Safe and Sound

Thursday, August 12, 2010

The sun is not up as early as in Colorado, but I was still up early and packed up to be on the road by 8am. I had about 700 miles to drive today and wanted to get moving. My Harry Potter Book 7 Audio Book provided the perfect entertainment for the drive and I only stopped briefly at several places for breaks.

My car told me it was over 100 degrees for my whole drive through Texas and I did not stop for photos except for once when I saw the sign to Covington, Texas. I decided to take highway 6 instead of I-45 as I’ve found that interstates are much less interesting to drive on.



I got home with no problems around 6:30pm and the bunnies greeted me with surprise. While I’m sad that my trip is over, I am happy to be home again and very happy to sleep in my own bed.

Thank you for reading my blog. I hope you’ve enjoyed living vicariously through my travels. Eventually I will sort through my photos and post more. I’ve got quite a few good ones.

Trip Stats:
Miles Driven: About 3,275
Photos Taken: About 1,900
Fun Had: Infinite

Where the Deer and the Antelope Play

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

I woke with the sun rising and found myself mostly in the shade. I did indeed have a good camping spot. Sadly, I packed up the tent and realized that this was my last morning to wake up to 60 degree weather. I will miss Colorado. Camping in this state has been quite perfect.



I got an early start on my drive and headed straight for Amarillo, TX and Palo Duro Canyon. I only made some stops along the way for free wifi and to stretch out, but for the most part I wanted to have some time in the canyon to hike and take photos. One of these days I’ll actually have to stop and do something in New Mexico rather than just driving through it.



I had reserved a spot in the park and of course when I showed up it didn’t matter since only about 3 other people were camping in the park. After my previous experiences, I figured it was better to reserve ahead. “The Grand Canyon of Texas” as it is known was very impressive. I’ve never been here before and what I thought would be a small canyon turned out to be 120 miles long, as much as 20 miles wide, and with a maximum depth of more than 800 feet. The elevation at the rim is 3,500 feet above sea level.



The park was formed by water erosion and therefore the road had several water crossings. I found it amusing that instead of mile markers to find yourself on the park map, the low water crossings were all numbered and served as landmarks.
As I drove over a few of the low water crossings, I saw some kids playing in the water. There had been rains the day before, so there was water. Some rain was expected today, but I hoped not overnight as I had no intention of putting the rain-fly on the tent as I’d overheat during the night.

I stopped at one trail and found that they put temperature gauges at the beginnings of the trail to let you know what you are getting in to. This one read 120 degrees. My car was only reading around 104, but I’m sure the 120 was closer to what it would feel like standing in the sun. I decided not to go hiking today. Instead I took photos from the road.



It was a dry heat, and certainly didn’t feel quite as miserable as the humidity I’m used to. I didn’t see any wildlife other than some far away birds and lots of bugs. The horse flies were enormous as were the ants.

I found my campsite and was happy to see the picnic bench was covered. I scouted out the area finding the ant piles and located where my tent would be. The ground was packed too hard for tent stakes, so I decided to just set up the tent before I went to bed and use my weight to keep it down rather than stakes. Plus I could see the rain clouds approaching and I didn’t want to get all my equipment all wet.

While the rains pounded heavily on the roof to the picnic bench, I had lunch and decided what to do the rest of the day. I noticed that before the rain was heavy, the light rain almost evaporated before it hit the ground. I could hear rain, but the ground never seemed to get wet.

The rains cooled off the temperature to around 90 and I drove around looking for photo opportunities and waiting for the golden hour before sunset. I bought tickets to the evening Texas Show in the canyon and then took interval sunset photos as the shadows elongated in the canyon.



The Texas Show was….well it was very Texas proud. The darkness did bring cooler weather to about 80 and the backdrop of the canyon wall created an impressive scene. Before the show began a deer wandered on stage and looked around at the audience. Everyone exclaimed and took out their cameras. I was amused. I enjoyed the clear, starry sky and the lighting on the canyon wall. However, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this show to anyone else. I was glad I went though because all the fireworks at the end and loud bangs through the show would have surely woken me up if I had been asleep in my tent.

I didn’t get back to my campsite until about 11:00pm and was slightly annoyed to see that someone else had grabbed my campsite. We are given campsite numbers when we check in, so no one should have been in the same spot as me, but I’m sure they saw the empty campground and just decided to pick one at random not thinking anyone else would turn up.

I set my camera up to take star photos while I scouted for a somewhat decent tent site. The sky was incredibly clear and starry with no light pollution at all. The stars even twinkled at me, and not just the flying satellites and planes. I saw several meteors, but not frequent enough for photos. I probably should have stayed up later to get a longer star trail, but I knew I was driving the next day, so I put away the camera and went to sleep.

Last day in Colorado

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

We started the morning at the same time as the sun so both Christy and Andie were at the airport by 6:45. I went back to the hotel with very minimal morning rush hour traffic and used as much internet time as possible to update blogs, get an idea of where to go on my trip home and other tasks.

I decided to spend my first night in Colorado Springs, only about 1.5 hours south of Denver. So, I was there in plenty of time to drive through several parks and 3 visitor’s centers before I found an adequate State Park to pitch my tent. I ended up in Cheyanne Mountains State Park. The park is only about a year old and the facilities are wonderful, new, and very clean. I’m not used to such clean bathrooms while camping. My tent site was about a 2 minute walk from the car. I was able to carry everything over in one trip and set up the tent on a raised platform of small gravel rocks that ended up being fairly comfortable to sleep on. I could tell that if it rained, the rocks would act as a sieve to pull the water further down into the soil before pooling under the tent. There were some nice tie-down hooks around the tent site if I needed them.



My goal for the day was to spend sunset in the Garden of the Gods, so now I had the whole day to wander. I drove up to the summit of Pike’s Peak, America’s mountain. Or maybe it was America’s highway. I don’t remember the slogan, but it was funny. The drive had less pull offs that I had hoped for. Anyone who has driven through a park with me knows I love to stop at pull offs and take in the sights. The temperature slowly dropped as I climbed higher and higher. The temp at the bottom was around 85, but by the time I reached the summit it was down to about 48. Luckily my fleece along with everything else was in the car with me, so I was quite comfortable.





