Rocky Mountain National Park... without a reservation!

 It used to be that you could rock up to our "local" National Park, buy a ticket and drive on in. Sometime during the COVID pandemic though, the park kept overflowing, parking shortages resulted in clogged scenic byways and measures were taken to limit the traffic in the peak summer months. 

By June this year, just as the infamous Trail Ridge Rd was reopening, we had moved from the no-res system back to the reservation system and I was left trying to figure things out - Alas I was apparently not as smart or quick as the average tourist and despite my best efforts, the weekend I wanted to visit, there were no reserved entry timeslots available ahead of time or 7pm the night before, when 40% of tickets are released for us last minute go-getters. 

However... to make sure the less organized of us are not denied a national treasure, there is a loophole. The reservation system starts at 5am for the park including Bear Lake Rd and at 9am for the park excluding entry to the Bear Lake Rd portion. Doable! 

Sue and I left Boulder around 7:35am, anticipating a 1 hour drive and a queue of people just like us at the Rocky Mountain National Park entrance. Bingo! Nailed it. By 8:50am we had eeked in and now were free to escape to 12,000' where the plan was short walks and time spent at altitude. IE More "getting to know our bodies" at a higher elevation, in preparation for Kilimanjaro training at altitude later this year and into next year. 

The first stop was the Visitors Center on Trail Ridge Rd. Kinda wanted to see the 20' wall of snow that had been plowed through to open the road for us. It was almost gone though. 

From here, we hiked (pole pole) up the hill for a spectacular view and a new wind-inspired hairdo.

A bit light-headed and 30 IQ points short of an intelligent picnic but otherwise well, we made a quick stop at the gift store to fantasize about buying cute little things despite having left wallets in the car, then hit the road. Breathless little trails beckoned. 

This stretch of road turned out to be the favorite haunt of all sorts of wildlife. We stumbled upon marmot after marmot and they seemed to want to pose for us! And... the elk stumbled upon us! Literally bee-lining down the narrow trail we were on, passing us as we tucked into a pile of boulders and making their way to the parking lot before wandering up the road for about a mile. Stopping traffic - both directions. 

Final thought for the day; Driving along near Sheep Lakes and we spot what appears to be a moose in an enclosure. Before entering the enclosure (and after wondering why there is an enclosure) we read the following sign...    Nope. Not too eager to confront a mama moose in the foliage, we stayed outside. She never reappeared so there is no photographic evidence. But this sign clearly indicates it's not the first time she or one of her kin have broken into the enclosure where the grass is definitely greener. 

Mountain Lion Trail

 About 30 mins from here, lies Golden Gate Canyon State Park. You'd think after living this close to it for darn near 20 years, I might have visited it more. I hadn't more than once though!

Sue chose Mountain Lion Trail for today's long-ish hike. The trailhead was another 15 mins inside the park - not to many miles and probably not far at all as the crow flies. But the crow didn't have to drive its car over loose gravel, up and down hills that I'd say were the steepest I'd ever seen and would never have guessed could be sanctioned by engineers!

That was just the start of the adventure of course. 

I arrived just 5 mins before Sue. It was 8am, already warming up quickly and the parking lot was half full. Sue arrived with a parking permit attached to her windscreen and it was then I learned that I needed $10 cash - a quarter mile back up the road - to acquire a pass for myself. I really should start carrying SOME cash and just try not to think about how many dirty hands have touched it!

Sue to the rescue. Armed with her $20 bill, I set off. At the "no change given" pay station I joined a car of 3 people who had $10 cash, but no pen to fill out the day pass. They used my pen, we used my/Sue's $20 to pay for both cars and I took their $10 back to Sue... Who had forgotten socks and was now wearing my spare pair.  A nice reminder that it really does take a village and how much I appreciate my community!

Our trail:  About 8 miles. 4 going up to Windy Peak and 4 coming down. The trail meandered through pine forests, up rocky paths and over pine-needle cushioned ground, through meadows of wild flowers and across gushing streams. 

Todays hike was colorful and warm with a bit of a breeze, but delivered none of the thunderstorms that the weather guessers told us were a 60% chance... so we essentially took our rain jackets and Goretex trousers on a fun excursion and kept them safely stashed in backpacks otherwise only used for snacks and water!

Speaking of snacks... Is it really that bad that I gave some cracker crumbs to a nursing chipmunk mother and her gangly, thinly-furred chipmunk baby? (And a cherry... and a grape?!) I got the feeling that this momma made her home at the top of Windy Peak specifically because it was a prime picnicking spot for weary hikers. She was most certainly teaching her son to "work it".

They were every bit as charming as the view west across the Rockies.

Then it was time to head back down... with stops for butterflies, flowers and other assorted picture-taking.

To wrap this story up, I should probably tell you that I neglected to fill the car with gas before heading into the mountains this morning. The steepest hills in the world made that decision somewhat questionable as I literally watched my dash tell me I had 50 miles of gas ... and then 30 miles, a mere 10 seconds later. By the time I drove the downhill curves leading to Golden, it was back up to 70 miles but I took the hint from the universe that getting gas sooner rather than later would be smarter - It was still an undulating drive back to Boulder!

In the grand scheme of things, I apparently play Russian roulette with my gas levels to add risk to my life fairly regularly but there are worse things I could be doing to scratch that itch, I think! Not sure Mark agrees with this assessment though...