Moved from the eastern portion of the park over to the western side today, taking the Trail Ridge Road. This route is extremely scenic with lots and lots of highlights as it crosses through and over a couple of different Eco systems. Without getting into too much detail, this trip was a climb from an elevation of about 8000 feet, to over 12,000. The road was not all that narrow, but no guard rails. My little rig and I were above tree line for the very first time, up into the tundra, pass snow drifts taller than my little camper which stands at 10′ clearance, and back into the trees and valleys on the other side.
Of note today, for the very first time in my 49+ years, I have crossed over the Continental Divide. Never in my life have I been this far west.
Of course, I could not resist stopping at nearly every overlook, and every historical marker and take it all in. I went from a very comfortable but cool morning, to below freezing temps with very high and gusting winds and then back into a more temperate climate. Of course, I did over do things a bit while at altitude hiking, walking and taking lots of pictures, so I paid the price later in the afternoon and into the evening with some mild but obvious issues possibly associated with the altitude. Dinner did help me recover somewhat.
Besides the memorable crossing west of the Continental Divide, I also saw for the very first time a Marmot and some American Pipits at the top of the Trail Ridge Drive, then as I was exiting the park near Gandy Lake, I saw a good sized herd of Moose right next to the road.
Spending the next couple of days, dry camping at Sunset Point campground in the Arapaho National Recreation Area. The campground is fairly new, is not all that big, and currently has only three campers including me! My site sits overlooking the lake and the camper is facing to the southwest, so I get a little afternoon sun. This is advantageous as it is supposed to be down in the lower 30’s tonight, with a possibility of 1″ to 3″ of snow.
Okay kids, time to make this Blog just a bit more interactive. Look closely at this last picture and tell me what this is. In all honesty, it took me two days and I had to read about it somewhere. Just select on comments below and provide your best guess. I will e-mail the correct answer to any one who submits their best guess in a week or so. The rest of you I will have to keep in suspense . . .
Don’t forget to sign your name! If you use my generic login to access the site, I would have no other way of knowing who you are.
sticks and stones? miss ya!
I would have to say either a ready made fire pit for someone in need or a nest of some kind.
Can I get two guesses? Being a novice at all this trail thing I am going to say first it is a nest of some sort belonging to a ground animal….don't laugh. the other option is that it is a trail mark. so there you go. Whats the prize?
Tracey