Day 8: Estes Park / Rocky Mountain National Park

Sunday June 19

We have been on the road for a week. It is Father’s Day so we are letting Scott decide what we do for the day. It is supposed to rain some and it’s about 70. We head to Estes Park, which is a town at the base of the Rocky Mountain National Park. It reminds me of North Conway but about 10 times larger. Wish we had some time to explore the shops along the highway. We stop at the Visitor’s Center and get information on the mountains. There's a winter storm warning (yes, Winter is still here!) and they recommend anyone wanting to go to Alpine Visitor Center or Continental Divide to hurry on through before the weather above treeline turns bad. There are big horn sheep spotted along the way but not at the salt licks where we first stop. We pull over and look but only see elk. At this point, I start driving. We decide to take the Trail Ridge Rd as far as we can. It is the most spectacular scenery I have ever seen but also nerve wracking to be driving. I hug the middle of the road and don’t look down. In many spots the road drops off thousands of feet!

Isabella and Alexandria in Heavy Snow Pack

Trail Ridge Road, ~11000 ft.

We stop at what Scott believes to be the Alpine Visitor Center but it turns out to just be a rest area and scenic pulloff. As I am walking with the girls, I feel funny but figure it is just time for lunch. We pull out sandwiches and eat them. We continue further up the mountain, coming quickly to the snow line. The snow banks along the side of the road are taller than the camper. A lone snowman sits atop an opening. The hairpin turns/curves are getting more frequent and I am getting anxious to just get to Alpine Visitor’s Center (the national park visitor center at the highest elevation in the country). We walk slowly to the center since we are all feeling the affects of altitude sickness at this point. We had turned the radio to the park service radio and discovered the headaches, nausea and shortness of breath were all related to our elevation. We are at 11, 796 feet above sea level at the Alpine Visitor Center, although the truck has read higher elevations along the way. The best way to treat the sickness is to drink water and decrease altitude.

It is with regret that we have to turn back down Trail Ridge Rd without making it to the Continental Divide. It was much more harrowing coming down in spots and making sure the truck brakes did not fail us. It took a long time before we felt totally back to normal coming down the mountain. The truck air pressure sensor read 8.7 psi whereas it is normally around 14.7 at sea level. Scott did surprise me and drove part of the way back down. As we were starting down the Trail Ridge Rd we spotted what looked like a woodchuck but later found out was a marmet. It crossed the road right in front of us and went into a group of rocks. Close to the base, we spotted some elk and stopped to take a picture. Drove into the Moraine Visitor Center right as they were closing so just beyond stopped at Beaver Meadow Visitor Center. The girls stamped their passports (#5 stamp for the day) and we bought a few things.

Driving back into Estes Park was a lot easier since traffic was light now. We stopped at Estes Park Brewery for dinner. Scott bought a t-shirt and a Grolier of IPA. Then back on to Strassburg for the night. In the distance we could see lightning around the Denver area. Thankfully there were no severe storms during the night. I got woken up by a train going by behind the campground and had a hard time going back to sleep. The convenience of the KOA campgrounds is nice but they are close to the railroad tracks. After the train, we got heavy rain. The outside temp was in the high 40's when we work up Mon am.

On the return trip to Strassburg, CO Scott looks up the toll system in CO. We had gone through tolls in the morning but never had to stop. Evidently they use an automatic system to take a picture of our license plate, and we will be getting a bill in the mail for our travels to the Rocky Mountains- about $9.00 for a little more than an hour of driving. We avoid the tolls on the return trip and catch a road that runs parallel to the highway and which is just as fast. If only we’d known ahead of time.

Click for GPS Track