Roadtrip 2 - October 2008 - Day 1

Day 1 (Sunday, Oct 26 )

Destination : Rocky Mountain National Trip
Total Round Trip : 260 miles
Hike done : Yes

So, my trip was planned this way. Reach Denver on Sat afternoon, chill-out on Sat taking pictures of sunset at Denver city (ended up taking next to my hotel off Tower Road), visit RMNP on Sunday (all-day), work next week at the DR site, and then off to Utah and Wyoming for the roadtrip.

Recently ordered the 2009 Randy McNally map and 120 best drives in America. Cant say how pleased I am with both these books. Makes your trip so easy. So, took the Peak by Peak scenic highway to RMNP. (I-70W - CO-58W - US-6 - CO-119 - CO-72 - CO-7). Really, a wonderful 2 lane highway covering the peaks of Colorado. specially the stretch of CO-119 and CO-72 was awesome and beautiful. Ups and downs, changes through various elevations, and as usual driving fast (lol). would surely remember this drive. I did not stop anywhere in between as i really wanted to spend time at RMNP.

You know, RMNP really did not appeal m much. First, am going on a trip late fall. Ideally i should have done this fall trip beginning of October. Most of the leaves have withered away. Idea was to do a hike and cover the park inside/out driving. Comparable to Tioga Pass (Yosemite) is a road called Trail Ridge Road which covers the park. Unfortunately the road was closed on the west side (Seasonal closure) and so not much of driving inside the park/mountains

But, but, best thing i did here was a 9 mile hike to Flattop Mountain at Bear Lake. My longest hike ever. I took it pretty light and as expected it was snow all on top of the mountain. I hike from 9000+ feet to 12000+ feet ... Due to cold, my nose started bleeding. I was just in a t-shirt with no gloves or jacket !!! (Heroism paid itself). But i will remember this hike for ever. It was great fun.