Denver is planned as a relaxing stay with time for me to do some writing in a city neither of us has been to before. There’s plenty of stuff to see and do so we wouldn’t get bored. Lots of green grass for Duncan as well, which I think he appreciates after all the sand and prickly things growing in the desert. If you read yesterday’s post you might remember the interesting, and high, roads we took to get to Denver, traveling through the famous skiing areas of Vail and Breckenridge and hitting heights of near 11,400 feet. Denver is a mere twelve miles from the Rocky Mountain foothills and is itself pretty high. It’s known as the mile-high city because its official elevation is 5280 feet, one mile, above sea level.
The first day in Denver we spent wandering around the area and resting up. Our hotel is downtown and close to the Capital, Congress, and Civic Center Park. It’s a great place to wander around or sit in the sun and Duncan did a lot of both.
The second day here I decided to continue to relax and do some writing and Dan decided to hit Rocky Mountain National Park. RMNP is the third most visited National Park in the system with more than 4.6 million visitors in 2019. The park is very large in itself and also adjoins US Forest Service wilderness on it’s boundaries. The Continental Divide runs through the park as well as it being the home to the headwaters of the Colorado River.
Rocky Mountain National Park is one of the best examples in the world of true mountain environments and like most of the National Parks we visited has a history beginning with the Paleo-Indians traveling through the park to get from one place to another as well as to hunt and forage for food.
There are an amazing number of mountain environments that visitors can see, many of which can easily be snow-covered even in June. Dan hiked trails that included five lakes, Bear Lake, Nymph Lake, Dream Lake, Emerald Lake, and Sprague Lake walking through snow in his summer shorts the entire way.
Nymph Lake
It’s nearly June and there’s still lots of snow around for those that don’t get enough of it. The day hikers are mostly dressed for summer and the hikers going camping are better prepared for both the slippery hiking conditions as well as the temperature changes between day and night. To be honest, I chose to stay at the hotel because I needed a day off, but if I had gone along I would not have been excited to see the snow. However, the beauty evidenced by Dan’s pictures makes me a little sad I didn’t get to this park.
What one wilderness area have you always wanted to visit and what would you do once you were there?
