Colorado - 1st trip - advice please!

[chellefnp]

We were at RMNP in late July. If you get there early enough you can park at the Moraine Park Visitor's Center and they run shuttle buses all day long to the Bear Lake or Glacier Gorge trailheads. The road is closed to public traffic from 9-4 but the shuttle buses can run. It can take a while to get there however with one lane closed at times.

If you go to the Glacier Gorge trailhead, you can hike about a mile to Alberta Falls with some great photo ops there. After that, not as much to see unless you go up another couple of miles, and it is pretty strenuous hiking, but Loch Vale is beautiful.

[bps]

Originally Posted by spotz04

There's so much to see in CO that I'm finding one needs at least two weeks to cover much of it.

Actually, one needs about 10 years!

Best wishes for a great trip,
Bryan

[spotz04]

katgrl82 -- I bought the book, very informative so many thanks for the suggestion. Btw, you have some really great pics!

chellefnp - I'd rather avoid that whole shuttle bus and waiting times situation on Bear Lake Rd mainly because the shuttles don't start to run until 7am -- which means shooting a pic of Dream Lake at sunrise (6:20'ish next week) will not be doable.

For those interested, the road reconstruction project continues into 2013 -- Bear Lake Road Reconstruction

I also found a trail map of the area for showing hike distances - PDF

bps - Thanks!

[mzelmom]

Be prepared for weather. I was there in July and saw more than a few get caught in awesome storm up at the summit. Sunny and warm for most of the morning and then all hell broke loose and the tempature dropped to 39*. It was an amazing storm. It seemed as if sheets of water were coming down. I had never seen anything like it. The looks on the faces of the people who got caught unprepared was a whole other story. I hope your trip is as great as mine was.

[SmokeySiFy]

Sounds like you are staying east of the rockies for most of the trip, no big deal.

Denver: Union station, market street (so called cause thats where all the whorehouses were during the mining days), 16th street mall, and lo-do (lower downtown) are all good to do when you do the rockies game. If you want to have a fun tour of denver, you can take a pedicab (bike taxi). Just be sure to either arrange one with someone who can give a tour beforehand or quiz your potential driver on what he will show you before you hop in. Some are more focused on just point to point driving, while others really know their history.

Mountains: Too much to see. Try to see a recently burned area, an area burned 5 years ago, and an area burned 10+ years ago. Also you can drive up loveland pass and get good pictures from the top of the Continental divide (you can also take a piss that will end up in two different oceans). Most of the ski areas also allow you to ride to the top of the lifts for a small fee or to access restaurants on the mountains. If you take I-70 into the mountains, be sure to stop in Idaho springs to eat at the buffalo restaurant. There is also a mining tour somewhere along I-70 that is kinda cool.

Sand dunes are great, but they will take a day to get to and a day to get back. Just be sure to plan accordingly and see things along the way.

Check out Boulder, and the university. One of the most beautiful campuses in the country, if not world. You can drive up baseline road and park at several areas that look out over the city and campus. Then from boulder you can take the 93 to golden. it is a beautiful drive of rolling hills.

There is also a dinosaur park where they are pulling fossils out of a rock face and you can see them working. I can't remember where exactly that is right now, but should be easy to Google.

So much to see, a lifetime would be needed to see it all. Good luck and have fun!

[Preeb]

Originally Posted by chellefnp

We were at RMNP in late July. If you get there early enough you can park at the Moraine Park Visitor's Center and they run shuttle buses all day long to the Bear Lake or Glacier Gorge trailheads. The road is closed to public traffic from 9-4 but the shuttle buses can run. It can take a while to get there however with one lane closed at times.

If you go to the Glacier Gorge trailhead, you can hike about a mile to Alberta Falls with some great photo ops there. After that, not as much to see unless you go up another couple of miles, and it is pretty strenuous hiking, but Loch Vale is beautiful.

Actually Alberta Falls is under a mile from the Glacier Gorge trailhead. It's about 3 miles to The Loch, and if you choose to take the left hand trail at the intersection about 2 miles in it's the same to Mills Lake, up the canyon that ends 2 miles father at Black Lake, near the western base of Longs Peak. It's a truly amazing landscape of glacier carved canyons and domes and lake filled basins, and a place where I've spent many, many days hiking and scrambling. I feel that hiking up Glacier Gorge is a must do for anyone who does any hiking at all in the Park.

A photographer could easily spend the entire week in the park and still not get enough. I spent at least a few days or weekends up there every summer for 30 years, as well as occasional trips in the off seasons too.

[centrarchidae]

There's a pretty interesting (and HUGE) burn area out west. Take US 285 west until you get to Pine Junction (the sign will say to turn left for Buffalo Creek) and turn left. If you follow that through, it'll take you to Deckers, which is a fly-fishing destination stream and has neat valley scenery even if you don't fish.

You can take the left at Deckers through Waterton Canyon and back to Denver, or take the right and that'll eventually get you to Woodland Park and Colorado Springs. Once I found a non-freeway route back to Denver from the Springs it became a pretty neat loop ride on a motorcycle.

Also, The dinosaur park.