I arrived at the summit just in time for the Cogs railway. The railway is alternative to driving. This meant that I had some good photo opportunities at the train pulled in, but it also meant that the summit was quite crowded while I was there. I scrambled on some rocks and looked for photos while all the people were there and then went back up to take my tourist photo at the summit sign after they all left.





The drive down Pike’s Peak allowed for more photo opportunities and I stopped to get some photos of various views and rock formations. At the bottom of a steep downhill slope there was a mandatory brake temperature check and I passed with a temp of 178 degrees. At over 300 degrees, one is required to pull off and stop for 30 minutes to let the pads cool down. I’m very proud of my Prius in the mountains. The Prius really became my friend and companion over the past 2 weeks and I love my car even more now if that’s possible. =)



By the time I got to the bottom of Pike’s Peak, it was time to go stake out my spot in Garden of the Gods for sunset and the photography golden hour of the day. The golden hour is the hour before dusk and the hour after dawn. Those 2 hours of the day provide the best light for any photography anywhere in the world. I was disappointed to see the clouds blocking the coming sunset, but it did make the weather more comfortable for hiking around. I tried to match the rock formations to their names, but I found one rock that looked like a pained old man that appeared to have no name. At least no name seemed to match. I decided to hike to the Siamese Twins for sunset since it wasn’t right off the road and might have less people milling around.



This proved to be a decent plan and I was able to spend the golden hour photographing the Siamese Twins from all angles and catching the deep red of the rock in the setting sun. I also, as usual, became the photographer for various families and couples that came through and wanted a group photo. One family lingered too long and I missed what I considered the best part of the sunset through the hole between the Twins, but I still got many other shots.






I also found a deer that only appeared to have one antler. Upon closer inspection, the other one was growing down his face rather than up into the air. I’m not sure what happened to the poor guy, but I hope the antler doesn’t impede his survival.



I ate dinner in the park and waited around for the stars to shine bright. I figured a rock formation would make an interesting foreground to star trail photography, but the cloud cover was becoming thicker and the light pollution from Colorado Springs was making the stars dim.

So, I headed back to the campsite and to sleep.

History of Denver

Monday, August 9, 2010

Today’s theme revolved around walking to the clock tower, and then back to the hotel. We did this many times throughout the day for various reasons. Lucky that walk is only about 4 blocks.

This morning we had breakfast at Paradise Bakery & Café and then started our Denver tour with Kevin, the tour guide. It was a private tour that gave us the history of Denver. Kevin showed us the small amount of historic buildings in downtown Denver as most have been torn down. We learned how Denver got its start as well as the reasoning behind many street names. The most humorous fact of the day was learning that that blue devil horse at the airport killed its creator when it fell over on top of him. Denver still decided to display the bronco.

Since we had a large breakfast, we drove to the Forney Transportation Museum and marveled at all the old cars, trains, horse carriages, motorcycles, and bicycles. I found it very interesting to learn that the first electric car came out in the early 1900’s and the idea was abandoned soon after. Also, it was fun to see the history of bicycles. They had a train snowplow on display that made me feel tiny and a Model T that we could sit in and pretend to drive.

We intended to eat more crepes for lunch, but they were just closing, so we had a delicious lunch at Ling & Louie’s Asian Bar and Grill. While sitting outside on the patio, we watched an actor do a walking ad for a burrito place. I’ve already forgotten the name, so Andie or Christy will have to remind me. He did many takes of his ad walking up and down the street with varying degrees of animated talking which highly amused us. We did overhear him tell some people that this was an internet only ad. We’ll have to check it out soon.

After lunch we took the free mall bus up to the Brown Palace Hotel, the oldest hotel in the area. They have a self-guided walking tour at the desk and we marveled at all the ornate décor in the lobby. By now it had started to rain and after another brief stop on the mall we had to run back to the hotel.

Tonight was the first that we were inside the hotel for their complimentary wine hour and we played their selection of games including Clue and Scrabble while waiting for the rain to slow. We had a light dinner at Rialto Café and then packed up for we were checking out the next morning.

We will be sad to part ways in the morning and I will be sad to leave the mountains to head back to the Texas heat.

High class day

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Today is Upwardly-Mobiles Day. We started the day off at Yoga on 6th Street. Maryann introduced us to power yoga which takes place in a room heated to 95 degrees or higher.

After getting cleaned up, we started walking down 16th street, Denver’s pedestrian mall and ate lunch at Corner Bakery. We kept walking along 16th and spent some time in the Tattered Cover Bookstore, one of the largest independent bookstores in the US. I found a book with some weird Colorado roadside finds, but not many were on my route back to Texas.

We finished our afternoon walk at Denver’s REI. The location is superb as it is right on the creek with man-made rapids begging to be kayaked and tubed. Apparently the store is the largest in the US, but I couldn’t tell the size difference between this one and the one on Seattle. In any case, I was happy to stop here because they were able to fix my stove by adding some oil to the fuel pump line.

The clouds came rolling in blocking the sun and turning the weather from warm to pleasant. We stood on a bridge and watched the kayakers for a bit and then slowly headed back to the hotel. We took the free mall shuttle back.

Our dinner pick for the evening was Vesta Dipping Grill. Each entrée came with your pick of 3 dipping sauces. There were probably around 30 or more sauces to choose from. Everyone was very satisfied with their meal choices and we even ordered some truffles for dessert. Tonight we splurged and it was tasty.

Our final stop for the evening was at the Impulse Theater underneath the Wykoop Brewing Company. The improve comedy group was so entertaining that we left the theater with aching abs and cheeks from laughing so hard. I highly recommend the Impulse Theater if you are ever in Denver.

Suitemates Do Denver

Sunday, August 8, 2010

This morning started out with a yummy breakfast at Crepes N Crepes where we obviously had crepes! Between the four of us we had a mushroom crepe, a margarita crepe, a spinach and feta cheese crepe, and a strawberry, banana, nutella crepe. We were all happy with our choices.

After breakfast, not having too much time before Maryann needed to head to the airport, we drove over to REI to do some more browsing and then walk along the river through Confluence Park and into Commons Park. REI sits right on the river in front of some man-made rapids that people like to kayak and tube down. We watched several people bike, jog, and walk their dogs along the path on both sides of the river and we played some card games.

