Monday, May 9th – Lyon to Rocky Mountains National Park to Vail, Colorado – Day 88
The night was cold but bearable. All the kids were wrapped up tightly in their sleeping bags. Gen and I had some additional layers on. Waking up in the morning we decided, after some oatmeal, not to let a good trail go to waste. We trekked down to the river. After crossing the river jumping rock to rock, we found a wood bridge to cross back.
Estes is the town at the Beaver Valley entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. We reached it in 15 minutes. Ten minutes later, we were at the visitor centre: passports, junior ranger and gift shop shopping. I bought another t-shirt; I now have a variety of National Parks t-shirts to my name. We also picked up two more walking sticks. I dropped the trailer in the parking lot because we were going up to the highest point before the road closed and I didn’t want to have to pull it.
Originally, we intended to drive over the mountain, past the alpine visitor centre and down the other side. The alpine visitor centre is still covered in snow, literally; the road doesn’t open until Memorial Day. The furthest we could go up is Many Parks Curve. We parked the car and admired the view of the snow-capped mountains. Long’s Peak was the highest of the mountains at 14,259 ft.
After climbing on some rocks and taking our pictures, we went back down the mountain to the Alluvial Fan trail. It was a short 800m hike to see a waterfall. John was obsessed with jumping rock to rock, he really loves it. We saw some mountain goats up on the hill side. Aisling, Charlotte, John, and I tried to cross the stream over rocks but had to turn back. Aisling wanted me to stand on a slippery log and lift everyone across and was quite disappointed when I wouldn’t do it.
On the way to the 0.8-mile Sprague Lake trail, sandwiches were made for everyone. We arrived and finished lunch on a picnic table. I told Charlotte and John that I was going to the washroom and to stay where they were. When a man came by to ask, “Where are your parents?”, Charlotte says “I don’t know, on a hike maybe”. When I came back, they were trying to find a ranger. The lake had a beautiful view of the mountains. There was snow on the trail. John, Charlotte, and I worked through the junior ranger book on the trail. John’s getting much better when asked what he should bring on a hike; first aid kit is now in, and cake is out.
We went back to the visitor centre to pick up the trailer. Our day in the Rockies did not end there, we still needed to head west to Utah. I really wanted to cross the Rockies in daylight. Our route was the scenic drive through the foothills and canyons below the Rockies. We passed through a little town called Nederland for gas and then Black Rock/Central City to marvel at the number of casinos present in such a small town. The drive was not as crazy as other mountain drives we’ve taken. Some up hills and down hills but all manageable at a decent speed.
The main highway, 70, across the Rockies was full of spectacular views. You drive along a river valley in the middle of these fantastic peaks. We got to the height where there was some snow near us. We drove past Aspen and stopped in Vail to get a bite to eat but there was no parking in the village, so we just drove through.
We needed a place to stop for the night. I had hoped to get to Moab; unfortunately, people were hungry, and we needed to eat. Gen found a campsite for free just off the main road. It was not that level, but it was by the river and had a picnic table. Gen loves camping by rivers, it gives you somewhere to do the dishes. Some guys were playing music at midnight when I asked them to turn it down. Our mistake was to camp high in the mountains without heat. It was freezing. We all piled into one bed to stay warm for the night.
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