Our campsite in Wyoming. It was the first camp we visited managed by the Bureau of Land Management and not the National Park service or Forest Service.
That put us in a good position to drive into Colorado. Driving through some rain showers, we made our way to the western side of Rocky Mountain National Park near Granby, CO. We met an unusually friendly and well-dressed ranger, who approached us at a picnic area to ask if we had any questions, and invited the nearby kids to be junior rangers. We thought it was a bit out of the ordinary, and the shock red mutton chops and NPS issue tie might have contributed a bit to the weirdness.
On the way up the road, we saw a bit of a moose hiding in the plants. After our sighting in Canada, we were unimpressed with only partial moose sightings, so we moved on in a hurry. The famous Trail Ridge Road wound up the mountain and landed us at the mountaintop visitor center. We found a cool short walk nearby out to a "Mountain Index" which helped us to see prominent features by lining up our eyes with the compass marks.
Adrianne overlooking the Colorado river at RMN Park
Joey checking out the Mountain Index that pointed out all of the nearby mountain peaks.
It was our first hike at 10,000 feet. I was curious to see how we would do - we were planning on doing more high altitude hiking - but more on that later. We saw some hilarious pikas and marmots on the top of the trail. It was like they were cheerleaders in a race - they kept chirping at us for encouragement.
A marmot chirping at us along the path.
The first time we needed the awning on the trip was in Colorado.
Since we were near Estes Park - and it was a gloomy rainy evening - it was perfect for watching 'The Shining'! ('The Shining' was filmed nearby at a hotel in Estes Park.) Adrianne wasn't too happy about this. We ended up going to sleep pretty late which set us back the next day...
Our campsite was nice, but it was located pretty close to the main road and a mountain stream... both deal-breakers when it comes to showering. The next morning we were on a mission to find a shower spot. Tucking in the awning and packing up camp we headed further up the road. It got really rough, but finally headed away from the river far enough to shower.
Not knowing exactly what to do in the area, we hit up a coffee shop for Internet and breakfast. It was one of three shops in the town. We were pleasantly greeted with an excellent coffee (and tea) selection and some delicious breakfast burritos. After some research we decided to check out the Jurassic Park climbing area. We were also on the hunt for some two pitch climbs - but didn't find any in our grade nearby.
As we headed out of the coffee shop to the van - a homeless guy made our acquaintance. "Hey! You quit your job yet?" I looked over at the guy. He was wearing a long coat, had a walking stick, and a hiking backpack. He was wearing a hat and sporting a beard - he looked like he had spent a lot of time in the sun. I replied, "Yeah, I did."
"Well good. What are you doing?" questioned the bum. "What?" I asked not really sure what he had meant. "What are you doing?" asked the bum. He had a way of emphasizing the things he said that made him sound especially emphatic. "Um, we're going climbing today" I replied.
"Climbing! You know where I spent the summers of my 16th...., 17th.... and 18th birthdays? The Yosemite Valley. That was in the '80s too." He emphasized. "Are you sponsored or something?"
"No." I replied.
"Well good! You know what you want to be? A NOBODY. That's what you want to be. Don't bother doing any first ascents or free soloing - you want to keep climbing for a while. You don't want to be sponsored - then your time's not your own. No. The way to be... is to be NOBODY."
"Looks like you're living your dream." I joked. "That's right!" he shot back, "It's good to be a nobody."
...
With that advice in mind, I steered the van to Lily Lake and the nearby Jurassic Park sport climbing area. The mountain project guide book was particularly good - and we spotted several classics that we wanted to try. After a short approach from the lake (but steep - we were a bit winded being at altitude), we headed up to the first wall. Our fist climb of the day would be Gilded Lily a 5.8+ according to mountain project.
Mountain project photo of the first wall.
Our climb, Gilded Lily, goes up the feature in the center of the photo.
It is a beautiful area to climb, overlooking the mountain lakes and with a view of Long's Peak (a 14er) in the background. It was a fun slab climb and a good warm up. Adrianne enjoyed the climb, it required good balance and that's one of her favorite types of climb. Our photos of this area got lost in the shuffle (sorry) but here's one from mountain project for some perspective.
A mountain project photo showing the climb with a view of Long's Peak.
After Gilded Lily we packed up and moved over to the classic climb I was pretty stoked about - The Edge of Time. It is pretty famous, and is on the cover of the guide book in the area. It's a moderate climb, only a 5.9 - but looks really fun.
Pictured on the cover is "The Edge of Time" a classic climb at Jurassic Park.
We got up to the climb, and some other climbers were on the rock. As we had been at the park, clouds had started to form - as they always do in Colorado in the afternoon. It was threatening to rain on us, and sure enough as soon as the other climbers got off the pitch it began to drizzle.
We didn't really want to chance climbing wet rock - or getting stuck in a thunderstorm. So we chalked up the day as a lost cause from our late start and headed back to the van. We scrambled down as quick as we could, but it was pouring by the time we got to the van. We were soaked.
Rained out, we did a little laundry and went back to the same camp in Allenspark. I started a fire to help us warm up a bit from the rainy weather.
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