8/17/11 Day 12- After packing up from our campground our "tour guide" AKA Dave took us to some of his old stompin' grounds in Palisade. This community is well known for their peaches and wine country. Here are the "peachy cousins" before enjoying fresh peaches, nectarines and cherries. We loaded up our bikes!
Next stop was Steamboat Springs. Time for late lunch so we dined on bison burgers at the Boathouse Pub along the Yampa River. We were tempted to rent an innertube and join the rest of the rafters on this hot afternoon! What a cute ski resort town this is. Some of the slopes drop right into town. Summer season didn't seem to bring in any less visitors.
From Steamboat Springs we went over Rabbit Ears Pass at 9400 ft on to Kremmling for some groceries. Next stop was Sulphur Hot Springs at the foot of the Rocky Mountain National Park. Our fearless leader, Dave, knew exactly which campground to go to along the Colorado River back off the beaten road. Over a river-rock road to our secluded site we set up camp and then bee-lined it to the Hot Springs for a 2 hour soak before bed! It was just what the doctor ordered for these tired bikers (and passenger)!
8/18/11 Day 13- Exactly what was on the menu for breakfast! Stacey and Dave went for some early morning fishing and brought home 3 brown trout to cook up. Nothing better than fresh cooked trout over the campfire to go with our coffee!
Mark and Barney getting the fire at the perfect temperature to cook those trout. It was a chilly night last night dropping down into the low 30's. It sure doesn't take long for the mornings to heat up though. As we learned from our "local" cousin- wear layers in Colorado because the weather can change instantly. The hot springs would have felt good this morning!
Here is a sample of what the German pine beetle has done to the Lodge Pole Pine in Colorado. They are devastating these trees. One of the good things is that there is a market for the beetle damaged wood because of the blue-grey like steaks through it. They are making furniture, paneling, and bowls with it! Always a silver lining to each story.
Kathy's brief stint at yoga during the trip! This is Grand Lake is the western entrance to the Rocky Mountain National Park. What fun we all had jumping these rocks and posing for each other's cameras! We wandered the town that bordered the one mile long lake eating ice cream cones and drinking coffee. The town is 8400 ft. and Mt. Baldy at 12000 ft. is close by.
Traversing Trail Ridge Road we headed over the Rocky Mountain National Park. This 48 mile road to Estes Park is the highest continually paved road in the USA. We crossed the Continental Divide again during this trip!
The scenery was another jaw dropping experience. The roads twisted and weaved along the valley's and mountains giving us glimpses of small lakes, cirque glaciers, aspens, pines, wild flowers and meadows. The valley's are about 8000 ft. above sea level and 60 named peaks reach higher than 12000 ft.
Alpine View in Rocky Mountain National Park. We are at 11,796 feet! Not much hiking here for these sea level people! We did well since we had been at over 6000 ft. for the past 10 days or so. This was one of our most impressive rides so far.
We got the whole gang together for our high altitude shot! Mark, Kathy, Dave, Stacey and Barney taking in the view and taking a break. These riders had a steep
descent down the eastern side with sheer drops of 2000-3000 feet into rock gorges.
What a great ride it was!
No comments:
Post a Comment