Well I’ll be damned. We’ve been in Colorado for six weeks now. As per usual, this was not in our original plan (we expected to be here for 2-3 weeks). In our defense, there’s just SO MUCH to do here. There’s climbing, breweries, hiking, mountain biking (that’s new for us!), and did I mention breweries? Needless to say, we had more than enough to keep us busy – especially when you consider that our entire mountain bike research, demo, sales, and initial rides all took place here. But we’ll get to that another time. For now, I’d like to introduce you to one of my favorite places in Colorado: Rocky Mountain National Park.
Rocky Mountain National Park: A place worth visiting over and over and over again.
Day One (June 18): Hike over 11 miles in the Glacier Gorge and discover Black Lake, our favorite out-and-back trail. Ever. We enjoyed it so much we kept on going after we reached the “end” and, in turn, were rewarded with unparalleled scenery. Warning: numerous pictures ahead.
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Day Two (June 19): Decide to “take it easy” with the Emerald Lake hike. Feel surprisingly fresh and add on Lake Haiyaha for good measure, totaling about six miles that day. Bonus: Lisa uses a “wag bag” for the first time and feels very accomplished (and environmentally conscious)!
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We had plans to return to Rocky Mountain National Park before we departed Colorado, but then time escaped us. Mark my words though, we’ll be back.
We were able to visit another National Park a few weeks after RMNP and it deserves a shout out as well, if not for its beauty, for its originality! Sand dunes, flanked by mountains – who knew!?!
Great Sand Dunes National Park (June 27)
How often do you get a view like this?
I had no idea what we were in for with this National Park, but it is really something to see. Honestly, we didn’t explore too much outside of the Visitor’s Center and the first stretch of sand dunes. The day before, we hiked the Manitou Incline and we were BEAT. Walking uphill on sand just sounded like torture… but taking pictures and admiring from afar sounded juuuuuust right.
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Next up: more adventures in Colorado!