Estes Park & Rocky Mountains

Friday August 19, 2016

Moving day went off without a hitch. Made good time getting to Estes Park and we were set up before the rain and hail storm started.  The site we are in is small but temporary – we requested a bigger site as we will be here for 18 days and they obliged us and said a larger site would be available in 3 days.

We were warned by the park host not to leave any food or garbage outside as a female bear and her cubs wonders through the park at night and have messed some things up.  The RV Park asked to not put up any hummingbird feeders as the bear would rip it off the side of the trailer.  PRC

It was an uneventful but scenic trip into the Rocky Mountains. We arrived at our site where we will be for the next three days. On Monday we will move to a larger site within the park. Upon checking into our last site in Manitou Springs we were warned of possible flash floods. Here at Manor RV Park in Estes Park we are not in a flood zone however there is a resident black bear. We were warned to be sure that all food is secured in the trailer and to lock the car doors. There is plenty of wild life in the area – we are in the Rocky Mountains after all.

We managed to set up our trailer just in the nick of time. As we finished out tasks it began hailing like crazy. As you can see it’s nice and cool here which I appreciate.

Every Saturday morning the park hosts a pancake breakfast. Mondays are potluck nights. These are good opportunities to meet people. I like the convivial atmosphere of breaking bread with others.   JY

Saturday August 20, 2016

Every Saturday morning at this RV Park they have a pancake breakfast with eggs and sausages.  We met some really nice people and found out that several of the people staying in this park work in Rocky Mountain National Park as volunteers for the summer.  One gentleman we met has been driving a shuttle bus in the park for 11 summers (May thru October).

It was a beautiful day with a perfectly blue sky and no clouds as we drove to the Beaver Meadow Visitors Center just inside the park to get a map and some suggestions about where we should start our adventure in the park.  The park Ranger strongly recommended that we take the Old Falls River Road to the Alpine Visitors Center and drive back down on the Trail Ridge Road.

We started out our drive to Old Falls River Road when we rounded a curve and five coyotes walked out in front of the truck.  They could have cared less about us or the truck.  One of them turned its butt to us and took a dump right in the center of our lane then looked at us before walking off the side of the road.  June Yvonne said that was our official welcome to the park.

 

The Old Falls River Road is a one-way dirt road that climbs from 8,000 ft. to 12,005 ft.  It is a well maintained hard packed dirt road although it is narrow.  There were falls along the way and as we broke out of the tree line the panoramic views were nothing less than spectacular.  We ate lunch at the visitor center and I climbed the trail up the side of the mountain next to the visitor center with a peak elevation of 12,005 feet.   Even before arriving at the visitor center we spotted a herd of 30 elk on the other side of the valley.  We could see them clearly with our binoculars but they were too far away for pictures.

The drive back down the mountain was no less spectacular.  A well maintained two way paved road with many pull outs and parking lots with vistas and trail heads.  The parking area at Lava Cliffs had a short trail up to some unique rock formations with an elevation of 12,304 feet.  PRC

While walking to breakfast we met a very friendly woman – Sybil.  She reminds me of Roxie, a hiking friend – very outgoing. She and her husband live all summer at the park and she volunteers at the YMCA Resort which is very close by.

She suggested we take the Old Falls River Road, a one-way narrow dirt road to the summit. Motor homes, travel trailers and fifth wheels are prohibited for good reason. We stopped several times along the trail as it was so gorgeous. Peter was in his element and was loving every minute of it.

We reached the top, took more pictures and then made our way down a paved highway. Of course we stopped many times to take walks and more photos. Here in the Rocky Mountains the sky is forever.

 

 

 

We attended a John Denver tribute at the YMCA Resort that Sybil had invited us to that night. I was never a John Denver fan growing up. However, I have come to appreciate his music especially here in the Rocky Mountains.  JY

 

 

 

Sunday August 21, 2016

The weather forecast indicated that the next five days would be overcast with high possibility of rain.  Today however was another nice cloudless day so we decided to go to Bear Lake and take in the sites before the weather moved in.  Bear Lake is the trail head for over a dozen hikes and the large parking lot was full to capacity and we were lucky to get a spot.  Half way to Bear Lake there is a huge parking lot with shuttle service to the Bear Lake trail head.  There are rangers on duty to answer questions and direct traffic.

