We started our trip on Sunday morning, our dependable Southwest Airlines flew us to Denver via the Midway airport. We reached Denver on time, around at 10:00 am. Special note - I really liked the Denver International airport on first glance - but on our return journey realized that the people working there are very very rude. Anywho, we got our rental car and got our maps (we decided to go sans our GPS, decided to follow good ole' paper maps and ask people for the best routes like it was done in good ol' days... glad to say we did not miss it much until the day of our return) and were on our way to RMNP.
I don't remember much as to what route we took, but for sure drove through the university town of Boulder. I had heard a lot about it - and it lived upto its name. A very scenic and pretty town. It was time for feeding the tummy. We stopped at a Noodles & Company (I love that btw)
and ate lunch of tomato basil soup (my fav) and flat bread sandwiches, spring pesto pasta and pasta in romesco with vegetables. Yummy lunch, unfortunately I don't have pictures to prove it.
The above are some of the pics we clicked on our way to the RMNP. Needless to say the drive was beautiful.
We passed Estes Park and finally entered the national park. There were quite a few visitors and was pretty crowded. The weather was perfect and it was a beautiful day! Our first pit stop was the visitor center. We picked up our maps, figured out a plan after talking to the guides there and set out to start the adventure. We were at quite an elevation, the air was thin and crisp and was a perfect day to hike in the national park.We decided to start of on the trail for the Bear's Lake first. It was a beautiful small lake with a trail around it. The trail was with a slight incline not much, so mil could do it. It was truly beautiful.
After that we did 3-4 more trails, mil did not accompany us to all of them all the way because they were really steep in incline and far and were all difficult trails. She was a great sport and walked until a certain spot, and sat it out there while we finished our trails.
We did the Alberta Falls, Sprague Lake and another lake whose name I forget. All of the trails were pretty difficult with inclines - we were about at a height of 7000+feet. It was good hiking for Sushant and me and we enjoyed ourselves taking in the scenery. Its just gorgeous.
After we were done with the hikes, it was about 6:00pm, we decided to head back and check in to our hotel. We had booked a hotel in a city named Loveland, which is about 45mins of drive from RMNP. Clouds were gathering in, so we decided to start driving.
The drive from RMNP to Loveland is really beautiful. There is mountains on one side, very rocky and a river running by on the other side, very reminiscent of the Kulu-Manali and Baes river. Curvy roads, and then after a point, there are mountains on both sides of the road - really huge intimidating mountains. As we were 20 mins into the drive, it started pouring down very heavily. It was not just rain, it was a full blown storm. I have not seen it rain this heavily in the US. It was super scary - we could not even see the lights of our own car - let alone the car in front of us. Water was flowing down the mountains as natural falls furious and strong. We could not even wait anywhere as they were the rocky mountains and rocks could tumble anywhere. It was scary as hell. To top it, hails stones started coming down fast on the car. We could see flash floods with water, sand and rocks coming down on the roads. I kept saying this was one of the scariest drives we have ever taken. Little did I know that this would be topped in 2 days time.
Some how we reached Loveland - and checked into the hotel. It was a totally riveting experience - that drive, phew!! After a little rest - we ate at a Mexican restaurant right outside our hotel. One of the best fajitas that I have eaten - it was a rather surprisingly good restaurant. We finished our dinner, came back and retired for the night - tired and glad to go to bed.
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