It was sad to end our relaxing afternoon and go to the airport. Then, Christy, Andie, and I drove back to Boulder in preparation for our evening King Lear tickets on the campus of the University of Colorado at Boulder. I am in love with Boulder as an outdoorsy town full of active people. Every shop has a bike rack full of bikes, and everyone is out and about.

We walked along Pearl Street pedestrian mall and had a wonderful snack/lunch/early dinner at Boulder Café. It was happy hour and appetizers were half price so we shared a cheddar cheese fondue and tasty spinach dip.

The campus of University of Boulder was fun to tour and we ended up at the Shakespeare Theater area where they had a whole theme going. Outside they were serving food and had people dressed up in their Renaissance best and playing music. We had to walk through a building to get to the outdoor theater which was situated in a courtyard sided by four buildings. It was very Shakespearean. We arrived early enough to hear the prologue talk given by one of the main guys in charge of the production. He gave us a brief introduction to the characters, the story, the history of the play, and more. It was very interesting information and quite useful while watching.

King Lear was long and we didn’t get back to our hotel until about 10:30pm where we had a light snack and headed to bed.

Mountains Seasonings

Friday, August 6, 2010

After a late night last night we all slept in this morning. Then plan today was to head to Boulder for some hiking and a tea tour, but we needed breakfast first. The hotel staff jumps to help us, so we asked for a breakfast recommendation.

Brueggers Bagels proved to be a great breakfast choice and we were all able to get something to fill us up. We headed to Boulder and went to Celestial Seasonings for their tea tour. The place was more packed with people than we had anticipated and their on the hour, ever hour tour started at 12:30 for us. While we waited for our tour, we were given small tea cups to sample their teas, both hot and ice.

The tour started with a short movie and then we put on our hair nets, and beard nets for the guys and headed into the factory. We were able to walk right along the equipment, see the bags of seasonings in storage and enter the peppermint room. The peppermint room, as you might guess, holds all the peppermint, spearmint, and wintergreen and has to be in an enclosed room otherwise you’d smell the mint a mile away. Anyway, we went in and my sinuses instantly cleared. It was amazing. I’m going to have to get some peppermint tea to use when my allergies are bad.

After the tour, we drove to Chautauqua Park for an easy 3-mile hike. Well, the visitor’s center promised an easy hike. The first part of the hike was easy and was part of an extensive trail system intended mostly for joggers, dog walkers, and walkers. When it started to rain, we found a shelter and hung out while the rain passed. In the meantime, Maryann taught us some basic yoga moves in preparation for our yoga class tomorrow.

The rain passed in 30 minutes and we headed up the trail to Royal Arch. This trail proved to be challenging and was complete with many switchbacks and some minor rock scrambling to get to the arch. Three quarters of our group made it to the arch, though, and we were treated we a beautiful birds eye view of Boulder through the arch.

Back down the mountain, we headed to a restaurant named Sherpa’s in Boulder. This place was a perfect end to the day. The porch seating was cool in the shade and breeze and the food was terrific. It was somewhat of an Indian/Thai mix of food choices served by servers who could have been from Nepal.

We drove back to Denver, got some groceries for the room, and had some gelato in the restaurant downstairs. Overall it was a good, but tiring day.

Carbon Footprint Day

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Today was a rather mundane day and I had to remind myself several times why I had to leave the park to go back to Denver to pick up my roommates. I spent the morning at the campsite trying to dry out my rain fly and ground tarp as best I could.

In Estes Park I found a laundromat/shower that served my purposes perfectly and was next to the Safeway so I could run my errands while the laundry was going. I also found a place that made the best raspberry smoothie I’ve ever had.

After all my personal errands, I shopped at the Estes Park downtown shops and then drove to Denver. Hotel Monaco in Denver is extremely welcoming and the staff is all jumping to serve the customers. I was able to get our reservation upgraded to a two-bed room with no problem. The hotel is pet friendly with a dog food bowl and water in the lobby. The room is very large, too. Soon after checking in, I left to go pick up Christy and Andie at the airport. We had quite an experience getting both of them in my car, but after a little bit we were off to go find dinner.

The Denver airport claims to be the largest in the US at 53 square miles. Most of that is open space though. The road to the airport was about 10 miles long and when I started seeing signs for the terminal, my car told me I was still 8 miles away. The airport also has some interesting works of art out front. First I saw what might have been 3 sculptures of white clouds. Then I saw the blue bronco with the demonic red-lit eyes.

We had dinner at Tita’s Restaurant which was a little hole in the wall Caribbean joint. They had a DJ and by the end of the night everyone was up and salsa dancing. The food was very good and the atmosphere was definitely entertaining.
Back at the hotel we tried to stay awake until Maryann’s delayed flight got in around one in the morning. It was a travel day for us all, but it was good to finally be together again for our annual roommate reunion. This is our 7th year of continuing our annual tradition and our 10th/11th year anniversary of knowing each other.

Hiking

Wednesday, August 04, 2010

I did indeed wake up early enough for the sunrise this morning. I went to Sprague Lake to take photos of the sunrise and reflections in the lake. The lake is perfectly flat this early in the morning and reflects the surrounding mountains like a mirror. I saw several other photographers with their tripods out and about, and there were even more people out with just a camera.

We all could not get over the beauty of the lake in the morning. It is so hard to describe what I saw. There was a lingering mist over a portion of the lake, and the light was just starting to shine through the morning cloud cover. Only the tops of the mountains in the distance were bright from the sunlight and there were bands of light across the trees in front of the mountains. The cloud cover made interesting designs and all of this was reflected perfectly in the lake.

The trail around the lake was 0.5 miles and I moved all the way around. The morning had started out a crisp 46 degrees, but now that the sun was out it had warmed up into the 60s.

I drove up to the Glacier Gorge Trailhead around 7:15am and got one of the last 3 parking spots available. The hiker shuttle starts at 7:30 and my plan was to take the shuttle up to Bear Lake and then hike back down to my car.

