Day 56 - Garden of the Gods

By the end of today, I would drive east past the front range mountains of Colorado and then north through Colorado Springs, Denver and Boulder, on my way to Rocky Mountain National Park. My first stop was Garden of the Gods, a geologic-wonder of a city park in Colorado Springs.

The red slabs of rock at Garden of the Gods were tilted from horizontal to vertical at some point and then rain filed them down to the impressive shapes they take on today. This beautiful scenic city park is free and in the middle of a prominent residential area. I hiked the outside loop trail for views from above, before hiking down amid the rock slabs. The sun was out and it was awesome.

I then drove to two other side attractions: one called Siamese Twins and the other Balancing Rock. I especially liked the twins as you could see Pikes Peak, a famous 14er mountain in Colorado, framed behind them. There is a road that goes all the way up Pikes Peak but the last six out of nineteen miles were closed due to snow.

After the strange-is-beautiful rock park, I drove to downtown Colorado Springs for a brief drive-thru before heading north to Denver. I arrived in Denver just at rush hour but luckily traffic wasn't horrible. I got out and walked around downtown for thirty minutes, walking by the Capitol and Art Museum, before driving more north to Boulder. Boulder is a college town set up towards the mountains. I stopped for a fresh, hot seafood soup, which seemed to help my lingering head cold. Then I got back in the van and drove on to Rocky Mountain National Park.

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Day 57 - Rocky Mountain National Park

Ever since I decided to go west for my big trip, I had dreamed of high mountain lakes with snowy peaks arching in every direction, with chilly air making every moment crisp, and with clear skies bringing all into perfect focus-- pure bliss. Today was the first of many great mountain lake days to come. Hiking here was far easier here than in the San Juans because the snow was packed down on the trail, but I brought my mini crampons for the downhill. I made it safely past a narrow ridge with narly black peaks across the gorge (pic 1), then up to Mills Lake (pic 2) then Jewel Lake then the Loch (pic 3) then down before the afternoon rain started falling. I hiked around some lower, more accessible lakes but the sky was now overcast and pictures no good. I drove up the open portion of the Ridge road amid a very light dusting of snow before heading back to camp for dinner and bedtime. I did manage to capture some fine Elk grazing in a meadows on the return trip and a g...

Day 54 - Great Sand Dunes

I awoke to clear skies, a dry mattress and pillows, a second hot shower and a waffle-filled motel breakfast. I decided to head east to Great Sand Dunes National Park in order to climb 700 foot sand dunes surrounded by snow-covered alpine mountains--a rare site. Just about every road in Colorado goes over a pretty high mountain pass eventually, and this three and a half hour journey didn't disappoint. And Great Sand Dunes didn't disappoint either. After securing a dune-side campsite and waiting out a rainstorm, I set out to climb the dunes for a sunset view. Great Sand Dunes is also famous for its Medano Creek wave-like flow and ankle-deep water, making it popular with young kids. I hiked through it and started climbing the dunes, first to a high dune on the east side and over to the next highest dune and then the next highest et until I got to the highest one-/ properly called High Dune. I sat down, setup my phone to capture a time-lapse of the beautiful sunset my eyes were ...

Day 51 - Canyonlands Needles Pt 3

A deep connection to the nature surrounding you comes from the solitude of solo travel, but sometimes it is nice to have a companion! I ran into David, a retired telecom exec from Canada a few days ago on the Syncline Loop trail at Canyonlands Island in the Sky. Then I ran into him again halfway through my Chesler Park hike two days ago, then again later in the hike, finishing the last two miles together. David hiked his favorite trail, the Peekaboo trail yesterday, and said I could join him, but my heart was set on confluence trail, so we hiked separately. We did share a campsite though and exchanged travel stories. David was 55 and had retired at 50 from a high-level international job with Nortel and was now traveling full-time. We instantly bonded over our solo travel style. He outclassed me by leagues. He had trekked one month in Nepal, then another month in India, then some months in Asia. He had hiked and skied and adventured all over the western U.S. and Canada....

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