Colorado

Posted from Boulder, CO (Specifically, from Buchanan's Coffee Pub, on 14 & Penn.)



This will be my largest post ever. Since I crammed much adventure into a weekend: Horse riding, hiking, mountain highway, and sightseeing.

First, one thing political. The city of Denver is making last minute preps for the DNC, to occur here later this month. I took this photo of the convention center after work Friday......




And Barack has at least one supporter!

Rocky Mountains

Red Rocks Amphitheater is just outside Denver in the foothills. I cruised up there after work Friday to check out the scenery. The outdoor theater is tucked in those rocks. And it overlooks Denver. The Friday evening event was a showing of the movie Purple Rain (of Prince fame). I didn't stick around because of an early start tomorrow! And ironically, it rained.

Red Rocks overlooking Denver skyline

Saturday, an early start to the Rockies. North on 25, then cut west through the canyons.

Canyons near Lyons, CO.

You get your first glimpse of the rockies after a half hour driving thru the canyons and foothills!

It only took 2 hrs to my hotel, but checkin and my horse ride weren't till 11:30. Before hotel checkin, a walking trail around Lily Lake, just off Rte 7 outside the city of Estes Park....

Photo below, Mt. Meeker and Longs Peak, from Lily Lake. Longs is a "Fourteener" because it's over 14,000 feet in elevation. It is a badge of honor to have hiked a Fourteener in the Rockies. Longs is supposedly a 12 hour round trip hike, where you have to start at 3AM! Estes Cone is the mountaintop on right.

Closeup, leaves of Aspen tree, Lily Lake

Aspen Lodge, just off Rte 7 about 10 mins south of Estes Park, where I stayed Saturday. Sleigh in foreground.

Horse Riding

The tour Saturday included our wrangler (guide) Carolyn, and three guests - Josh, and Josh's girlfriend whose name I forget, and myself. First off, the livery guys had to change the saddle on my Quarter horse Amos. The original saddle was too loose. The livery men grew up as ranchers in Wyoming and are total Marlboro men, the real deal, not actors!

Throwing on saddle blanket......

In photo below, they're about to put on saddle and saddle bags. Saddle bags and pommel sacks are great for carrying lunch and camera. Such bags are used with Western saddles on journeys. English riding saddles do not have those conveniences. "With English, you ride for an hour then go for tea" as Carolyn put it.....

We rode most of the way up Estes Cone, probably up to elev. 10,000. (base elev. is around 7500 ft above sea level).

Scenic trail and part of Carolyn's hat

Carolyn and Josh crossing a stream!

We took a wrong turn at the pass and ended up at Longs Peak ranger station (see map). It turned our 3 hour ride into an even more fun 5 hour ride. There was much good cheer and conversation since all of us have been so many places, the conversations were much about travels. Josh and girlfreind live locally but are from the midwest. Josh works in IT subcontractor to a phone company, involved in distributing phone books. Carolyn does wrangling occasionally on weekends.

Horses tied up at ranger station. They wait while we got proper directions back to the ranch!

It turns out that my friend Karen, from Ireland, taught Carolyn how to ride at summer camp in Maine. True! Small world. Here's me, Amos, and Carolyn.

Estes Park is a touristy town, a gateway to the Rockies. It has at least four fudge shops.

And it's home of the Stanley Hotel, inspiration for Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. The Stanley was filmed in a TV miniseries of The Shining. The scary movie, starring Jack Nicholson and Shelly Duvall, used a ski lodge (Timberline) in Oregon as the Overlook Hotel.

After horse riding and sightseeing around Estes Park, I headed west on hwy 34 to the park entrance.

Rockies at dusk. These mountains are on the Continental Divide. Time to go home & come back tomorrow.

Sunday, I drove into the park a ways. Up, up, up.

one of several parking areas on hwy 36. my ears popped like every 1000 feet vertical.

And cyclists. There were many up there.

Above the treeline is alpine tundra.

I went as far as Forest Canyon, about a half-hour from Estes Park. This is probably elev. 11,000.

Critter

After the scenic drive, I hit this walking trail near Cub Lake.

Heading back toward Denver thru the canyons once again.....

Where foothills and prairie meet. Boulder, home to University of Colorado, is at the edge of the foothills.

Boulder waves hello. Or c-ya bye, as I fly out tomorrow!