crawling into bed. Unfortunately, the people next door decided to have a party into the wee hours of the night. The shrill voice of one of the women was enough to grate on my last nerve. I wanted to throttle her. Rain came again and the soft pitter patter on the tent settled me a bit. I fell asleep listening to the men of the group cursing their way through trying to get a fire started with wet wood. Amateurs.

Tomorrow…we hike.

Backcountry and Bear Lake

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