Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Colorado

It has been a while since my last post. We've been hanging around the Denver area for the last two months. We took a day trip to Georgetown and up to Guanella Pass, we've been to Rocky Mountain National Park a couple times and then to Breckenridge to check it out and visit with friends.  Mostly the stay in Denver is about visiting our daughter's family.
Georgetown is a neat old town with lots of historic homes and buildings. We went on a week day in September and it was very peaceful. We just walked around for a while and then drove up the winding road to Guanella Pass at treeline. (Link to Georgetown info)
Georgetown

Georgetown

Georgetown from road to
Guanella Pass

View at Guanella Pass


We made two trips into Rocky Mountain National Park. The first trip we mainly drove the Trail Ridge Road to Alpine Visitor Center stopping at all of the scenic pullouts to take it all in. We walked a little bit on the historic Ute Trail but it was bitter cold so that didn't last long. This trail was used for thousands of years by native peoples following herds of elk as they migrated across the mountains. It was very neat to walk the same trail so we'll have to go back when it is warmer and go further.
Rocky Mtn Natl Park
View at Many Parks Curve
View at Rainbow Curve
View from Deer Mountain trail
View just east of Alpine Visitor Center


Our second trip into the park was focused on hiking and then later in the day viewing and listening to elk "bugling". After walking around Sprague Lake we hiked to Alberta Falls. We then went back toward to the meadows and saw elk and listened to the bulls bugling. They call it bugling but it sounded more like a high pitched squeal to us.
Bull Elk

Alberta Falls