Colorado, USA
Fort Collins, CO -- Yep! that's me ready to ride in my old faded hoodie. The weather in Colorado is gorgeous - bone dry but perfect for riding, especially in the high country.We knew the weather people had announced to the world that the Aspen were showing their gold, but we did not hear anyone announce it was free park weekend or we might have chosen another route to avoid the near bumper-to-bumper traffic heading up to Rocky Mountain National Park. The normal fee in the park is $20 per carload or $10 per head. Free park weekend in Colorado is c-r-a-z-y. People who do not normally drive in the high country or anywhere outside the town they live in will venture into the mountains and into all the parks on these weekends. We were caught (unintentionally) in Rocky Mountain National Park on one of last year's free weekends. We said never again.
We stopped at the visitor center in Estes Park long enough to take care of business and got the heck out of there. It was as crowded today as we've ever seen it. The roads were crowded with an unprecedented amount of traffic and photo hounds were parked along the roadside the whole way. Inns and eating establishments were busy as well, which is good to see - those small businesses need all the help they can get.
Looking west at Estes Park from Hwy 34 - Rocky Mountain National Park in the background
We were not the only ones that thought today was a great day to ride the high country
We found color in the high country - aspen gold is the real treasure in these hills
Scenic stops like Lily Lake (couldn't even get a shot of it) and The Old Rock Church aka Saint Malo Chapel on the Rock were packed with visitors. We rode on by. We found color, I snapped a few good photos from the back of The Ride. Normally we will ride the peak-to-peak, head down and most of the time head back up and down again, zig-zagging through canyons. Today, once we got down - we stayed down, opting to run around in Denver before heading home. That ought to tell you something, we preferred the traffic in Denver to the traffic in the mountains today. Good grief!What follows is a slide show of today's ride (70 photos):
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