While waiting for the shuttle, I had a good chat with the ranger about the hike I was about to do. I had a couple options based on time because I wanted to be down off the mountain by 1pm so that I could chat with Mark.

Once up at Bear Lake, this most popular hike in the park was already teeming with people. I hiked about 6 miles total from Bear Lake to Nymph Lake to Dream Lake to Emerald Lake, then down to Alberta Falls and back to the car. The hike to all the lakes was uphill, so it was slow going, but I took breaks and took photos along the mountain stream I was following that connected all the lakes. Nymph Lake was covered with lily pads and their yellow flowers. Past the lake I found a good spot to take sunrise photos should I decide to wake early again tomorrow. By the time I got to the other lakes, the sun was high and the light was too harsh for decent photos. The lakes were indeed pretty, but I have to say that I enjoyed the hike more than the lakes. I’ve been to some more magnificent lakes in other National Parks, so these just didn’t compare. However, there were lots of places along the hike to see the wildflowers growing along the stream, and find places of shade to hang out in and set up my tripod.

I decided to skip a loop hike to another two lakes due to time restraints and went back to the parking lot and my car. Bear Lake started at 10,000 feet and the rest of the trail ascended higher. So, I was happy to see the car at the end of the hike and take a break.

I was impressed that even when I got down to the visitors center with the wifi it hadn’t started raining yet. I had some time before Mark came on so I had a good chat with Christy and Laura and worked on photos and the blog. Thanks for all the email responses, too. I enjoyed reading them.

It started raining about 2pm even after such a clear morning. While I was chatting with Mark it started hailing! The hail was about a quarter inch in diameter and came down so fast and so hard that the ground was soon covered in white little balls of hail. It looked like snow. When I went for a drive later, the hail definitely looked like snow as the roads and sides of the roads were covered in white. It was the most impressive hail storm I’ve ever seen. We don’t really get hail in Houston, so it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a hail storm.

I waited until the hail turned back to rain and then lessened enough to dash to my car and then decided to drive up Old Fall River Road again hoping to escape the rain. I stopped by Sheep Lake again, but still no sheep. None had been spotted now for several days and the ranger told me that sometimes they go even 11 days without coming down. He said the best place to see sheep was to go to Milner Pass and hike a 2 mile route there that went into bighorn country. In fact, the hike just opened on August 1st due to sheep activity. Also, he mentioned moose are usually on the west side of the park if I wanted to try for a moose sighting.

Old Fall River Road did not prove to get me out of the rain, and I didn’t really make any stops along the road. By the time I got to the top of the mountain, the rain had abated and there were several bull elk on the side of the road begging to be photographed. I have to say that the most prominent animal I’ve seen in the park has been the elk.

I stopped at Milner Pass on the way down to the west side of the park, but it was so cold and windy that I had no interest in hiking at that moment. I continued on and the drive along the west side of the park was uneventful. The west side mostly consists of a long straight road between the mountains and a wide valley with a meandering stream. The speed limit was 45, so I kept pulling off to allow people by so that I could drive slower and spot a moose. No moose were spotted.

I drove back up the mountain and decided to go ahead and hike Milner Pass. I got out of the car and put on all the warm clothing I brought including hat, gloves, and 2 fleece shirts. I packed up all my photo gear and started off The Crater hike.

The Crater hike ended up being a wonderful choice of hikes. It was one mile straight up the mountain. It actually reminded me of the Appleton Pass hike we took in Olympic NP. I startled a deer on the way up. I was hiking around a bend and all of a sudden a deer head pops up and gave me a very confused look. When I got to the top I was on the top of the pass and looking down into a crater. I was now in bighorn sheep country and not permitted to pass a certain point.

Unfortunately there were no bighorn sheep, but the views were magnificent in all directions and I decided this would be a magnificent place to stay for sunset. I was glad I brought my tripod and I sat down to wait.

I knew sunset was at 8:30, but around 8, I decided that it would really be better to head down the mountain early. I wasn’t really looking forward to hiking in the dark on my own even though I had my headlight.

On the way down the mountain I startled a bull elk that was grazing on my trail down. It was too dark for photos, but I took some anyway.

Finally down the mountain it was dark and I drove back to camp, had dinner and went to bed rather late.

Scenic Driving

Tuesday, August 03, 2010

The sun tried to wake me up this morning, but since I had gone to bed late, I slept in late. Late while camping is about 8:30am. =) Mostly I finally woke up because the 3 little kids next door to be were running around yelling and it wasn’t worth trying to sleep through them.

I decided to drive along Old Fall River Road today. Old Fall River Road is a one way dirt road up hill to the Alpine Ranger Station and Visitor’s Center. Then, I’d come back along Trail Ridge Road. This proved to be an excellent way to spend my day for many reasons. I saw lots of wildlife, escaped the afternoon rains, and met some interesting people.

First, on the way to Old Fall River Road, I found a pair of coyote walking along the road I was on. I was able to take pictures and then pull over and get out of the car for more photos. At one point they were so close that I thought about getting back in the car. =) Then, they turned down a second road and on a whim, I decided to follow them. I’m glad I did. I followed them until they decided to lay down in the grass and lounge right next to a parking area. I met some people while photographing the coyotes. They were a family from Nebraska and all had a camera. The older man was the photographer with a large telephoto lens. The older woman was a hobbyist with a small DSLR. And the teenage boy that was with them was out having fun with his point and shoot. We had a good chat while taking photos.
After the coyotes crested the hill and out of sight, I headed towards Sheep Lake where I arrived just in time for a ranger talk about the bighorn sheep in the area. Apparently there is this one stretch of road that was really just built in the wrong spot. The sheep live up on the mountain, but have to come down to this Sheep Lake to eat the mud and get their nutrients. Well, to get to the lake crosses the road. There is a group of volunteers called the Sheep Brigade that volunteer here 7 days a week to make sure the sheep stay safe as they cross the road. They watch for sheep and then stop the cars so the sheep can pass. It’s very similar to watching school traffic guards at duty. I also learned a great deal about sheep from a ranger who knew how to give a talk. He did an excellent job of telling us all about the bighorn sheep while using the metaphor of the St. Louis Rams football team. In fact, I can now tell you all about sheep by thinking of a football team. It was really an excellent way to teach. Anyway, no sheep had been spotted for the last two days and I didn’t stick around to see if one was coming today because I wanted to get on my way before the rains.

