I go to Colorado fairly often. We have a family cabin my dad built in the 1950s, so seeing the Rocky Mountains has been a lifelong thing for me. Not so for others, I know, and the highlight of my trip in July was introducing my 77 year old friend and neighbor to ‘real mountains,’ as she called them.
The Flatirons in Boulder gave my friend Flo a taste of mountains, but, there was more to come!
We made a day’s excursion up into Rocky Mountain National Park and up Trail Ridge Road.
Yes, that’s the road up…and up….and up.
Driving my camper van, which is top-heavy, around so many curves and with other cars piling up behind us, was its own adventure. I’ve only had it a year, so hadn’t done any alpine mountain driving in it, and with the drop-offs this hit my nerve limit. We pulled in at Forest Canyon Overlook.
I had achieved the main goals for this trip: get above timberline and have views of multiple mountain ranges, including this one above, the Never Summer Range…
…and looking back east, the Continental Divide with Longs Peak at the far left. The alpine tundra flowers were doing their best at blooming really low to avoid the cold wind.
It was well worth spending time at the overlook, because several yellow-bellied marmots also came out to enjoy the sun and view of the Never Summer Range.
We had to add our own layers!
An enjoyable trip which, of course, ended with shopping and ice cream in Estes Park! Hope all of you have the chance to experience the wonder of real mountains somewhere!
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