Originally Posted by SmokeySiFy

Mountains: Too much to see. Try to see a recently burned area, an area burned 5 years ago, and an area burned 10+ years ago. Also you can drive up loveland pass and get good pictures from the top of the Continental divide (you can also take a piss that will end up in two different oceans). Most of the ski areas also allow you to ride to the top of the lifts for a small fee or to access restaurants on the mountains. If you take I-70 into the mountains, be sure to stop in Idaho springs to eat at the buffalo restaurant. There is also a mining tour somewhere along I-70 that is kinda cool.

(snippage)

There is also a dinosaur park where they are pulling fossils out of a rock face and you can see them working. I can't remember where exactly that is right now, but should be easy to Google.

So much to see, a lifetime would be needed to see it all. Good luck and have fun!

[Preeb]

Originally Posted by centrarchidae

There's a pretty interesting (and HUGE) burn area out west. Take US 285 west until you get to Pine Junction (the sign will say to turn left for Buffalo Creek) and turn left. If you follow that through, it'll take you to Deckers, which is a fly-fishing destination stream and has neat valley scenery even if you don't fish.

You can take the left at Deckers through Waterton Canyon and back to Denver, or take the right and that'll eventually get you to Woodland Park and Colorado Springs. Once I found a non-freeway route back to Denver from the Springs it became a pretty neat loop ride on a motorcycle.

Also, The dinosaur park.

No road goes through Waterton Canyon. You can hike up the canyon from Waterton to Two Forks, past the Foothills water treatment plant and the Strontia Springs reservoir. You can also get there from Shaefers Crossing or Pine Junction on US 285, or from the other end by turning west at Sedalia on US 85, then over the Rampart Range and through Sprucewood. The South Platte River between Cheesman Reservoir and Two Forks is quite scenic.

[spotz04]

We arrived at the Dunes tonight just in time for the sunset. Beautiful colors in the sky. Got some shots of the shadows across the dunes from the Lodge above the Oasis restaurant. We'll go down to the Dunes in the morning. Too cloudy tonight for Milky Way, plus the Moon is right smack in the middle of the southern portion of the MW. I was hoping for a lightning storm anywhere, either in the mountains or out west but it looks like the weather is calming down this evening.

Did RMNP. Trail Ridge Rd was awesome, as was Old Falls Rd. Spent just over 4 hours on Old Falls River Rd shooting springs. The Chasm trail was closed - reconstruction project going on. Hiked up to Dream Lake - water was like glass, perfect. Didn't get the sunrise, though, got up a little too late then road to parking lot was delayed due to a family of elk in the road.

Went up to Pikes Peak this morning, took the Cog train. Not much too see from the trail. A drive up ourselves probably would have been better. Once at the summit there was excessive haze at all directions (360), likely from the forest fires out west and north.

Got some good shots of Garden of Gods.

So far I've shot about 700 pics. I still have to sift through them yet which I'll do when I get home.

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions, I'm still taking notes.

[centrarchidae]

Originally Posted by Preeb

No road goes through Waterton Canyon. You can hike up the canyon from Waterton to Two Forks, past the Foothills water treatment plant and the Strontia Springs reservoir. You can also get there from Shaefers Crossing or Pine Junction on US 285, or from the other end by turning west at Sedalia on US 85, then over the Rampart Range and through Sprucewood. The South Platte River between Cheesman Reservoir and Two Forks is quite scenic.

I didn't post that. Nobody saw anything. Can't prove it was me. And I really meant all that stuff that you said anyway.

[Clark]

Originally Posted by spotz04

We arrived at the Dunes tonight just in time for the sunset. Beautiful colors in the sky. Got some shots of the shadows across the dunes from the Lodge above the Oasis restaurant. We'll go down to the Dunes in the morning. Too cloudy tonight for Milky Way, plus the Moon is right smack in the middle of the southern portion of the MW. I was hoping for a lightning storm anywhere, either in the mountains or out west but it looks like the weather is calming down this evening.

Did RMNP. Trail Ridge Rd was awesome, as was Old Falls Rd. Spent just over 4 hours on Old Falls River Rd shooting springs. The Chasm trail was closed - reconstruction project going on. Hiked up to Dream Lake - water was like glass, perfect. Didn't get the sunrise, though, got up a little too late then road to parking lot was delayed due to a family of elk in the road.

Went up to Pikes Peak this morning, took the Cog train. Not much too see from the trail. A drive up ourselves probably would have been better. Once at the summit there was excessive haze at all directions (360), likely from the forest fires out west and north.

Got some good shots of Garden of Gods.

So far I've shot about 700 pics. I still have to sift through them yet which I'll do when I get home.

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions, I'm still taking notes.

So when you going back?

[Preeb]

Originally Posted by centrarchidae

I didn't post that. Nobody saw anything. Can't prove it was me. And I really meant all that stuff that you said anyway.

Living in SW Denver metro area for nearly 40 years, I spent a lot of time in that area. It was my nearby winter hiking ground - I climbed a lot of the hills above the river and spent many a spring day on top of Cheesman Mountain with my Minolta SRT, water bottle, book and lunch.

[spotz04]

Originally Posted by Clark

So when you going back?

Not soon enough!

[katgrl82]

Originally Posted by spotz04

Not soon enough!

Colorado is sort of like an addiction. Once you go there once, you just have to have some more!

[beefweasal]

Originally Posted by katgrl82

Colorado is sort of like an addiction. Once you go there once, you just have to have some more!

Yeah it is. After two visits, I moved here!