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Wellington, CO → Craig, CO 229.0 mi (368.5 km) |
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I’ve got a rocky mountain high, everyone!
That might be because I was driving well into the night to get back from South Dakota, but today is the today I have been eagerly awaiting: my 10:00 AM timed entry into Rocky Mountain National Park!
After working my way into the smoky mountains (the Grizzly Creek and Pine Gulch fires are still wreaking havoc), I reached my staging city of Estes Park! You might know Estes Park from its famous Stanley Hotel, which inspired Steven King to write The Shining!
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Because of the timed entry, I was super worried that I would be stuck in a long line at the entry station, so I buzzed around the welcome sign for about twenty minutes, calculating, strategizing, and overthinking. After all, I’d been hoping to hike Flattop Mountain, and I didn’t want to get stuck in any afternoon thunderstorms!
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You know what, though? The line was super short! Maybe everyone flooded in between 6:00 AM and 10:00 AM, and I was on their coattails. In any case, I stopped at the visitor center for advice, and the rangers told me I probably didn’t have enough time to trek up Flattop Mountain, just in case there was a storm later. They did, however, recommend that I check out Deer Mountain, which had some nice views and would definitely get me to safety if any storms sprung up!
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The Deer Mountain Trail was only three miles long and didn’t seem so steep, which was okay because the smoke from the wildfires was still pretty thick. The views didn’t seem so far because of it, and I sure didn’t want to get sick from both the altitude and the bad air quality. This was going to be a good choice!
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About a mile in, I got to my first lookout, which gave a better sense of how gray-brown the air was. It was still very pretty. Getting this land declared America’s 10th national park was the project of lodge owner and nature guide, Enos Mills, who spent years lecturing and lobbying before Woodrow Wilson signed the Rocky Mountain National Park Act on January 26, 1915!
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I took a break to appreciate some purple aspen daisies growing out of a tiny patch of soil in a rock! Like the prairie sunflowers at Great Sand Dunes National Park, I’m always surprised to find plants growing in extreme situations!
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The trail switchbacked up the slope for another mile or so, in and out of cloud cover, and then it plateaued. I walked for what felt like a long time until the trail started to slope downward, and I started to wonder if I’d missed the summit somehow!
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Lucky for me, I’d been playing hiking leapfrog with another hiker who had brought a trail guide with her! When she caught up, she said to keep going on the flat part until it feels like you’ve skipped the summit (aha!), and sure enough, not much further, we both reached the sign directing us on the final leg to the summit!
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After a short schlep up stone steps, which made me flash back to Baegundae, then a scramble to the top of a boulder pile, I found the summit marker! Deer Mountain is 10,013 feet above sea level (almost as high as Mount San Antonio but about half the hike).
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It was approaching noon, so a combination of bad light and smoke made it tough to get the great panoramic views I was hoping for, but I could see just far enough for this peak to feel like an accomplishment!
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I heard some other hikers shouting “Shoo!” behind some boulders, and I wondered what was going on. I wasn’t wondering for long, because very shortly, a golden-mantled ground squirrel appeared. I was familiar with these curious critters from Crater Lake, so I was quick to wave and click my teeth in greeting. Boy, was that a bad choice!
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These rude rodents wouldn’t leave me alone! They didn’t make any conversation, just started sniffing me all over. One even tried to bite my hand! I’d had enough fun and made some very loud and very spooky noises to scare them off! I couldn’t figure out why they were such jerks until I saw some other hikers feeding them trail mix. Feeding wild animals makes them expect more from you. If they don’t get what they want, they can be aggressive. Please be courteous and let them eat the wild foods their bodies are meant for!
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The ground squirrels were becoming annoying, so I hustled back down the mountain and continued on my way. There were two roads to take not far beyond Deer Mountain: Trail Ridge Road and Old Fall River Road. The second road was older (built between 1913 and 1920) and only open at certain times of year, so that seemed like the better bet. Old Fall River Road it was!
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The nice thing about this historic road is that it went past Chasm Falls, a lovely little waterfall between two cliffs. I started to feel some sprinkles on my face, which I thought came from the waterfall at first. I realized it was rain and sure was glad to have gotten down from Deer Mountain when I did!
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It was slow going up this road, which was unpaved, one-way, and full of lookie-loos, but that was okay. Even with the clouds and smoke, there were neat things to see on all sides. I was passing through the Mummy Range, named by early visitors who thought the looked like an Egyptian mummy. The mountains were originally called Nooku-Bee3ei-No or “White Owls” by the Arapaho!
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Nearing the summit (and a lunch break), I had to pull over and appreciate this lovely high mountain pond surrounded by tundra plants! It’s amazing how many ecosystems there are in Rocky Mountain National Park, from wetlands to tundra!
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The smoke seemed to thin out as I paused for a sandwich and super prickly pear iced tea at the Alpine Visitor Center, which gave some nice views of the rolling terrain around Mount Chapin that I’d just come through. A sudden gust gave me quite a fright, so I didn’t take a lot of photos here. Sometimes, you need to enjoy things with your memory!
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Downhill from the Alpine Visitor Center, I crossed the Continental Divide! Last time I did that was during my trip to Yellowstone three years ago. Did you know that both the Colorado and Platte Rivers have their headwaters here in the Rockies? In fact, the stream that becomes the mighty Colorado River is called Beaver Creek! Well I’ll be dammed!
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Beaver Creek, as you might guess, is named for the beavers who live here! Though hunted nearly to extinction by mountain men, and now only living in 10 percent of their original range, there are still beavers living in the more remote parts of Rocky Mountain National Park. Their traces are pretty common, but sightings are rare.
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At my last stop here in the park, I got to see parts of the Colorado River headwaters. It boggles my mind that this little burbling stream can turn into such a force of nature when it reaches California! I wondered how long it would take for this runoff to play a role in carving the Grand Canyon!
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Across this bridge, I got to stroll a historic trout lodge, founded by John and Sophie Holzwarth in 1917! Folks came here throughout the Roaring Twenties to stay in cabins with names like Rose, Columbine, and Louise. By day, they would hunt and fish, and by night, they would be treated to Sophie’s home cooking!
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By this point, darkness was fast approaching, and I still had a long way to my final stop for the night. It was kind of sad, though, because there were some really beautiful spots along the way that I would have loved to check out! Grand Lake looked like a great place to swim, and Steamboat Springs at night was magically lit up and reminded me of Amman at night! I really should come back here some time, though I have another timed entry to make tomorrow. I’ll tell you more after a good night’s snooze!
Rocky mountain bye!
P.S. Check out my bear-themed room at the Elk Run Inn in Craig! I’ve never been in a more thematic room in my life, and I really wonder if there’s a beaver themed room somewhere here…
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Total Ground Covered: 2,139.0 mi (3,442.4 km) |
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wow! amazing photos! i love seeing the little curious ground squirrel, wanting to get to know bill! also that elk themed room is so cool!! such interesting decor. so many beautiful pics!