Before getting to Denver, my aunt told me that the temperature had been in the 100's for several days. Of course coming from Portland and the coast I knew that this would be a big change. Fortunately, the heat wave broke just before I got here, and I have been enjoying sunny skies and comfortable temperatures.
It was one of those perfect days last Tuesday when I took my aunt's car and drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park to go hiking. Highway 36 took me right through Boulder, and then begins to twist and turn getting into the mountains all the way to Estes Park. What amazed me even more than the scenery was the amount of bikers pedaling on the side of the road. Usually when I read about great towns to live in for outdoor sports in National Geographic Adventure or some magazine like that, Boulder is listed. I wasn't ready to be passing bike after bike though. It was also nice to know there are so many people who don't have to go to work on a Tuesday morning.
It costs $20 to get into the park, and this threw me off guard a bit. I had forgotten that the larger and grander the park, the more you pay to get in. Driving in, it became obvious that I was in one of the grandest. To get to the hike which the ranger had recommended to me, I had to drive as deep into the park as you could by car from this entry point. Keeping my eye on the road, and enjoying the scenery proved to be difficult. Knowing I was not driving my own car made the choice of what to look at much easier.
I was hiking from Bear Lake to Sky pond, a distance of about 9.8 miles. Determined to make it the whole way, and knowing that I only had 4 hours to do it in, I was going to have to move. The ranger who recommended the trail to me told me that it would be lots of traffic on in until I got out about a mile or so. He was right. Don't get me wrong, it's great to see so many families and college kids out hiking together, it just makes for a very full trail. Once I got passed the water falls, things really started to trim down.
I'm not sure how high up the trail to Sky pond goes, but I'm going to guess that once I got to the top I was standing near 12,000 feet above sea level. The last little bit of the trail you are actually going straight up, essentially through a mountain stream. Being careful not to slip on wet rocks, I pulled myself into view of it, elated to be standing so close to glaciers circling around this small body of water. Standing to take in the view 360 degrees around me, I was hit by the wind whipping past, making my sweaty shirt uncomfortable to wear.
On the way back, I ate lunch on a rock sitting on Loch Lake. Watching rainbow trout swim past in the crystal-clear waters was a real treat and I was glad that there are places like this protected. Predictably, the way back down took less time than up, and I was back to the car right when I wanted to be.
The reason I only had 4 hours was a combination of factors. It took an hour round trip to drive to the trail head once I entered the park. On the way in, I saw an advertisement for the Estes Park Brewery, and new that would be a nice way to end the day trip (when I was standing in line at the tourist bureau to ask how to get there, I had a conversation with a guy wearing a Luther College t-shirt; he had graduated 15 years back). Finally, I was going to another Rockies game that night with my friend Sara, and thought I had better have time to have a shower before being picked up.
The Rockies lost, again. But I did get to see the great Randy Johnson pitch for the Diamondbacks. We had some effective hecklers behind us, which was good for a laugh. And I had never been to a baseball game and sat threw hail and lightning before. One would think they would call the game for those two weather conditions, but they kept playing, so we stayed in our seats.
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