Old Fall River Road was a marvelous drive. There were many things to stop and see along the way and everyone was driving just as slow as I like to drive when I’m in the wilderness. I stopped off at the Falls for lunch and also for photos. I actually took of my shoes and waded into the stream for one of my photos. It was freezing cold! My feet were completely numb when I came out. I sure hope that photo turned out well.

I was able to get an excellent photo of a bird who just stood on a rock until I was about arms reach away to take its photo. I saw so much wonderful scenery that it will be hard to pick out the best photos from the drive. When I got near the top of the mountains, it was now cloudy and 55 degrees outside and I was chilly. I got some marvelous panoramas at the top of a rock outcrop that showed a 360 view of the valleys below. At this point the sun came out as well and made interesting cloud shadows on the far mountains. I could see that on the East side of the park it was dark and stormy, but the west side was sunny.

At the Alpine Visitor’s Center, I was able to get spotty cell reception and I was hoping to get in touch with Mark for our schedule call, but I was unable to even send a text message to him letting him know I had services. Oh well. In the meantime I was 12,000 feet up and enjoying the view.

On the way down the mountain I traveled along Trail Ridge Drive. The road is being repaved this summer, and I indeed found the section of the road with the construction traffic. However, I pulled off to sit and wait for the line of cars at Lava Cliffs. After I had been there a while, I noticed a small herd of elk on the mountain side across from me. Too far for photos, but fun to watch.
At the Rainbow Curve pull off I sat looking off into the valley that holds Estes Park and my campsite. I could see that it was still raining down there, though I was high and dry in the afternoon for the first time since I got here. The views were magnificent, but unfortunately at this stop all the visitors were feeding the chipmunks who were begging for food. I was disgusted to see people actually encouraging the chipmunks to crawl in their laps and beg for the food they offered. I was trying to work up the courage to say something, but someone else said something before I got there. It didn’t change anything. Anyway, while I sat there trying to get a photo of the running pika down on the rocks below, a few chipmunks crawled in my lap to beg ME for food. I told them that I would not feed them as it was illegal, and harmful to them. The chipmunk didn’t listen, but headed down to find someone else who would acknowledge his cuteness.

By now it was after 4pm and it still wasn’t raining! Or at least it wasn’t raining where I was, so I decided to go see if the elk were still in the Moraine area. On the way I met an amateur photographer who latched on to me and decided to follow me where I went to see what I was getting photos of.

The elk were not in the area, but a coyote showed up again. This was the third coyote today! I didn’t hang around for more pictures since I already had some and I decided to chase the light and hope to get some photos in the golden light of late day/sunset.

While chasing the light, the clouds rolled in and it started to rain. =( I decided to keep moving and then the rain turned to hail, and then back to rain again. I gave up finding a sunset today and headed back to my campsite early. It was still raining, so I ate dinner in the car and typed up some blog entries while waiting for the rain to stop long enough that I could get in my tent.

Finally, I was able to get in my tent and I was in my sleeping bag before 9pm in anticipation of waking early for a sunrise tomorrow.

Grouse, waterfalls, and Elk, oh my!

Monday, August 02, 2010

I woke up early this morning. During the night I had woken up several times because I was cold, but synching the mummy sleeping bag around my head so that only my nose and mouth were showing helped keep me warm.

There is not much to do at camp in the morning, so I headed off towards the Fern Lake Trail. The dirt road was full of potholes, but nothing my Prius couldn’t swerve around. It reminded me a lot of a dirt road we took in Olympic National Park. The scenery was interesting, but there weren’t many places to pull over and take photos. At one point since there wasn’t anyone else on the road, I just stopped and took some photos from the road.

Fern Lake Trail proved to be pretty, but buggy as the whole hike was along a stream. Luckily my Off worked well and I escaped without too many bites. I brought my tripod, camera, lunch, and rain gear, so I was a little loaded down. However, I was happy for everything that I brought. I used the tripod the whole time to take lots of water photos. I found little critters to photograph, like chipmunks, squirrels, and various birds. I photographed flowers and bugs, too. I was hiking, not for speed, but for photos, and many people passed me.

At one point I was really lucky to turn my head towards a bird chirping to find a very large grouse (of some variety, Blue Mountain was a guess) just sitting on a log. The chirping sound was a hummingbird that was sitting nearby. Well over the course of about 30 minutes watching these birds, I was able to come quite close. Also, the humming bird hung around the whole time and the grouse never took a step. I was all of a sudden an expert on birds of the forest and everyone stopped to see what I was taking photos of. I noticed a second grouse under some branches, as well, but it was too hidden for photos. Eventually I moved on.

After 1.7 miles of hiking I came upon the first destination of the hike, The Pool. Everyone was here! It was noon and everyone had stopped for lunch at this beautiful spot. However, it was too crowded for me and I hiked on hoping to stop on the way back.

At this point in the hike, I did notice the rain clouds brewing in the distance, and I decided to keep hiking and use my rain gear if it did start to rain. It may be true all the time, but at least this week, the weather promises sun in the morning and then rain all afternoon and into the evening.

The hike at this point left the stream I was following and started following another stream. I stopped to take photos of a large, unnamed waterfall. At first I was curious if this was my destination (Fern Falls), but the mileage on my GPS told me it couldn’t me.

After another mile of hiking past The Pool, I found Fern Falls which was indeed impressive. Now that the clouds had rolled in, I waited around for the sun to go behind a cloud so I could get a good slow shutter speed photo of the falls. As I waited, I became the official photographer of the falls for every group and couple that came by. Finally the sun went behind the clouds and I got my photos in. Then, I decided to head back since the clouds were getting dark.

On the way back, I didn’t get as many photos because it did start to rain and I had to put the camera away. I did see a couple good photo opportunities, but with the camera stowed, I didn’t feel like setting it up again. This is why I love my new hiking method of using straps connected to my hiking backpack to hold my camera always out and ready while I hike. Unless it’s raining of course.

