Road Trip to CO.

Well I'm Back. My road trip to Northern Colorado was A great help to my head for the most part. This is being written to anyone that has never seen the Colorado Rockies because those of you that have been there know this already... Wow!
I had the pleasure of spending 3 of the 5 days out there in the mts. To a Ohio guy, the rockies are just amazing. I have offers to hunt out there for both Elk in CO and birds out in the planes of Nebraska.I was over whelmed by the shear size of the mts. As promised, I took a good amount of pictures for those of you that have never been out there and saw some very cool history as well. I'll break up the trip into a few days and spent last night uploading to PB.

DAY 1.
I arrived around 2:30 on Tuesday but my host would not be in till wed. so after getting a room in Wellington, CO., I headed up to see a few sites. My first trip was in Rt. 14. from the foot hills into the mts.


As I drive deeper and deeper into the CO. Rockies, the walls got steeper and steeper. I found myself saying "O My God" in amazement with each turn as I climbed higher and higher. I stopped at the first meadow to pinch myself to make sure I was really there.



The next section was a incredible rock wall that rose steeply on each side with a river running along side the road.





The shear size of these MTS was just hard to Imagen. I've seen the shows on TV but they just don't do it justice.







This Pine tree is at least 7-9 stories tall. Note the two rocks next to it balanced there for thousands of years. They had to be 3 stories tall each...

At one point there is a small tunnel about 20 yards long carved through the rock.



This was from a little further back for scale...


The rock formations were incredible. Much of the formations started out horizontal but due to Plate Tectonics, ended up vertical. Other odd formations were seen everywhere you look.






I turned around to head back into town. It was 1.5 hours to get back to my room.
Note that most the trees (mostly Lodge Pole Pine. ) are full size and 6-10 stories tall.

A guy I work with in PA. lives out here. On day 2, I met up with him for a ride back into the mts and then some. He showed up with his old Dodge an a 4 wheeler.
The idea was that we would ride together in the truck part of the way and as we got higher, I would ride on ahead on the 4 wheeler so if I saw a trail (goat path)that headed up the hill, I could just take off up it. He would wait for me on the "primary trail."



On several occasions, I headed off, up the mt. trail but honestly, They were almost to steep to enjoy the ride. Coming down was worst! The pictures here DO NOT do the down hill grade justice!!!




He said they come up here in the winter with up to 2 ft. of snow and chains on the tires. It must be awesome! 3-4 miles in and up we came to a odd site. Beavers had damned up a pond about 1 mile up from here so the water started to run down the road. It was 1-2 inched deep and very cool. We pressed on ward and upward.

This old mining camp was from the early 1900's. A small 1-2 man show. They dug rock/dirt from the hill side and processed it with the help of a small slue.





Most of the rest of the day was filled with " O My God!" or "Holy shit"
Views like this were from every direction.


On the way back into town there was one more cool site. This rock, heaved up by plate tectonics millions of years was massive. I would guess it was 30 x 50 CITY BLOCKS wide... Maybe larger. The cows in the second picture were still maybe 1/2 to a mile away so there is little to scale... Just take my word for it. It was HUGE!

Day 3 was my last day to see the mts. Adam, the friend I went out to see took me on a all day trip I'll never forget. We started out the day early with a hearty breakfast at a restraunt in the foot hills off Rt 36. From there we headed up higher and higher into the northern Colorado Rockies.
I wanted to see a Elk. Oddly, in a mt. town called Pinewood Springs, I saw my first Elk. It was not what I pictured my first Elk to be at all. The little mt. homes wear only 10-20 ft. off the road. Its as if someone put er in low and started driving up the mt. When the tires started spinning, they stopped and built. So there we were. Going about 25 MPH and there he was... my first Elk... Eating some lady's landscaping...






O well ... city Elk...

As we drove higher and higher the view was breath-taking.



We finally reached the city of Estes Park. I could live here. It was also held a very historic location I wanted to see.

The view from here was breath-taking... Of course at 7,650 ft. above sea level, there was a little less oxygen.





There is a historic place up there called "The Stanley Hotel" as the story goes...

"In 1903, Stanley, who was co-inventor of the Stanley Steamer automobile, came to Estes Park for his health.[4] Stanley suffered from tuberculosis and came West at his doctor's suggestion. The doctor arranged for Stanley and his wife, Flora, to stay in a cabin in Estes Park for the summer. Immediately, they fell in love with the area and Stanley's health began to dramatically improve.[2] Impressed by the beauty of the valley and grateful for the improvement in his health, he decided to invest his money and his future there. In 1909, he opened the elegant Stanley Hotel, a classic hostelry exemplifying the golden age of touring.[4]

After spending the summer in the cabin, Flora wanted a home like the one she had left in Maine. Their home was built about one-half mile west of where the Stanley Hotel would later be built. Today the house is a private residence.[2]

Stanley built the hotel on land that he had purchased from the Irish Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl. Dunraven came to the area in 1872 while on a hunting trip. He built a hunting lodge, cabin, and hotel for his guests and illegally homesteaded up to 15,000 acres (61 km2) in an unsuccessful attempt to create a private hunting preserve. Dunraven was finally run out of the area after trying to swindle people out of their land and money.[2][4]

In 1907, construction started on the Stanley Hotel. Wood and rock were obtained from the nearby mountains and the hotel was built in the Georgian architectural style, which experienced a revival in the early Twentieth century. Equipped with running water, electricity, and telephones, the only amenity the hotel lacked was heat, as the hotel was designed as a summer resort.[2]

This is the Stanly Hotel.






To my surprise, there were more "city Elk" not 25 yards from the Stanly in a near by yard.







Damn. I thought these things were suppose to be located "majestically" roaming the mts and planes of the upper platos...

The Stanley is also where Stephen King got the idea for The Shining after staying in room 217 in the almost empty hotel on the night before it closed for an extended period The Shining which was later done as a movie starring Jack Nicholson. Now, incase you don't know the movie, you may know the classic "Here's Johnny" line.
[video=youtube;2TVooUHN7j4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TVooUHN7j4[/video]

The Stanley Hotel shows the uncut R-rated version The Shining on a continuous loop on Channel 42 on guest room televisions.

From there we headed up even higher to the Rockey Mountain National Park. The highest area is still closed because of the snow but we did get as high as 10,500 ft. Let me tell you, I could feel the difference in elevation.
Here are the shots from there.

On the way back down, in a meadow somewhere around 9,000 ft., I finally saw "free Range Elk."



Further along I saw a whole herd of Elk in a upper Plato field next to a trout stream.
Finally... Wild, free range Elk.







The rest of the trip was spend helping Adam pre-pair for his wedding on Sunday. All went well. Monday morning I drove out from the North side of Denver. Round trip was just a hair over 2,900 miles. Gas ranged from $3.58 to $4.11 on the RT. 80 turnpike. (bastards)
I will be going back one season to put the smack down on one of those Elk but for now, I'll just have to be happy with the 831 megs of pictures I took.