This morning we drove up to Rocky Mountain NP, which is about 1.5 to 2 hours north of Denver. I was surprised by how pleasant the drive was in terms of traffic. The only logjam we hit was at the entrance to the park itself, though the roads and facilities inside the park were all fairly crowded.
Once in the park, we took the road less taken–called the Old Fall River Road–up to the Alpine Visitor Center (which is the highest visitor center in the NP system at nearly 12,000 ft). It’s an unpaved one lane, one way road that was the first automobile path into the interior of the park. It’s a slow and spectacular, though slightly “ass puckering” at certain points, drive up the mountains.
The view from the Alpine Visitor Center speaks for itself (this is the valley we drove up):
Here’s a view of the snow fields (which is still fairly deep) and tundra at this elevation:
The drive down via the Trail Ridge Road actually more spectacular with grand vistas and much wild life (especially elk) along the way. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any photos of it on my mobile and only a few on my Nikon due to the amount of traffic on the road and in the turn offs.
In the late afternoon on our way back from RMNP, we drove down to Boulder, which we’d hoped to walk around in. But, by the time we got there afternoon rains had arrived and disrupted our plans. It looked like a cool town with a small but vibrant downtown. We’ll have to check it out on another visit.
We spent the night at a Marriott out near the airport and had dinner at Ted’s Montana, which isn’t great dining but is pretty good for a chain.