Friday, August 1, 2008

Incoherent Late Night Vacation Synopsis




I'm back - went back to the Rocky Mountain National Park this morning after breakfast, and naively thought I'd be leaving town by 2pm. Not so much. The 3 and a half mile hike that would take me a bit over an hour down in Denver took me just over 3 hours at altitude (10,000 and change at the top of the trail). So I got back to the trailhead/shuttle stop at about 3:05, to find that I had just missed the hourly shuttle to the Estes Park Visitor Center. So, I ended up getting back into Denver around 6:30.

But I had a wonderful time, the B&B was fabulous (Gilded Pine Meadows www.gildedpinemeadows.com) the three hour horseback ride up to 12,000 feet was amazing (and I'm still feeling it :) ) and I can't wait to go back. I have a new fitness goal now - to be in good enough shape for hiking and riding.


I took lots of photos, but have whittled it down to this album for right now - I have to be at work at 6am, so this is all I have time for : http://picasaweb.google.com/zenpastry/EstesParkVacation

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow Emerald Lake is gorgeous, the whole trip looks like gorgeous around every turn though! I am amazed you were so close to deer & elk...add in all the other fuzzy & feathered ones & it was like the nature channel saffari! Was it at least nice & cool up there? I have been noticing (because yes I am the dork who watches the weather channel) you Denver gals are having it pretty rough with temps this week. Hope you are not too exhausted getting back to the grind :)

pastrywitch said...

It was unseasonably warm up in Estes Park, but still cooler than in Denver. Mid 80's is considered hot there. Evenings through midmornings were lovely, and the lake trails have a lot of shade, so it was good.

disabled account said...

it's hot jenn...yes. i think we've hit some kind of super record for consecutive days above 90 degrees and most of those have been in the triple digits. that's not normal here at all. it used to be that we'd have maybe a week in july that got up around 95 and then it would go back to normal again. it used to be normal to snow in the mountains in the summer sometimes. crazy shite!

kate ~ you keep talking about all of these cool places (temperature) you keep going and i am unwilling to burn the gas to get there. oh, well. i can read your blog and live vicariously...

pastrywitch said...

I filled up the tank before I left.Thanks to the free shuttles, I got home from Estes Park with just over a quarter of a tank left - so gaswise, it's a cheap trip. And Bevin drove to Mt. Evans, so that worked out well :).