We arrived at Estes Park on Friday late afternoon and were immediately greeted by this huge fella munching on the side of the road. It wouldn't be the only time during the trip that I asked Alex to keep his eyes on the road.
We stayed at the Estes Park Campground at Marys Lake. We were immediately impressed with the campground, based on it's location/proximity to the Beavers meadow entrance station to RMNP. However, we decided against going in the national park on Saturday, as it was not only the weekend, but the weekend of the Memorial Day holiday. And the weather was fantastic, so we figured it would be packed. Plus we had the rest of the week to make sure we saw/did all the things we wanted to.
So instead we spent the morning at Hermit Park open space, doing what else… biking! Alex and Liam rode Limber Pine while the rest of us waited (and rode the last little section of the trail, over and over).
We then drove back south to Boulder and enjoyed lunch from Lindsay's Deli on the Pearl Street Mall, which is actually a street thru Boulder that is closed to traffic and you can just stroll and shop. And boy were there a lot of people stalling and shopping! After checking out the awesome University Bike shop, we drove a few minutes across town to Valmont Bike Park. This was by far one of our favorite stops of the whole trip. So many reasons; different jump lines, a cute little pump track for Gavin, some beginner mountain bike trails with (beginner) features. I impressed the kids (and myself) by doing a couple of the drops, a skinny and the teeter-totter (and by knowing the names of all of these things!). The highlight though had to be the fateful run-in with a distant friend/former colleague, who I had not seen since 2004! She and her husband moved to Salt Lake City, from the Chicago suburbs way back when and by a crazy twist of fate ended up at the very same bike park, on the very same hill where I was watching Gavin. I made a joke to (what I thought were) the strangers standing next to me about how Gavin had been going in the same circle for at least 3 hours and as we all laughed it occurred to me....I KNOW this woman! Of course I was thrilled to meet their 10 year old son-who had as much love for mountain bikes as our boys-and as they immediately headed off to ride together, I spent the next hour-ish catching up on the last almost 20 years with my long lost friend. We reminisced on how we helped each other thru the difficult times at that job we shared, and how we had been doing since. And while I was sad to say goodbye again, I am so happy for her, for her beautiful family and the beautiful life she is living (now in CO, instead of UT). Who knows, maybe in another 20 our paths will randomly cross again.
Sunday rolled around and we decided to try our luck in RMNP. The weather seemed like it might hold us back a bit, so we didn't want to skip another day with fears of crowds. We lucked out and the entrance lines were short (about 5 cars in each of 3-4 lanes). We also lucked out b/c James was a 4th grader this past year and the national parks have a program called Every Kid Outdoors which gives them/their family free entry! I had also made timed entry reservations for the park as soon as they became available at the beginning of May. Without those reservations, you either have to enter prior to 9am or come in after 3pm.
We drove into Beaver meadows, then along Trail Ridge Rd to Old Fall River Rd over to Alluvian Fan. Afterwards we headed to Sheeps Lake, where we saw a crowd gathering/cars pulling off, so we of course did the same. And were rewarded with a great view of a young bull moose!
We had missed the Bighorn sheep, who came down from the mountain earlier that morning, but the meadow was full of Elk resting.
On Monday we hiked around Lily Lake and checked out the Wild Basin hike to Copeland Falls. These are 2 areas of RMNP that are a bit off the beaten path. Wished we could have gone farther on our Wild Basin hike...but weather was not cooperating, nor was the 4 year old after about 1 mile in.
On Tuesday we woke up and had a family meeting. Our original plans were to stay until Friday and visit RMNP each day. We (read: I) had high hopes of Trail Ridge Rd opening (after the prior snowstorm from a couple weekends ago) but it had not yet done so... (sound familiar from our Pikes Peak plans?). Also, Tuesday night was predicting another 8" of snow in the park. So we decided together to do as much as we could Tuesday morning, go downtown Estes for souvenirs and then head back East before the snow arrived. And so, we entered Bear lake Rd at about 9:30 and headed up to see if we would get lucky and find a parking spot at the trailhead lot to hike around Bear Lake. And the lot was full. And the park ranger at the entrance was turning cars away. But by some stroke of luck, when we pulled up, she waved us thru and said there is at least 1 spot, and we should take it. I 'm not sure she knows this but I love her. We had read that the Bear Lake trail was "accessible" and approx .5 miles around and probably the most popular "hike" in the park. It was a well traveled path but boy were we surprised to find a snow packed/icy trail. But that just make it all the more fun. And the scenery was spectacular. Just look at that reflection.
We then headed to Jr Ranger station so the boys could take their oath to protect RMNP.
When the ranger asked the boys what animals they had seen, I mentioned that we were disappointed to miss the Bighorn Sheep and she said, I just heard on the radio that they are over by Fall River. So of course, we had to hurry on over to give it a shot. And were well-rewarded.
Finally we headed out of RMNP, into downtown Estes Park to make our contribution to the town's economy, by purchasing all our swag! We made it back to the campground to hook up and head out just as the nasty clouds were looming. We did loose our $ for the extra nights we didn't stay in Estes, but I was able to move up our reservations in North Platte, NE and Gretna for the next 2 nights. We made a pit stop at the Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum (SAC) just before arriving at the KOA for our last night away from home. Anyplace with a SR-71A (aka Blackbird) is worth a stop in our books.
We arrive safely back home on Thursday evening. And I've been doing laundry ever since.
Until our next Adventure, love from,
The Triple V
