Today was an exploring day so we took off from our spot at Boyd Lake SP and headed west into the Rockies. From where we are camped, it is only a couple miles to US-34, the road through Big Thomson Canyon and up into Rocky Mountain National Park. The starting elevation today was about 4,500′ and we took Charlotte up and over the Trail Ridge Highway which peaked out at 12,200′.
Not far from our campsite, the traffic thinned out and we were able to maintain a pretty low speed which was great. The reasons for our slow progress were the extremely twisty road and the terrific scenery as we climbed up through the canyon cut by the Big Thomson River through pure rock. It is a very steep canyon, maybe 100 feet wide at the bottom and not too much wider 400′ up between the rock cliffs. Most of the drive is in the shade unless you drive through around noon.
As we drove up to Estes Park, we noted a few structures like bridges, garages, roads and residences that were wrecked by floodwaters with fractions of them still standing. Must have been an expensive spring. We emerged from the canyon and took the bypass around the really touristy, disgusting part of Estes Park which is located at an elevation of 7,500′. A few miles after leaving town, we crossed through the Rocky Mountain National Park entrance station where we didn’t have to pay $20 because we have a new federal access pass. We bought this gem in the Badlands and have already come out $30 ahead on federal entrance fees.
The road gets steeper past the entrance and continues pretty much without downgrades until we got all the way to the park visitor center up on the Continental Divide at around 12,000′ elevation. Charlotte ran like a top all the way up. We fooled around and took some pictures at the top of the world but pictures are poor reproductions of the absolutely stunning views from here. The road is way above tree line and the mountains are stark monoliths of rock with many-colored tundra, pikas (puny rodents), chipmunks, marmots and some Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep as the only inhabitants. The horizons are a great deal of distance from this vantage point. On the way back down, we pulled out at almost every turnout along the road and were rewarded with more magnificent scenery. We descended through some really tough but dinky conifers and some colorful aspens grimly hanging on in a very tough winter environment. We kept descending to a campground called Moraine Park where Peggy and I stayed on our honeymoon trip back in 1979. The scenery is just as gorgeous now as I remember it back in ’79. The magnificent scenery of this park makes it a true bucket list destination.
We headed down through Estes Park, this time with all the repulsive enterprise dedicated to separating suckers from their hard-earned dollars plainly evident as we traversed the main drag of town before continuing down the spectacular Big Thomson River canyon. It is an extraordinary chasm this river has cut and the evidence that the river rises during the thaw is widespread. There are very few roadside turnouts so this drive may be more rewarding for passengers than for the driver who must keep his eyes on the twisted road to avoid certain death from a plunge into the river or an abrupt stop into the adjacent cliff faces. This is a good road to creep along if you can get away with it because the views are very nifty.