It was after 3 by the time I reached my car and starting to rain hard. I drove out to find a good place to eat some more of my lunch as the hike left me starving. I decided to stop and eat in the car at a location where I was yesterday. Yesterday, I saw Elk in the area so I was hoping to spot them while I ate. Well, no dice. But, after I ate and relaxed in my car (since it was raining), I drove another 500 feet down the road and there were all the elk! Haha. They were just around the bend. And there was an even bigger traffic jam than there was yesterday. The elk were much closer to the road and everyone was out taking photos even in the rain. I did see a ranger keeping an eye on people which made me happy as yesterday people were just hiking off the road to get to the elk. I grabbed a few photos myself since I saw some young bulls in the mix of cows. But, when I decided to leave, I saw two elk fighting each other, up on their hind legs. By the time I pulled over and got the camera, they were done. Oh well.

At this point, after a long hike in the morning, I wasn’t interested in much more hiking and the rain was not going to let up any time soon. So, I went into town to see if I could get my stove fixed and also pick up a few more provisions. I found an outfitter shop that offered to look at my stove. He took it out back and, surprise, it lit up just find for him. He was very helpful and told me that I needed to pump up the stove before lighting it. I assured him that I had pumped it more than enough times when I tried. Well, I guess he has the magic touch. So, feeling slightly silly, I took my stove back and was glad I’d have a warm dinner tonight.

It was still raining, so I went to the Beaver Meadow Visitor’s Center to charge my computer, type up some more of my journal, and use the wifi. I spent well over an hour getting the journal typed up, photos downloaded, and set several journal entries to start automatically posting once a day. So, hope you enjoy!
When I went back outside it had finally stopped raining, but it was too early to go to camp and go to bed. Actually, what I really wanted to do was see if I could find a sunset. So, I decided to head up Trail Ridge Road and see what I could see. It was definitely dusk as I headed up and I found a small group of 3 older bull elk laying around for photos. As I was stopped on the road taking photos, I got a knowing smile from an approaching car and a small wave of invitation to go farther up the road. Well, good thing I was there just then because a much larger herd of bull elk were crossing the road! Wow, what a sight! I couldn’t take enough photos. Luckily everyone else was taking photos as well because there was no pull off to stop the car and we were just stopping up the road. I was not in the right position to get the photo I really wanted, and I couldn’t exactly leave my car to move around. But, still I was happy.

Then, I drove a little further and found a parking lot with a small trail leading off. The views were spectacular, so I took my tripod and camera to take photos of the clouds hugging the mountains. I turned and saw that the elk were headed in my direction. So, I thought I’d see if I could hike back down the road to get a photo. But then, I turned around and saw that there was going to be an actual sunset! I had given up hope since there were just too many clouds. But for about 5 minutes the sky was red and gorgeous and I ran back the other way to get photos of the sunset instead.

Now it really was getting dark and I still hadn’t eaten dinner. It was probably about 9pm too. So, I decided that I was in a pretty area and had enough light to cook my dinner. Well, wouldn’t you know….I couldn’t get the stove to light. I figured it was probably too windy anyway, so I headed back down the mountain towards camp. By now it was pitch dark at camp, and I still couldn’t get the stove to light. I worked on getting that stove lit until I finally was too frustrated and gave up. Oh well. Good thing I bought some food that didn’t have to be cooked at the store today. I had my dinner and headed to bed. I won’t bother with the stove anymore this trip. It’s not worth it. My only guess is that it does not work due to elevation as town was a lower elevation and I had been able to make it work for me previously this trip.

Camping in RMNP

Sunday, August 1, 2010

I woke today to the sun streaming through the passenger window. I checked to make sure it wasn’t a photographic sunrise, then I checked the time….6:10am. Ugh, too early still. I fell back asleep and was soon awakened by the sun right in my face! Only 7:30am, but it’s too sunny and now warm to stay in the car.
I took advantage of the wifi here at Beaver Meadows Visitor’s Center and at 8:00am I was inside inquiring about campground status’s. They were just getting the report and luckily there were “some” spots open at the Glacier Basin Campground. Woohoo!

Entering the park proved to be time consuming with the lines of cars at the 4 entry booths. This reminded me of Six Flags or Disney Land. I know the place is popular! Then at Glacier Basin Campground there was another line of cars to get in. We waited there for more than 10 minutes and I’m guessing the ranger was not at the booth. Finally I secured my campsite for the next 4 nights.
The campsite is very roomy and quite nice for a first-come, first-serve site. I was able to get one in the shade, even. I noted in passing that most people had those multi-room walk in tents and pop-up shelters next to it over the picnic bench, but I only had my 2-person tent. After setting up and getting the car organized again, I started down the road just planning to stop when I felt like it.

I found a stream alongside the road that was littered with rocks, boulders, fallen trees, and all kinds of natural debris to create rapids. I walked along with my tripod and took advantage of the cloudy weather to get photos of the moving water.
I also stopped at Hollowell Park area which was pretty much deserted. I had a peaceful lunch and watched the birds in the trees and admired the meadow in front of me.

At the Moraine Visitor’s Center I got some advice on waterfall locations and learned about the Rocky Mountains in their museum displays. The museum was just the upper floor of the ranger center with several displays, but was informative and not swarming with kids. I also looked around their artist area and got some inspiration for photography in the park. One photo was of the moraine area just across the way. As it started drizzling I walked along the creek looking for good photo opportunities to make note of to come back when it wasn’t so wet.
While walking I looked up and saw a herd of animals a little distance away. I thought, elk! Then I remembered there was a stable nearby and those were probably just horses. I watched and this was definitely a herd of animals not horses guiding people. I debated hiking towards them along the creek to get a closer view or driving to a road I saw in the distance. I decided to drive over and found a good place to pull over for a good view. This was indeed a herd of elk, cows to be exact. I watched and took pictures and slowly the whole road filled up with cars all parked on the side of the road. People were streaming from their cars and holding cameras just walking out across the meadow towards the elk. I believe the park has a policy about staying on the trail, and this act of pure tourism at its worst took away from my moment with the elk. We had an all out “elk jam” on the road much like the “bear jams” in Yellowstone Park. I marked the spot to see if they were here later and I decided to head back out to the Beaver Meadow Visitor’s Center for some wifi.

