The Rockies

8 May 1999, Saturday
Started: Estes Park, Colorado, 7:40am (Mountain time)
Reached: Fruita, Colorado, 6:15pm (Mountain time)
Miles: 348 (2379 cumulative)
Route:
	Colorado - Rocky Mountains NP, Black Hawk, Glenwood Springs
Highways: CO72, I70

We got up really early, thanks to the extra hour we gained while crossing
time-zones. After having the biggest bagel I had ever seen for breakfast,
we started for the national park. As we travelled towards the visitor
center, we got some nice views of snow peaks bathed in morning sunlight.
Estes park is at 7500 ft, and the entrance to the NP is at 8200 ft. 

The visitor center was still closed when we reached there, so we continued
on the road to Bear Lake. We could now see snow shovelled on the roadside.
Yes, this is in May! The hills next to the road were also covered in snow.

Parking seems to be a major problem at Bear Lake. You cannot park anywhere
except the parking lots, but can use a shuttle service operated by the
forest dept. Inc this was still off-season and we were early, parking was
not a problem for us.

When we reached Bear Lake, we were greeted by a forest official, who was
busy shovelling snow so that he could get in his office! We started on the
Bear Lake trail, and saw that the trail had maybe two feet of snow!
Bear Lake was only a short distance away, so we managed it. We reached the
Bear Lake, only to find it frozen solid! We could see Hallett peak (12713
ft) in the back, with a glacier near it. We had to drop our original plan
of encircling the Bear Lake, since we were in no mood to hike on the snow.

The temperature was not all that low, so we could still manage with our
light jackets. We had not anticipated so much of snow! We didn't even
carry good hiking shoes. We were using our daily-use sneakers. By the time
we reached the parking lot, the sky had clouded up. Apparently, this is
the typical weather there.

From the parking lot, we could see the Hallett peak and Otis peak. On the
other side, we saw Taylor peak (13153 ft), and a few more peaks we could
not identify. Of course, every peak was covered by snow.

We started back on the Bear Lake road, and decided to do another hike to
Alberto Fall starting from Glacier Gorge Junction trailhead. Again, we
were faced by two feet of snow on the trail. The trail was the marks left
by previous hikers. By now, the sun was peeping from the clouds. As a
result, the snow on the trail, which was packed solid, started becoming
slippery. We tried walking along the side of the trail, but the snow was
so soft that I got buried knee-deep. The trail soon became too steep for
both of us, and Alberto Fall was nowhere in sight. We were also
out-of-breath quickly because of the high altitude. This was the first
time in my life I had walked anywhere above 3000 ft! The air is less dense
here, so the amount of oxygen per breath is also less. We did not feel any
altitude sickness, but did get tired quickly. 

We halted on the trail for some time and then turned back. On our way
back, we were met by a grand old man who had seen us earlier in the
parking lot. He explained that the "trail" we were following was a
short-cut used by the skiers! There was no way we could have hiked there
without proper snow-shoes. He was equipped with some strange-looking shoes
and skies. He also told us that Alberto fall was frozen solid, and we had
missed that trail. 

We thanked him and reached the parking lot, not before falling a number of
times on the slippery snow. By now the cloud cover had receded, and
headache kicked in. At this altitude, the UV light is stronger, and we did
not put on our sunglasses while hiking. All the reflected light was enough
to start a headache for me.

On our way back, we stopped at Moraine park. It a flat area, where
glaciers have dropped the huge rocks they had been carrying. Its in a
valley, surrounded by snow peaks. We reached the visitor center and saw a
small movie on the history and geography of the park.

We got on scenic Colorado Route 7 to reach I70. We stopped along the way
at Lily Lake, and got a nice view of Twin Sisters peak (   ft). This road 
was much more scenic than US36 we took a day earlier.

From CO7, we took CO72. It was also scenic, and had still lesser traffic. 
We passed a lot of cyclists on this road. They were heaving as they rode 
the cycles uphill! We cheered some of them through the open window. Those 
who saw us, responded, too. Along the way, we saw a truck clearing fallen 
rocks, just like a truck shoveling snow!

