Estes Park, Colorado - General Impressions

So, we drove into Colorado on Monday, June 6th. First impressions?

The mountains were pretty impressive from a distance.





The kids were fascinated as we drove though the city of Loveland and saw a couple "dispensaries" (ie. Marijuana stores).


 
Honestly, I was surprised that we didn't see more of them. There were none, for example, in Estes Park. There were a lot of t-shirts and things like that about pot, but for the most part it wasn't significantly more than you would find in any souvenir shops in other places around the country. The kids both wanted to bring back their friends a little pot from Colorado so we found this at Sgt Peppers Music.


 
Other impressions?

Breathtaking views. Honestly, Colorado is one of the most beautiful places we have ever visited. Beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Great mountain views. Coming from one of the flattest places in the country, it was really cool to wake up every morning and watch the sun rise over the mountains each day.


 
campground sunrise


 
evening sunset in campground




Having fun with panoramic while looking at Longs Peak, the tallest in RMNP


 
Mikah enjoying the amazing view

one view from Trail Ridge Road

What does it all mean?

Afternoon storms. These occurred almost every day and never lasted long, but were always very powerful and ominous looking. They brought big lightning and thunder along with towering clouds. One day we had hail. It might be in the 90's and then a storm would roll in, and it would suddenly be in the 50's. You really had to dress for a range of weather each day.

Lots of wildlife. Our first week especially, there were daily appearances of wildlife in the campground. And by in, I mean within feet of us.


deer outside camper in the morning

One day we came back from a morning hike and everyone was milling around relaxing. I looked at Lilly and saw her jaw drop open as she noticed a huge elk sitting quietly in the shade just about 20 feet away.

hey there, big fella


a lady channels her inner National Geographic

In addition, we saw big horn sheep, moose (including a baby), and the funny yellow bellied marmots. What we didn't see (thankfully) were bears and mountain lions, though we know they are there.

Interestingly, we also saw tons of humming birds. Here's one that found its way into the rock shop and couldn't find its way out.



Snow! We were also surprised by the amount of snow that was still in the mountains in June. The campground hosts told us there were 17 foot snow drifts that you could see on the Trail Ridge drive through Rocky Mountain National Park. I have to admit, I was skeptical. I mean, who can imagine 17 FEET of snow?
 

I can imagine it now!

Great hiking. Like the weather, this varied a lot. There were hikes that reminded me of Oak Openings at home. There were total lung and leg burners that climbed and climbed leaving you ready to wave the white flag. (I was able to avoid the worst of these, but that's another story). We did hiking almost every day and barely scratched the surface of all of the trails there. For those that like to hike, they were very well marked and almost always well described in the maps and books in terms of their length and difficulty. Our favorite hike was the Emerald Lake hike. It was moderate in terms of difficulty. The toughest (and most fun) part was dealing with the slippery nature of the snow covered trail.








This destination hike was definitely worth the effort. The view at Emerald Lake was spectacular. It made a great spot to rest and have a snack before the hike back. We enjoyed watching the chipmunks darting around looking for a handout.



Active Coloradoans. If you aren't the outdoorsy type, Colorado is probably not the place for you. People there are generally very fit and do a lot of things outdoors. In the summer they to hike, jog, bike, fish, and rock climb among other things. We saw road bikers doing the Peak to Peak trail, up and down steep windy roads - uh, no, thank you. We also saw a lot of younger people hiking with large pads that looked like mattresses on their back to do bouldering, which is just a type of rock climbing.






RMNP is a busy place. With all it has to offer, it's no surprise that millions of people flock to this area each summer. The park had a great shuttle service that would take you from one of the lots to many of the popular trailheads in the park. This became necessary as the parking lots for the trailheads would fill quickly. The trails themselves were also very busy with other hikers as well. There are plenty of places to hike where its not filled with other people, but most of the really scenic ones had lots of travelers.



All in all, Colorado, our family gives you a two thumbs up review.

Travel days, why we camp, and why the Halls are awesome

Pretty much every year since the kids were old enough to travel, the Hall family and the Pransky family have taken a summer trips together somewhere around the country.  We've explored some of the most beautiful places this country has to offer including: Yellowstone, the Tetons, Acadia National Park, and the Smokies among many others.  This year, our clan decided to tackle a big trip to Estes Park, Colorado which is about 1,200 miles away near Rocky Mountain National Park.

With a few exceptions, our summer trips have involved pop-up camping.  While it is certainly more work (and risk, as I'll hopefully post later) to haul our camper and all of our belongings across the country for two weeks, there are a lot of advantages to this kind of vacation.  