Having secured a campsite already, I planned to be lazy today. Plus the threatening rain made sitting at the Visitor’s Center with my laptop sound like a good plan. I was able to talk to Mark for awhile and upload my photos to the computer.

My only real plan for today was to find a good spot for sunset photos and the Bear Lake area was recommended. So, up the windy road, through the rain I went.
At Bear Lake the parking lot was nearly empty as everything had left due to the rains. It was raining pretty hard and not really worth getting out, so I read my book and listened to the rain. Finally, I decided that it was time to go hiking in the rain. It’s been a while since I’ve worn full rain gear and I’m glad I have it.

Bear Lake has a short nature trail that loops around the lake and I meandered around it. I felt free with no bag, no tripod, nothing in my hands. However, I also kept stopping at wonderful photo opportunities and wishing I had brought my gear.

I watched the rain falling in a puddle and though about what settings I would use on my camera to capture the ripples. I watched the clouds flow over the surrounding mountain peaks and thought about how great those would look in a photo. I saw the section of trees that was multi-colored looking almost like fall because the Mountain Pine Beetles have killed so many trees in the area. I sat for a while in a most beautiful scene of dripping water, droplets holding stubbornly onto pine needles, and grasses stretched like long fingers across the edges of the lake underwater. At one point I even considered going back for gear, but instead I sat and just watched. I saw a weasel of some sort dart down the trail. I watched chipmunks play. I looked at the beautiful panorama even through the rain. The grass that was stretched just under the surface of the water reminded me of the inferi in the Harry Potter books. I just finished Book 6 on audio book over the thousand miles up here and I’m sure that’s why I was reminded.

I emerged from the lake trail and noted that the temperature was 52 at the ranger station. Brr, no wonder I’m comfortable in 3 layers. =)
I couldn’t think of anything else to do in the rain at the moment and still had hopes that it would stop before sunset. So, now I’m typing up my journal under an overhang as it rains while a chipmunk races around my feet hoping for food.
The rain slowed down, but there was no hit of clouds clearing for sunset. So, I headed back to camp early to make dinner and head to bed. I was very disappointed that my camp stove would not light tonight. I don’t know if it’s broken or if it’s just me. I’ll take it into town tomorrow.

Sand Gets Everywhere

Saturday, July 31, 2010

It’s not raining! I was very happy to wake up to dry weather, though still cloudy. As I waited for the Oasis store and camp headquarters (the private campsite I arrived at last night) to open I walked around and took some landscape photos, noticing the fog sitting on the side of the mountain where the campsites were supposed to be. The car wasn’t amazingly comfortable, but I was happy to hot have wet gear.

I had a marvelous shower at the Oasis facilities and then proceeded on to Great Sand Dunes National Monument. I was rather shocked at the $3 entrance fee that would last the whole week!

The park is rather large, with only a portion of the park containing the sand dunes. I didn’t realize the park included forested trails as well. But I’m not here for trees, I’m here for sand.

At only 10am it was feeling toasty under the sun which had escaped the clouds. I realized that I could wear shorts as there would be no tall grasses to brush my legs as I hiked passed and I headed into the sand. Hiking on sand is similar to snowshoeing because there are no trails and you do not harm the environment by walking your own path. However, everyone was headed to the highest sand dune where a 360-degree view of the surrounding area was promised by the visitor’s center. So, that’s where I was going to.

I immediately noted that the dampish sand was much easier to walk on than the sand dunes I walked on it Australia. In Australia, we took a trip through sand dunes to go sand toboganning which was simply sliding, head first, down the dune on a long piece of wood that was waxed. I remember in AU, each stem up the dune was like taking one step up and sliding half a step down. It was an insane climb! Well, with this somewhat damp, though rapidly drying sand, it was much easier to step. What got me most was the altitude. We were about 7,500 feet up and my Houston lungs needed frequent breaks as I hiked in the sand for 1.5 miles up 750 feet across several dunes.

I had fun both enjoying the landscape and people watching. The dunes were gorgeous. The sand in some places was rippled by wind and the clouds made interesting shadows on the dunes. I took many, many photos while I breathed heavily during my breaks. The people were interesting as well. I saw little toddlers playing in the sand as if it were a beach. I saw 8 year old boys sprinting past their parents who were calling after them in huffs and puffs. Many people carried sleds in order to slide down much like I went sand toboganning in AU. The sleds ranged from cardboard (which the ranger station said wasn’t the best) to plastic snow sleds, to tops of coolers, to obviously special boards meant to slide on sand. But the most memorable was a group of teenagers who were climbing to the top. The oldest was carrying a snowboard and boots! The others had plastic snow sleds. They heaved their way up the dune chanting, or more descriptively, gasping the words: “I’m alive. I’m alert. And I feel great!” I have to say that that chant stuck in my head too as I climbed to the top.
At the top of the tallest dune, I found many people sitting in the sand relaxing. I was very impressed by the view of all the sand dunes in the distance. I was impressed by spots of white who were obviously humans out there hiking through all that sand. I was even more impressed when a family arrived that all knew gymnastics. Down a slight incline, they all did backflips, roundoffs, and other amazing stunts while we all watched and clapped. Amazing! And to do it down an incline of sand! Of course many people were scouting out areas to slide down and the slides looked quite thrilling into deep pits of sand that then had to be scaled to get out.

Finally, I left. Coming down the dune was much easier than going up, but my hiking boots were full of sand by the time I reached the bottom! I dumped as much sand as possible in the parking lot, had lunch, and then started on my drive north.
Most of today’s 300 miles drive to Rocky Mountain National Park will be on interstate 25 which means less stops. I did stop when I saw a lightning storm in the distance, but was still out of the rain. I tried to get a photo, but never did get lucky. Oh well, I will eventually find a storm to photograph. I listened to the rest of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I reached Colorado Springs and Denver around 5p and just in time for the evening traffic. Oh well. I looked at my navigation and was excited to see that I was very likely to arrive in the park before dark. Setting up the tent in light is much easier than in the dark!
I did indeed arrive in Estes Park before dark and boy was it crowded! There was some horse show this weekend and the fairgrounds were full of RVs and horse trailers. In fact, the whole town was fully of RVs in various private campgrounds. I’ve never seen so many in one place before. Also, everyone was out on the town. The small town’s sidewalks were so stuffed with people that I was reminded of New York City.

