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twc
 Advanced Member
659 Posts
[Mentor]
Fort Collins, CO
USA
Harley-Davidson
Electra Glide Ultra
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 Posted - 08/25/2008 : 9:48 PM
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Shirley and I finally got a chance to get away yesterday. Between Shirley's costuming work and my involvement in starting a new research group at HP Laboratories it seems like the summer has just evaporated. After a quick discussion over breakfast, we packed our gear and headed for Rocky Mountain National Park.
This had to be an early morning trip because afternoon thunderstorms are standard procedure in the mountains. We went south to Loveland, mostly by back roads, and headed up the Big Thompson Canyon. At the little town Drake we left the main road and headed toward Devil's Gulch, the back way into Estes Park. Here we've made it through a series of tight switchbacks (the BRC "box" is perfect practice for these) and topped out, with a great view of Long's Peak on the right.
From here we skirted most of Estes Park and headed for the Fall River Entrance to the Park. Now, I've seriously resisted all things senior -- it's part of my plan never to grow up. For example, I ignore every letter that AARP sends me. But today I took advantage of my age for the first time ever and got a lifetime national parks pass for $10. With this pass, you and your Pillion Pal can enter any national park or monument for free, and you can get discounts on other services, too. I just couldn't pass that up, especially since the regular park entrance fee is $20.
We headed west toward Trail Ridge Road, the highest continuous highway in the United States. The road was closed not long ago because of a snow storm, but the snow was almost all gone now. You can usually drive it through September, but once the first big snows hit it closes for the season. Keeping it open during the winter would be a nearly impossible task. Here's the view to the east from about half-way up to the top. If you look at the left edge of the picture, just a little below center, you can see part of the alluvial fan from the Lawn Lake flood of 1982. The flood was caused by the failure of the Lawn Lake dam, which in turn was blamed on muskrats burrowing into the earthen structure. Muskrats!
I once backpacked to Lawn Lake to go fishing, long before the dam failed, and had one of the most memorable fishing trips of my life. It was one of those experiences that's just so good you almost don't dare to tell anyone because they wouldn't believe you anyway. The lake is still there, but it's much smaller now.
The next picture was taken from the same location, but looking uphill at the continuation of the road. It just keeps going up and up and up. The road tops out at 12,183 feet and is above 12,000 feet for quite a ways; timberline here is at 11,500 feet. Interestingly, you cross the Continental Divide at Milner Pass, which is only 10,120 feet in elevation. The road is perfect for motorcycles -- not a straight stretch of road anywhere -- and we were joined by lots of other bikers today.
Here we are near the top. I'm happy to say that the Harley's performance was perfect. I really couldn't discern any change in performance between riding at 5000 feet and riding at 12,000 feet; performance at altitude is one of the big advantages of fuel injection.
Rocky Mountain National Park has been thoroughly sculpted by glaciers. Looking across Forest Canyon (there really is a forest down there), you can see lots of cirques and the remnants of a few glaciers.
We parked at the top and hiked the tundra trail. The tundra is really pretty neat. It's a delicate ecosystem that survives with a 40-day growing season. That means that all the plants are really small and may grow just fractions of an inch each year. There are lots of tiny flowers: it's a perfect opportunity to use that fancy macro lens you bought (though mine, of course, was at home).
There are also lots of pikas (small brown fuzzies), marmots (large brown fuzzies) and elk (really large brown fuzzies) around. We even had a critter-caused traffic jam on the way down as everyone stopped in the middle of the road to look at a large herd of elk complete with a number of huge bulls with their antlers all in velvet.
Here we are looking west across the tundra to the Never Summer Mountains, birthplace of the Colorado River. For the record, there are a few places here where you can almost jump across the Colorado River -- think about that the next time you float through the Grand Canyon.
By now it was well past noon and the clouds were beginning to build. We could already see one rainstorm to the north and there was another getting started to the south. You can see the shadows deepening in the sequence of pictures. It was time to go. You really don't want to get caught above timberline during a thunder storm. The risk of getting struck by lightning is non-trivial and we lose someone to a lightning strike in the Park every few years. We rode back down to Estes Park and stopped at a favorite restaurant not far outside of the Park. It was just starting to sprinkle when we finished lunch, prompting us to put on just our rain jackets. That proved to be enough to keep us dry for the ride home. By the time we got to Loveland we were hot and stopped to remove our rain gear. The rule-of-thumb for the Park is that you lose 3.5 degrees of temperature for every 1000 feet that you climb, so an 80 degree day on the plains means you're barely in the 60's on the Trail Ridge Road summit.
We don't know where our next trip will be, but we know it's going to be in September when the aspens are turning. All the signs seem to point to an early winter and the fall color may be a couple of weeks early this year. We'll be ready.
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Edited by - twc on 03/02/2009 2:04 PM |
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Indiana Randy
Moderator
1951 Posts
[Mentor]
Fort Wayne, Indiana
USA
Honda
2000 Magna V4 750
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Posted - 08/25/2008 : 11:48 PM
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Incredible scenery, Tom.
Thanks for sharing with us. Glad you got out and took the time to get some Great pics!  |
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Deseret Rider
Advanced Member
773 Posts
[Mentor]
Helper, Utah
USA
BMW
R1100RT
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Posted - 08/26/2008 : 1:00 AM
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Well Done! Nice report and very nice pictures. This is one of the awe inspiring rides in this country----Thanks for bringing it back to memory.
And Oh! thanks for the info about the Parks pass--I didn't know about that----thanks. |
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River
Advanced Member
502 Posts
[Mentor]
West Lafayette, IN
USA
Kawasaki
Concours
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Posted - 08/26/2008 : 6:44 AM
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Wow- great trip!
Thanks for sharing!
^o^ |
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MarcN
Standard Member
179 Posts
Murphy, NC
USA
Harley-Davidson
Heritage Classic
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Posted - 08/26/2008 : 8:31 AM
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| Really nice pics.We spent our honeymoon in Estes Park, beautiful area. Trips like that are what it's all about, thanks. |
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OldTbone
Senior Member
273 Posts
The Coastal Bend Area, TX
USA
Harley-Davidson
FLTR Road Glide '02
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Posted - 08/26/2008 : 9:28 AM
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Maybe someday I'll get to see MY park! Thanks for sharing it with us, Tom.
Tom Estes |
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Trail Ridge Road - Rocky Mountain National Park