The requisite group pic (minus Jen) before we hit the road

I know many people are not the camping or even road trip vacation types.  Most people prefer to fly and just stay in a cozy all inclusive hotel or go on a cruise.  No judgement, as we do this type of vacation ourselves, and they are awesome too.  But, there really is something to be said for seeing the countryside and for getting unplugged from civilization a bit. 

The drive itself to Estes Park was really pretty easy and for the most part uneventful.  Estes Park is about a 20 hour drive (not including stops) from home.  You can take I-80 almost all the way there so navigation is simple.  To break the drive up, we stopped and camped in Iowa and Nebraska one night each.  We used the cool Roadtrippers website to plan these stops close to the route.  The campgrounds were nothing special, but they made good places to rest for the night.
 

Our campsite in IA

On the last day of driving, a kind of funny thing that happened.  I let Greg know through the walkie-talkie that I needed to stop to get gas.  Jen and the kids went in to use the restroom and get some snacks, while I pumped the gas.  I went to the pump and swiped my credit card and then began pumping the gas.  Next, Greg called to me to take a picture in front of the gas station sign because, with our adolescent humor, we thought it was funny.  (Our previous stop had been at the similarly suggestive "Kum and Go." ) 

Hopefully, Pump and Pantry and Kum
and Go don't merge and combine names

When Greg was done taking the picture I washed the windows and then checked the pump which seemed to be done.  Reading the total, it looked like I only put in about $30 which seemed a little low, but was within the normal range so I didn't think much more about it. 

So we loaded up and headed back on the road.  About fifteen minutes later, I glanced down at my gas gauge.  To my surprise and concern, I was on empty, really empty. Keep in mind, this is in eastern Colorado which is pretty barren,  It's not like in Ohio where there are exits with gas every couple miles.  I had to drive another 10 miles and then drive another 5 miles off the exit with my gas light on in order to get gas, for real this time.  What happened the first time?  I'm not really sure.  All I know is it didn't pump when I thought it was pumping. 

Anyhow, with this minor crisis averted, we continued driving toward our destination.  As we drove, the Rockies came into sight and continued to grow bigger and bigger.  Eventually, we were climbing winding roads in the Rockies toward Estes Park.

We finally arrived at East Portal campground and found our sites.  We were a little disappointed because the sites were small, difficult to get the camper into, and not even remotely level.  But as it turned out, the location was very popular with the animals in the area so that kind of made up for its shortcomings.

our campsite at Estes Park

The views from the campground were often spectacular.

Wow!

 Up close and personal views of wildlife like this were common.

elk roaming

 

#selkie

a deer feeding outside our camper in the morning

Great views  and beautiful nature aside, it is obviously way, way cheaper to camp.  Camping in a state and or national park is usually less than $50 a day.  (Estes Park was $40)  This savings frees us up to both take a longer trip and to spend our money a bit more freely while on the trip.  For example, we go out to dinner at least once a day when we are camping. And usually at some point we'll also do a more expensive activity like whitewater rafting or taking ridiculous old timey photos without worrying too much about the cost.

Over the years, these camping trips have provided both of our families some of our fondest memories.  Our nighttime campfire conversations are often spent playing music or retelling funny or memorable stories of things we've done together.  As the kids have grown up and the adults grown grayer wiser, our families have grown together as well.  Mikah thinks of Lilly like a younger sister and Rogan and Lucas have been best bros ever since they could talk.  
 

kids hiking in Hocking Hills (2009)

Jen and I have enjoyed watching all of the kids grow up and become such wonderful young adults. Beth and Greg have been the best friends one could ask for - the type of friends you can count on for anything.  The type of friends that know your quirks and idiosyncrasies and yet they still want to hang out with you.  

We've had  a lot of fun camping together over the years 
 

Greg and Mikah hiking

camping at Maumee Bay State Park

kids Fall camping at Pokagon, IN

Mikah and Lilly in Ithaca

Fort DeSoto, Florida

The Halls have been like an extended family for us for a long time.  We are so thankful to have shared so many great experiences with them over the years and hope to have many more adventures with them in the future.  That being said, we realize that the sad reality is that as older kids approach the end of high school and adulthood, these group vacations may happen less frequently.  :(

2016 - a friendly fellow traveler took a picture of of the entire group
while visiting Trail Ridge Drive

With this in mind, we wanted to make the most of this one.  I think we did.  I'll post more about it when I get a chance.  Thanks for reading.

-Shane