May 5th

Yesterday was eventful. I left John’s house at around 9:30 after eating a great breakfast, and headed to Rocky Mountain National Park. I went up I-25, but soon branched off to head towards Boulder and eventually Lyons. Once I got through Lyons, the terrain really changed from that Denver mountain-fieldsy stuff to true mountain scenery. The drive was monumentally beautiful, and I couldn’t help but think that the people who live there must be some of the luckiest around. There were quite a number of houses and cabin on the way up, but what I did not realize is that the town of Estes Park is actually embedded within the mountains. I came over a hill, and bam – there it was, a beautiful mountain town surrounded by a lake on one side and some high snowy peaks on the other. I got into town and went into a very nice wooden visitor center, and the man there told me that there is only one campsite open at this time of year, and that is Morain Park. I thanked him, and on my way out I noticed that there was a Safeway across the street where I could get some more food and a pot to boil water and cook in. Just before Safeway, in the same complex there was a homey looking deli that I decided to give a try. I had a great sandwich with artichoke hearts on it also what they called a “Bango” smoothie. After lunch and shopping, I headed in the direction of the park’s main entrance. Just before entering the park I stopped in an exquisite glass blower’s shop and saw some beautiful glass that Mom probably would have loved. It was just like Chahuly glass(sp?).

I was greeted at the park gate by a somewhat disgruntled old park ranger, who sold me an annual parks pass for $80. That seemed pretty steep, until I saw that this park alone cost twenty to get into. The drive to the campground was the most stunning yet, as I snaked up the road higher into the range. I finally got to the campsites, and decided to choose site 179 – a great place on the side of a large hill with few people around. I got situated by around 3:00, and since it was raining pretty hard in short bursts every 5-10 minutes, I decided to chill inside Rita for the time being. I planned two hikes for today (one of which is Dad’s recommendation), and read up on the history of the park. It ends up that the Ute tribe lived here year round, and was actually pushed out by another Indian tribe who didn’t even stay permanently. When white settlers got here looking for gold, it was completely deserted with only the remains of fire circles and teepee sites still remain.

I played guitar for a good hour and a half before I got pretty hungry. It was around 6:30, so I decided that it was time to eat. I had called Julia earlier in the day, and she gave me the lowdown on LP gas, so I was able to cook a hot meal using Rita’s stove. I had pasta and a really good bruschetta-esque thing made of a large cracker with olive spread, dried tomatoes, and ground black pepper. After dinner, I relaxed and listened to some music and wrote a thing or two before zoning out and watching the mountains outside for a while. Near 8:00, it was getting to be dusk, and I looked out of the window and saw a massive bull elk about 30 feet away. It was overwhelmingly beautiful, and after awhile it began to walk up the side of the hill. When it got to the top its silhouette was apparent, and it started to munch on the branch of a pine tree. The creature stuck around for around 10 minutes, and then slowly wandered away. It was quite something.

At this point it was getting pretty cold, so I figured I would lie down and let sleep do its work. I fell asleep pretty fast, but I woke up at 4:30 because the wind had really picked up in the night. Rita’s awning was making tons of noise, and I thought it might blow away. I regretfully got out of bed and put my shoes on before going outside to try to fix the problem. I ended up just retracting the awning, and that worked perfectly. I jumped back inside the casita and grabbed my laptop before writing this. Dawn is already approaching, but now I’m going to try to go back to sleep and wake up for the hike to Black Lake tomorrow morning.