There is a .75 mile trail around Bear Lake that is wheelchair friendly and as we walked around the lake we did see 3 or 4 wheel chairs.  PRC

We went back to the park today and walked around Bear Lake. There are lots of hikes in the area and we plan to return and hike to a lake so Peter can go fishing. As I’ve said before and probably will continue to say Peter loves it here. It reminds him of Canada.

On the way home we stopped at the grocery store to pick up supplies for the potluck tomorrow night. The pot luck has turned into a birthday party and it’s taco night. So I’m making guacamole. I’m tempering it a little as these folks don’t seem to like things too spicy.   JY

 

 

 

Monday August 22, 2016

This was moving day.  We needed to move our RV to the larger site the host set aside for us.

There is a pot luck tonight in the club house.  It is going to be a birthday party for one of the long term residents in this RV Park who also works in the park at the Bear Lake trail head.  The theme was Mexican so June Yvonne wanted to make guacamole so we headed in to Estes Park to pick up some supplies.

 

 

It was Jim’s 75^th birthday and about 50 to 60 people showed up for the event.  I think we were the youngest there or pretty close to it.  It appeared that all these people had known each other for a long time.  We were, however, quickly absorbed by the social nature of the group and made several friends.  The overwhelming majority of the RV Park people we have met are like that – friendly and eager to socialize.  The birthday boy had played bagpipes in his younger days and half way through the party another park resident came in with his bagpipes and played Amazing Grace.  He wore the full outfit from head to toe and I don’t know what he was wearing under his kilt – if anything.  PRC

I woke up with a raging sore throat and spent the morning in bed. I have been feeling a little under the weather for about a week and a cold hit me full force today.

I did manage to make the guacamole and we made it to the pot luck/birthday party. The birthday boy, James turned 75. He works in the park by driving a shuttle bus. A lot of people live here part time and have known each other for a long time.

The birthday party was very special and emotional for James. It was obvious that many of the residents were very fond of him. One of the surprises of the night was a bagpiper.

Of course we met a lot more people. We sat at a table with a lovely couple from Nebraska who live at the park part time in the summer.   JYC

Tuesday August 23, 2016

We have declared today sick day as we are both not feeling very well.

While driving into town there was a cow elf on the roadside so we turned around to have a look at it and it was about 20 yards away from us when we stopped right by it but she just looked at us and kept eating.  Later when we were back home at least a dozen people were standing behind our RV watching 4 deer and another cow elk.  The lady in the 5^th wheel across the street said she was walking her dog and noticed a large pile of bear scat about 30 feet from our RV.   PRC

Well, I was not the only one that woke up sick today. Peter caught my cold. He also had the raging sore throat along with other symptoms. Since we were both feeling so miserable we decided to get some hot soup for our sore throats. For me that means Pho, Vietnamese soup. Unfortunately we were disappointed as there was not much flavor in the soup. At least it was warm and improved somewhat with the side condiments of basil, cilantro, jalapeno and lime.

We basically stayed in bed the rest of the day as were still feeling so sick. It’s been a long time since I was so sick with severe cold symptoms. This is not the way I wanted to spend our time in the beautiful Rocky Mountains.   JY

Wednesday August 24, 2016

After another miserable night we decided to go to a walk in clinic. We took the nurse practioner’s suggestions for over the counter meds. It’s probably not a virus, but the NP decided to give us a script for z-pac in case we didn’t get better within the week.

We spent the rest of the day in bed of course. We are hoping to get well soon as this is not the way we want to spend the rest of our time in the Rocky Mountains. There is so much here that we still want to do…    JY

Thursday August 25, 2016

Another sick day…  😦    JY

Friday August 26, 2016

We woke up feeling not as sick so we decided to venture outdoors.  It was a glorious day – sunny with a cool breeze. It seemed like a good day to get out of our self-imposed sick time in the trailer. Being outdoors is like escaping from detainment. The cool breeze is just delicious. However as soon as we made it to the library it began pouring rain. I like the rain and thunder also. We don’t get much of that at home although the monsoons have begun in the valley. But with them, comes mugginess. The weather in Colorado is perfect – a little warm, cool or a little chilly. I could live here if it weren’t for shoveling snow.  We walked around Estes Park and stopped at a pub for lunch.  We decided to finish the latest installment of the blog at the library.     JY