Nebraska & Colorado, Part 1

Hello again! It seems as though we have a significant amount of catching up to do. Let's get to it.

I have broken up Colorado, Utah and California into separate parts. I have so many parks to talk about that I didn't want to put up a bazillion posts (as one Grand Canyon park ranger would say), but I also don't want to leave you with novels for each state.

Nebraska
Day 15 began with a trip to Nebraska, state 21, for a visit to Chimney Rock National Historic Site. It looks cool. It's so cool (how cool is it?), it's probably the coolest thing in the entire state. And that's a big state. The museum charged an entrance fee even with my annual pass. I saved my $2 after learning everything I cared about (regarding the rock) in my bible. I took my one photo and left.

I then visited Sydney and the other Cabella's! I was out to get a good backpacking (small and light) tent as a replacement to my broken Wal-Mart tent. I was successful - found a $90 tent for $40.

If you followed the link above, you've exhausted the Nebraska photo album.

Colorado
I wanted to make a little more progress to make sure I could get a campsite at the popular Rocky Mountain National Park the following day. I ended up in Shawnee National Grassland. It's about as exciting as it sounds. They have grass.

This was the night of my worst mosquito experience thus far. Have you ever had an awful mosquito experience? These mosquitoes seemed to be attracted to Deet. I was in the tent early that night.

I just reviewed my journal entry for July 30 to see if I left anything out. I did not; the entry is about 10 lines long and ends with "Boring Day." 

Rocky Mountain National Park
I knew Rocky Mountain National Park was a popular park, but I expected it to be slightly less crowded than Yellowstone. It felt more crowded. It's the only park I've had to wait in line to enter. A big part of this was because it was a Sunday and the park is a conceivable day trip for nearly anyone in the Denver area.

Trail Ridge Road in the park is supposed to be one of the most spectacular drives in the country, but it was just to crowded to enjoy thoroughly. In addition, the only campground with sites still available was on the other end of the park, about 50 miles away. Fortunately, spots were still available. And it turned out to be a pretty cool campsite.

But I was still frustrated with the crowd. So I tried to get away. I left the east side of the park and visited Arapaho National Recreation Area. I found a bench with a relatively quiet and cool view by a lake where I caught up on journal entries and played a the guitar.

Day 17
Had a big thunderstorm last night; the second night in the new tent. It held up nicely. I forgot to mention two things previously. First, Colorado is not a new state; I drove I-70 East on the way home from the first leg. Second, It had rained on the way to Pawnee National Grassland (which will come into play shortly).

I woke up in a neutral mood with a plan: I was going to move quickly from camp, drive Trail Ridge Road again to get the full experience and then leave from the east side of the park. I was hopeful, but still expecting a crowd. I rolled my sleeping pad and packed my sleeping bag (not quiet activities), unzipped the tent and stepped outside.

An elk was staring me in the face, perhaps 20 feet away. I shifted to peripheral vision; there were five elk total (none with antlers; otherwise  I would have been back in the tent quickly). But the one who had been staring at me put her head back down and continued to eat grass. Since they obviously weren't offended by my presence, I invited myself a seat at my picnic table and just watched. At one point a smaller elk walked right by the table and started eating grass about 10 feet away from me! Apparently I was being super stealthy because when I got up from the table to get my camera from my car, the elk jumped backwards and said, "Huh?" Then she kept eating. Perhaps you think elk are about the size of deer. Think again.

After taking photos for a few minutes, I saw the elk begin to move away from the campsite. I was okay with it because I wanted to eat my breakfast but didn't want to approach the wildlife. Just as I was walking back to my picnic table I saw another elk come out of the brush across a creek about 150 feet away. I put my head down and walked to the table.

I looked at the elk again.

It was a moose, again looking right at me.

So the day began on the right hoof and I was excited to drive the road again. And I was still able to break camp early enough that the road was not too crowded (plus it was a Monday).

I left the park on the east side, through the town of Estes Park. My father called me when I was in the town and, in the least creepy way possible, said, "You're in Estes Park."

"Yes," I replied, "I am."

He called to inform me the hotel which inspired The Shining is in Estes Park. He said it has a red roof. I told him I just drove by a building with a red roof. I was right in front of the hotel when he called.

The rest of the day consisted of me driving to Great Sand Dunes National Park, with a Wal-Mart pit-stop; a Wal-Mart with a McDonald's inside nevertheless. Hooray America!

Colorado Photo Album (contains photos from other Colorado posts)

Next Post: Colorado, Part 2