Denver and Rocky Mountain Park.
I look at this picture of Bev from August 2019, which is the home page photo on both my laptop and my cell phone, and I still can’t believe I won’t see Bev again. It’s almost unbearable.
Well, I spent the day in and around Rocky Mountain National Park. I say in and around because I forgot a timed reservation is needed for entrance. Luckily, after 2 the park is open to all, so I didn’t have to wait around until 4 to get in, as I would have had to a few weeks ago, which wouldn’t have worked as I wanted to get back to Denver for my visit with Shikha, and the journey back is about 90 minutes.
But I had plenty to do while waiting for 2 pm, as the Rockies don’t just start at the entrance to the National Park, but are everywhere, towering over the road and into the sky. I came in through Allenspark to the south of the Beaver Meadows main park entrance on highway 36, and passed the Chapel on the Rocks, which Bev and I really liked when we visited the park in 2021, just three years ago. So much has changed since then. Like so much on this trip, so many things instantly bring my mind back to Bev.
The drive itself was wonderful, with the Rockies starting to pop up along the way. This is my fourth visit to the national park, once with Bev, once with Russ, and once on my ownsome, so things seemed familiar and I didn’t feel a pressing need to get in there, or great disappointment when I realized I would only have a couple of hours in the actual park.
Along the way, thinking I’d go visit Estes Park, the nearest and very lovely, and very upscale, town that is sort of the gateway to the park, I instead stopped at Lily Lake, where I hiked for a while… and never did make into Estes Park, other than passing through later on my way back to Denver. That’s a shame, as the town really is nice, and as always was filled with tourists (just like me).
Lily Lake, like the entire region, is a lovely and scenic spot, wrapped in the Rockies. There’s a simple and very easy walk/trail around the lake, but also some more challenging trails into the foothills of the Rockies.
I walked the Lily Ridge trail, which wasn’t especially long, but rises to over 9,100 feet with some lovely views. I probably walked about 2 miles, a basically easy hike, although moderately difficult at times because of the climb. I added to that a little, with a little bouldering, clambering onto some of the craggy rocks, both for the views, and to sit and think as I gazed out into the surrounding and serene view.
After Lily Lake, I drove toward the park entrance, still waiting for the 2 pm time when all could enter without a timed reservation. I saw a great looking water release on Mary’s Lake, just outside of the park and in the Estes Park area, but soon after that saw something else even more inspiring, jaw dropping, and all natural.
And there they were, just milling around and crossing the road, a herd of Elk, casually munching on the foliage by the side of the road, without a care in the world, and certainly no fear of the traffic or people.
And then along came the bull Elk, with a large antler rack. The only one I saw, so I’m not sure if this was his family, so to speak. It reminded me of when Russ and I drove through Rocky Mountain a few years ago, and we saw a sign at the entrance that warned of Elk ahead. I sort of scoffed, thinking, oh, sure, like we’re really going to see a bunch of elk close up. I don’t think we went more than a hundred yards before seeing a large group of Elk, many with huge racks, just standing by the roadside.
Although most of us gawkers kept our distance today, needless to say there was one person reaching her hand out toward the elk, trying to entice them to come close. Just like with the bighorn sheep I saw a couple of weeks ago, I could imagine myself being rammed by the bull if I got too close.
I should have been smart enough to be the first in line for the 2 pm park entrance… but I wasn’t (even though I thought about it), so I joined a long line of people waiting to get in without timed reservations, and it took over 30 minutes to get through that line. And then I was in. I recall going through exactly the same thing with Bev, except then we had to wait until 4 pm to get in.
I drove around a little, very aware of my time limitations, and took a short and pretty easy along the Hidden Valley trail, which leads to alpine meadows and masses of fir trees lining the mountainsides for as far as you can see.
Before leaving the park, I took one of the scenic drives, for probably 20 miles or so, stopping at the Many Parks Curve overview, at over 9, 600 feet, and again clambering over some outlying rocks to get the best and clearest view. I saw one guy holding onto the rock with one hand and on one foot, hanging into space off the rocks, with his friend taking a photograph, and commented he was lucky that wasn’t his last photo. I then took a couple of shots of the both of them (but sitting on the rocks, not hanging off); his buddy was from Massachusetts (yes, but did he drive out?).
Okay, back to Denver for my final visit with Shikha, and I had actually heard from Muniya, wondering if I was coming, so I did feel some sense of I’d better get moving. It took a while to get out of the park, and once out I headed straight south, about a 90 minute drive, and simply drove through the town of Estes Park without stopping, which was a shame as this was a place Bev and I enjoyed. I wanted to get a cake, as this is a family that likes their snacks from what I can tell, so stopped off a local bakery in Westminster, about 10 minutes from Indrina’s.
When I arrived, Shikha was not in good shape, and Indrina, Eric, and Dev were just about to head out for a while for some fun, while Muniya stayed with Shikha, who, like yesterday was determined to leave and go home to New York. In this state, because she becomes so distraught, Shikha can become combative and nasty, and mildly physical, but she and I managed to go for a wheelchair walk, and that went relatively well until we returned home, as that wasn’t where she wanted to be. It was a difficult evening, and I stayed until Indrina and Eric returned, as I could not see leaving Muniya to care for and contain Shikha alone. The situation there is bad; it’s difficult to imagine things can continue this way for much longer, as it’s exhausting for all, Shikha included. I never did get to eat a slice of that cake I brought, but Muniya later assured me it was really delicious!
Back to the hotel, planning for tomorrow as I head back to Utah, this time to the Salt Lake area where I’ll visit a friend, Dave, who Bev met on our trip out here in 2014, and also stay a night or two in Logan, north of Salt Lake, where I lived for a few months in 1976.
I’ll travel back along route 70, west this time, as it was such a great ride, and this time plan to take a detour down to Frisco and Breckenridge to take a better look, and maybe Vail too, if I have time, and spend the night in Fruita, Colorado, en route to northern Utah.