Colorado Day 3

Today we drove Trail Ridge Road. I expected many precarious ledges and to be simultaneously scared for my life and awed by the beauty around me.

The weather started rolling in soon after we started the drive. We thought it was going to be rain, but soon found out that because of our elevation it was more of the hail-snow we'd experienced at Cub Lake yesterday. Semi-dense balls of snow driven by serious winds!

Visibility kept getting more and more restricted until we were barely able to drive because we could only see 5-10' in front of the car... but yet the road remained open! (we'd been told the road would be closed at Rainbow Curve - only 11 miles down the road)


We made it to the Alpine Visitors Center juuuuuust as the clouds were clearing. The view was so exciting and spectacular - I couldn't possibly capture it with a camera, but I did my best.


The snow was deep and when we started heading up the little trail to the top of the hill by the center, I was definitely regretting that I hadn't brought my boots -there was deep snow on either side of the trail - which was intermittently covered in slush deep enough to soak my puny running shoes.


We all made it to the top though and while we were aware of the approaching brew of snow contained in the clouds racing towards us, we managed to see and appreciate the sights while catching our breath from the climb (my RBC count must be SKYROCKETING!!!)

This area used to be a glacier field according to a sign I didn't read - I wonder if it was only 5 years ago or 50....

We road tripped all the way to Grand Lake on the other side of RMNP - pretty awesome trip, amazing views everywhere, then headed back so we could meet up with a friend of my mom's from work (Matt). The trip back was less exciting, except for just after this pic (which I'd been planning all day - wanting to capture just how deep the snow is) when I heard a big rumble of THUNDER!!! sooooooooo awesome!!! I wish it had just raged hard core lightning and fearsome snow, but alas it was a one time event as we raced down the mountain and back to our little cottage. I fell asleep in the car.

Meeting Marr was pretty cool. He's about my age and has been living in CO for a while - serious fisherman/dog lover (you know how I feel there). He had some seriously entertaining stories about fish, bears, and moose that I will take into serious consideration before I'd ever decide to move to CO and become some kind of backwoods mountain-woman. Dinner was killer tonight - buffalo burgers and root veggies! My stomach has never been so pleased.