Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
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RMNP Entrance Sign
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Longs Peak
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Couple at Bear Lake
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Bear Lake
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Nymph Lake
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Ducks at Nymph Lake
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Hollowell Park
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Many Parks Curve
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Rainbow Curve
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Kirk at Rainbow Curve
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Clouds at Top
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Kirk at 10,580 ft
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Rainbow Curve
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Stones Peak
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Forest Canyon Viewpoint
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Forest Canyon Viewpoint
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Mount Ida & Arrowhead Lake
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View from Trail Ridge Road
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Gore Range
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Gore Range Viewpoint
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Forest Canyon
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Trail Ridge Road
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Medicine Bow Curve
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Poudre Valley
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View from Trail Ridge Road
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Trail Ridge Road
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View from Rock Cut
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Elk Crossing Road
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Sheep Lakes Area
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Deer Mountain
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Clearing Storm Hidden Valley
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Clearing Storm Horseshoe Park
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Mountain at Sunset
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Alluvial Fan
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Old Fall River Road View
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Spires
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Landslide
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Old Fall River Road View
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Old Fall River Road
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Chaplin Creek
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Alpine Visitior Center View
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Alpine Visitor Center View
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Cache la Poudre River
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Continental Divide
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Farview Curve
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Kawunkkche Valley
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Kawuneeche Valley
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Mineral Point
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Farview Curve
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Alpine Visitors Center
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Jackstraw Mountain
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Gore Range Viewpoint
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Forest Canyon
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Alberta Falls
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Mills Lake Trail
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Mills Lake Trail
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Mills Lake Trail
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Mills Lake
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Mills Lake
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Mills Lake
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Mills Lake
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Mills Lake Trail
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Boulder Brook
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Strom Pass
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Helpful Links
Rocky Mountain National Park
Estes Park, Colorado
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Trip Itinerary
Friday, August 25
- Caught cold, called in sick to work
- Caught up on sleep in morning, shot Booster Club photos at Noon
- Left for Madison at 3 pm
- Meet Amy in Madison had dinner at Rocky's and went to bed early
Saturday, August 26
- Up early and off to Madison airport
- Flight to Denver via MSP
- Arrived in Denver and had to wait for 50 minutes for luggage
- Got rental car started driving to Estes Park
- Stopped to have lunch at Uno's & picked up supplies at Walmart on edge of town
- Remembered I forgot to buy film and stopped at Target in Boulder, students moving in made the place a madhouse
- Arrived in Estes Park and checked into Silver Moon Motel
- Town was busy with tourists
- Dinner at Mexican restaurant, went to find place for sunset but missed it
- To bed early due to long travel day
Sunday, August 27
- Weather colder then expected so went to store to buy Amy a sweatshirt
- Entered RMNP and missed turn and drove in a bit then turned around and took road up to Bear Lake
- Walked the nature trail around Bear Lake, weather was cloudy and cold
- Hiked trail up to Nymph Lake, altitude and cold took their toll and wore us out
- Started to rain so headed back to car
- Back to Estes Park for lunch at burger place and then a nap
- Late afternoon back to the park and drove up trail ridge road
- Stopped at Many Parks overlook and Rainbow Curve, by the time we got to the top it was clouded in and snowing so turned around
- Had dinner at Taco Bell/KFC/Pizza Hut, got ice cream and talked to people with dog
Monday, August 28
- Amy woke me up at 5:30 and said she was really sick so took her to the hospital
- She was diagnosed with pneumonia and given a bunch of drugs and released after a few hours, going to altitude with a cold is a bad idea, lower air pressure let it spread to her lungs
- Went back to the hotel to let Amy rest, lunch at other burger bar
- After a nap went back to RMNP and drove Trail Ridge Road to Alpine Visitors Center
- Weather was still pretty cloudy and cold but got some interesting photos
- On way back had nice Elk sighting with herd crossing the road
- On way back down near sunset got some great photos near meadow
- Dinner someplace, more ice cream (of course Amy bought)
Tuesday, August 29
- In morning drove old gravel road up valley to visitors center and then down the other side weather was good and much warmer had lunch at visitors center parking lot with Subway sandwiches we picked after our daily trip to Safeway
- Probably had nap again because that is what Amy does, plus she was sick so I had to be nice to her :)
- Dinner at nicer restaurant
- Went to movie at theatre
Wednesday, August 30
- Hiked to Mills Lake by myself, left Amy with the car
- 5.8 mile hike pretty much uphill, should have allowed more time as I had to haul butt to get it done in 2.5 hours
- Mills Lake was really nice and picturesque in a glacial valley
- Back to town for lunch at pizza place, something about it was odd
- Went by dog park to try to cheer Amy up
- Had yet another nap
- Afternoon went up to Rainbow Curve and caught the scenery for a while
- Came back and had dinner at someplace nearby where had yet another burger
- Decided since we were pretty sick to cut vacation short and changed reservations
- So didn't got to Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP or Great Sand Dunes NP on this trip
Thursday, August 31
- Got up and checked out of hotel
- Took slow trip back to Denver
- Had lunch at Macaroni Grill and went to mall where Amy got her toes done
- Flight was late due to weather
- Had shorter layover in MSP and had trouble finding a place to eat since everything was closed
- Flight to Madison was late
- Finally got to Amy's about 1:30 am, Gizmo was surprised and happy to see us
Friday, September 1
- Layed around Amy's unshowered and watched TV
Saturday, September 2
- More of the same except took a shower
Sunday, September 3
- Back to Winona with Gizmo (Amy's cat)
Monday, September 4 (Labor Day)
- More laying around unshowered at home watching the big screen HTDV
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