Let's start with the parking... our plan for the day was a 6.5 mile hike up Deer Mountain in RMNP. We did not get the earliest of starts and we were a bit worried about parking because there is not really much space for this trailhead in the park. So our first bit of luck came early because we scored a prime spot in an official parking space! Now the hike was long... Brian already mentioned this bit in his post earlier today, but what he didn't write about, which we discussed later was how much walking we did by the end of the day. Brian hooked me up with a FitBit Force last Christmas and I enjoy racking up the steps each day. Today was a record setter for my FitBit... 26,500 steps today! This includes our hike up Deer Mountain, a jaunt around Bear Lake and some meandering around the quaint town of Estes Park. This day of major walking for us is second only to our hike up (most of) Mt. Saint Helens a few years back. That was a long hike!
After our hike and a bit of rest time, we decided to venture out again because our time in the park is limited. I had read that Bear Lake was a nice visit and did not involve hiking so we hit the road. On our drive out to Bear Lake we came across a man practically in the street, many cars stopped and realized he was photographing some wildlife... looked to be an elk. Well, we were not really able to stop, but I was excited to see it. Our next bit of major luck came when we arrived at the parking area for Bear Lake. More cars stopped and people on the streets with cameras. I saw the elk and practically dove out of the car to get in the paparazzi mix. It was enormous! You can see in the pictures and video. It was pretty cool. That elk could have cared less that we were all standing there, he just went about his business chomping on the greenery after a brief rainstorm. After he returned to forest, we went on the Bear Lake. This is a very popular destination at RMNP, but some luck for us was that it had been raining and it was now very foggy, so the parking lot was near empty and the lake path was relatively quiet. The foggy part was a bit of a bummer for us as well, but we decided to walk around the foggy lake anyway. Good thing because by the time we were halfway around, the fog was already clearing and near the end I was able to get some lovely photos of the lake with the surrounding tree reflections. Yay!
So, hiking and RMNP time is done for the day and I reminded Brian that we needed to go see the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. A famous, historical hotel and the site of the movie The Shining. It just so happens that we have a movie poster from the shining in our house, so I figured Brian would like to visit this hotel. As we neared the hotel I was thrilled to notice a rainbow and then Brian pointed out that it was a double rainbow! We found a stopping point and I took somewhere close to a million pictures of it! I won't post all of them, I swear. It does not get much luckier than a beautiful double rainbow! I had a thought at that point that we should play the lottery...
Following our trip to the Stanley Hotel, we headed into Estes Park "downtown" to do a brief bit of shopping. You see, when we were waiting in that horrid long line for the Coors Brewery tour I noticed a girl wearing an Estes Park Colorado t-shirt and I really liked it and knew that we were heading here. I was determined to find the shirt. It looked fairly new on her so I figured she had acquired it recently so I thought it would be a piece of cake. It mostly was. We went into a few shops and looked around but didn't see it, so we decided to stop for a bite to eat. Excellent sandwiches at Poppy's Pizza! After dinner we did not have much time left before stores would be closed and Brian was really more interested in heading back to our room, so I said, just one more store... all I needed. There was the shirt!
Tonight was the full moon... quite a lovely day with lots of luck. Hoping to see some big horn sheep, or some bears tomorrow... or both!
No comments:
Post a Comment