At the Beaver Meadows Visitors Center just outside the park I was disappointed to find out that the campgrounds were all full. I knew it would be popular as there were no reservations available online and only the first-come, first-serve camping was available. I had arrived too late, however. The ranger told me about some overflow camping 13 miles away around the side of the park and I headed off in that direction to find it full as well. On my way back I stopped everywhere looking for a tent site vacancy, or even an Inn vacancy to no avail. Finally I came back to Beaver Meadows Visitor Center at least to get ready for bed and consider sleeping in my car again.

I bumped into a ranger who was checking up on the area and he told me that indeed though I was not allowed to sleep in this parking lot in my car, that other people did it all the time and I should too. He told me that the rangers would stop patrolling in just an hour and if one stopped me I was to say “I’m sorry, but I’ve been driving all day and I am afraid of getting in an accident if I drive anymore.” Apparently that’s the secret pass code. This was quite true as I was exhausted. Luckily no rangers came to patrol the area and I even found a more comfortable spot to sleep in the car. The nightly weather was in the 50s, so with my sleeping bag as a cover, I was quite comfortable in the car.

Driving through Texas

Friday, July 30, 2010
I opened my eyes to a beautiful sunrise! Wow, my breath was taken away as I noticed my tent faced the rising sun over the lake. The orange ball of fire begged to have its picture taken, but my camera was in the car, so I settled for some iphone photos.

I was up much earlier than expected (around 7am) and was able to pack up the campsite before my scheduled phone call with Mark. He was able to call my cell phone using his skype service and we managed to talk for a while before the reception got too bad.

Then, I was on my way, back on 287 going towards Amarillo. I passed the signs for Palo Duro Canyon State Park which Mark had recommended, but I thought that if I kept going, I had a chance to reach Great Sand Dunes National Monument in Colorado before dark, so I kept going. I did have to turn off the road to go see the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame and Museum.

Then, I saw Cadillac Ranch on the left side of the road and just had to turn around and go back to see it. I’ve heard of it and seen photos and I wanted to see it for myself. Unfortunately it was the middle of the day, so the harsh mid-day sun did not provide the best lighting for photos. But, you get what you get. I noticed that most people arriving brought spray paint cans to add to their own graffiti to the ten graffiti-covered cars that are half-buried, nose-down, facing west "at the same angle as the Cheops' pyramids."

I was excited to see the sign that I was leaving Texas and entering New Mexico. I was at the very north western most corner of the Texas panhandle and entering Mountain Time Zone. New Mexico was a short drive compared to crossing Texas and I only briefly stopped at a few places for rests. Then, I arrived in Colorado.
I’ve never been to Colorado in the summer and really have only been to Steamboat Springs for skiing. So, I was excited to be here in the state that hosts adventure, a multitude of national parks, the Rocky Mountains, and so much more. There is so much in this state that I want to do, but my main destination is Rocky Mountain National Park, so I will head there instead of going everywhere. =)
My goal was to hit the Great Sand Dunes National Monument before dark so that I could secure a campsite and set up my tent in the light. However, I came across a lightning storm in the distance and just had to stop before I entered the storm to try and take some photos. I thought for sure I’d be able to get a photo of lightning, but after spending a good amount of time trying and not succeeding, I decided to continue on.

I drove through a crazy storm to get to the park. While I was inside the storm I wished I could somehow take photos of the lightning because there was quite a show. Finally I passed through the worst of the storm and arrived at Great Sand Dunes NM after dark and in the rain. The campground was full. =( I drove out a little ways to a private campsite just outside the park that offered tent camping. However, it was dark, raining and their sign said that the road to the campsites had been washed out from the heavy rains and to go carefully. I decided to skip that in the dark.

I didn’t have much choice at this point. I could drive many miles to the nearest town, or I could just sleep in my car. So, I did. It wasn’t so bad and it was pleasant to be out of the rain while I slept. I do love my Prius as so much stuff fits in it and it is quite a versatile little car. Well, it works pretty well as a bed, too. Good thing I’m small.

Spontaneous Travel

Thursday, July 29, 2010

And so it begins. I am looking forward to this road trip. I am planning on being spontaneous for one week before I meet my college roommates in Denver, CO for our annual roommate reunion. I put my tent and sleeping bag in the car and I have no reservations to be anywhere until August 5th. My adventure starts today.
The drive north is so far mundane and uneventful. I started listening to Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and this passes the driving time on I-45 quite nicely. Only when I exit 45 and go towards Fort Worth am I on roads I’ve never driven before.

In Fort Worth I passed a 7-Eleven and immediately exited to turn around and go back for my slurpee. Unfortunately my exit took me far out of the way and in attempts to get back to where I had been before I passed another 7-Eleven. =) That works for me. Slurpees are not available in Houston and have always been a part of our visits to Dallas.

After Fort Worth, I traveled northwest on US 287. For the most part I drove straight through looking forward to leaving the heat of Texas, but I did stop at rest stops to use the wifi and take frequent breaks. Most of the rest stops along this route had signs warning to watch for rattlesnakes.

As sunset approached, I exited US 287 to find a good spot for a photograph. I did find a decent spot with little passing traffic to set up my tripod.

With darkness approaching, I started watching for camping signs. I saw a sign for Lake Arrowhead State Park near Wichita Falls and decided to take a chance on it. Luckily, the park did offer overnight camping and was fairly empty. I drove around in the darkness looking for a decent campsite and found one that I knew I didn’t want. There were two skunks fighting each other with tails raised and everything! It was too dark for photos, and I moved on.

When I did locate a campsite, I was happy to note that I was in a nice open area perfect for taking star pictures. While taking star photos, a skunk wandered by and I spent the whole night worried about skunks. The moon rose over the lake, dark orange, and about three quarters full. There was a nice breeze which cooled the temps down into the high 70s and I had a wonderful night camping in Texas. Usually Texas camping involves sweating on top of a sleeping bag. Tonight was perfect temperature. Clear skies and no rain meant no rain fly on my tent, too, so I felt the breeze through the tent.