From CO72, we got on CO119 to get on I70. Along the way, we went through 
the town of Black Hawk. This place is middle of nowhere and is still 
buzzing with life, thanks to the Casinos. There was a lot of traffic 
here, including some buses that ferried the gamblers. We also saw lots of 
bikers here. The road went through a winding canyon with really steep and 
rocky walls along the sides.

We soon got on I70. The speed limit here was reduced to 65 mph because of 
mountainous terrain. We saw a herd of big-horned sheep along the 
roadside. The group was real close to the right lane. The car in front of 
me braked. I, too, slowed down. But then suddenly the car got in my lane. 
Had to swerve at the last minute to avoid hitting the car or the sheep. 
The sheep were not on the road, so we survived!

Along I70, we saw some lakes that had green-colored water. It was not 
green with vegetation, since the water appeared very clear. It was 
probably the dissolved salts that gave the green color to the water. 
We could see the snow-covered peaks and ski slopes on the roadside.
The mountain faces to the North and South were distinctly different. The 
side facing North and trees and snow. The ones facing South were bare and 
had only a few shrubs. This is probably the result of more sunlight being 
received by the South-faces.

The first tunnel we passed was the Eisenhower tunnel, at an elevation of 
11000 ft. The car slowed to a crawl, but made it without stalling. The 
difference in speed at the same RPM was interesting. On flat roads, the 
car traveled at 70mph at 3000 RPM. Since it had automatic transmission, 
the car shifted to lower gear once we started climbing to the pass. At 
3000 RPM, the car could not go beyond 50 mph. At this time, I had nearly 
floored the accelerator. 

The engine power was one factor, since we were climbing real steep 
slopes. Another reason was lesser Oxygen in the air. The air intake of 
the car was tuned at near sea-level altitude. At a height of 11000 ft, 
the air was less dense, so the engine does not suck enough Oxygen. We 
were warned about vapor-lock, in which, the car stalls even when you 
have enough gas. Fortunately for us, it did not create a problem.

After the Eiserhower tunnel, we passed a frozen lake, and soon came to 
the Vail pass, at 10662 ft. Again the car crawled, but we made it. After 
this peak, we were just going downhill! The road joined the Colorado 
river soon. We went through the Glenwood canyon carved by it. We were 
travelling on one side at the bottom of the canyon, the river was in the 
middle, and the railroad was on the other bank. The walls were steep on 
either side.

The traffic was mostly SUVs and cars. There were hardly any trucks in 
these winding roads. I guess the truckers prefer either I80, which goes 
through Wyoming, North of Colorado, or some other highway in the South.

The rocks were distinctly brown in color, and not the usual black. We 
could see horizontal layers left by different geological processes. We 
caught a few glimpses of the river, and it had lots of rapids. The road 
was effectively on a very long bridge. As we went further, the number of 
bugs increased suddenly. Must be a million of them! The windshield was 
completely splattered with bug-splats. It was as if the bugs had launched 
a suicidal attack on all the vehicles that invaded their territory. 

The canyon ended rather abruptly. The mountains grew further apart and 
did not seem to be carved as in the canyon. The slopes had grooves, which 
were distinctly green on the brick-red mountains. This was the only 
vegetation we saw. Somewhere here we saw an exit titled "No Name". 
Apparently, there is a town with that name!

The road became straight and more or less flat. The only difference 
between Nebraska and Colorado in this patch was the presence of high 
mountains some distance away from the road. I guess we were travelling 
through the flood-plains of Colorado. The only snow-covered peaks we 
could see were far South-West. Although there was a big river flowing 
through this region, we could feel that it was all arid! The sand was 
yellow or almost-white in color.

As we got in the open country, we started seeing lots of birds of prey. I 
could not identify them, but the flight patterns were distinct. 

We were quite ahead of our schedule, so decided to go all the way to 
Fruita, near Colorado National monument. We stayed in a small motel 
there. The interesting part was touch-activated lamps. Any touch to the 
bar holding the lamp could toggle through the 3 intensity levels and the 
off position!