Colorado, USA
What a beautiful Colorado Patriot Day! We rolled out of the drive this morning, flags flying with no particular destination in mind and found ourselves winding west and up Hwy 34 through the Big Thompson Canyon. At Drake we turned on Road 43 toward the sleepy town of Glenhaven riding what is known as Devil's Gulch Road. It is an easy-going ride with spectacular scenery all along the way and culminates with a couple of severe uphill switchbacks at the end - just to keep things interesting ya know. We call it the back door in to Estes Park which is a fun place for shopping and snacking and strolling and people watching but we were not interested in crowds today so we rolled on through the lively little town for what is likely one of the last peak-to-peak highway rides of 2011. 
The Peak to Peak Highway begins in Estes Park on Highway 7 and rolls gently past and through some of the most spectacular mountain scenery in Colorado, a scenery which noticeably changes with the seasons. It doesn't matter if you know the name of the mountain beside you is Lily Mountain or Mount Meeker or if you recognize the peaks called the Twin Sisters or if you realize the Old Rock Church nestled beside the road near Allenspark is actually called the Chapel on the Rock and it was built in the 1930s - sometimes it's just nice to absorb it all without the man-made details.
We rode Hwy 7, stopping at a pulloff just beyond the Chapel on the Rock for a few minutes just to take it all in... then rode on, turning south just past Allenspark on Highway 72 and as is our custom (more like a rule), stopped in Nederland for cookies and coffee from the New Moon Bakery. YUM! and YUM! After a leisurely stop in Nederland, we continued on Highway 119, passing through the gambling town of Blackhawk and scenic Clear Creek Canyon where we reluctantly found our way back along the usual routes, west on 93 out of Golden for a short ways before cutting across Interlocken and home via Hwy 287.
On days like today - it is a blessing to have a high country ride such as this one right out our back door.
Here's a slide show of today's ride (81 photos) enjoy.
I love that little bakery in Nederland. We try to stop by whenever we are headed to Eastes Park. Been a couple of years - I need to get back up there.
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