Astrid and Bjorn struggled to get to where they were going. The flight out of Michigan had been canceled after they had boarded and sat in the plane for an hour. Then they waited in the airport in line for an hour, then because that was a false line, they waited in another line, then in another line to board a Spirit Airline flight to eventually land in Denver, Colorado, hours and hours after their planned time. Then they waited an hour in a rental car line. Bjorn handled this all with grace and patience, which helped the fiery headed Astrid keep her relative calm. But they missed the concert Bjorn had planned.
Olaf and Snorri weren’t with them. Olaf was working and Snorri had taken a 20+ hour train ride out to New Mexico and was having his own adventure.
Astrid and Bjorn spent a day in the mile-high city visiting the Molly Brown House, then stopped in Boulder, Colorado for a “shake-down,” high-altitude hike at the Chautauqua Historic Landmark Park, on the Baseline Trail.
The trail led them through beautiful scenery, filled with cracking, snapping insects, and steep INCLINES.
They expended significant effort and persistence to get used to high-elevation hiking. They were flatlanders. The only steep hikes they did around Michigan were up giant sand dunes. The struggle became VERY evident a mile into the steep hike. Astrid had an advantage: she had joined Snorri on his 10 mile training hikes that spring, but Bjorn had not had the same opportunity. They were both a little impressed with the difficulty they experienced.
With the little taste of hiking at high altitudes, they drove to Estes Park, CO to start their adventure in the Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) with a gentle stroll around Lilly Park. Astrid also started her bird-sighting adventure with the Lesser Scaup and Black-billed Magpie. They were the first of many birds she would see, then forget.
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It is undeniable that more people are visiting the United States’ National Parks, and this is a great thing, but, with more people come challenges to keep the masses and their varied attitudes and awarenesses towards “nature” (Leave No Trace is a good idea!!) from damaging the areas. Because GRMNP is a very popular destination, Astrid and Bjorn had to vie for a ticket in the timed-entry system. If a visitor wants to enter a particular park between certain hours–say 7AM and 3PM– he must get a pass. Passes become available online, at recreation.gov for a few dollars, at variable times in advance–months, weeks, or days before the date of entry (individual parks have different systems). To best enjoy the timed-entry parks, visitors should plan ahead. Some passes are sold out within minutes, depending on the park.
After waiting in a very long line of cars to get into the park, Astrid and Born started with a mild hike to Alluvial Falls-a paved walking path, accessible to wheelchairs and perfect for families. The main attraction is a beautiful set of waterfalls, and many people were admiring them that day. Astrid sat and closed her eyes to the many distracting bodies moving around and in the falls, and asked herself some questions: What do you hear? What do you feel?
She heard voices swimming in an aural storm of raging water down rocks; a nearer, muted thunder of rapids of the river that rushed down the mountain. She felt the sun warming her back, a faint breeze coming down the mountain played with the rim of her hat. The air was morning-warm fresh, a discernible difference from the cigarette smoke and cover-up cleaner odor of their rental car. In the rush to see the magnificence, Astrid sometimes forgot that there are more things to appreciate in the national parks than visual attractions.
But she didn’t have to do that on the next stop. They drove up the snow-pole lined Trail Ridge Road to the Ute Trail, labeled “easy” on the map. And it was, yes, objectively easy, but she was a flatlander hiking at 11,600’, (with minimal altitude change). Astrid used a hiking stick to move along the very rocky trail. The trail was well-marked, and flanked by tiny little alpine flowers, and a marmot or two, sunning itself on rocks. There weren’t many trees, but the views were outlandishly beautiful with snowy mountain tops surrounding the trail. The wind was constant and cool, whistling, blotting out any sound. The flowers, in most every color, were familiar to Astrid, but they were all very tiny–a way for the plants to adapt to the cold and wind that pummeled the mountain area. Astrid came off the trail filled with wonder, impacted by the beauty and rewarding effort. Bjorn was rewarded with a bloody nose.
The Alpine Visitors Center in RMNP is the “highest facility of its kind” in the National Park Service at 11,796 feet above sea level, and has gigantic logs framed on the roof, to keep snow loads from caving it in. But it’s not the highest elevation one can go in the park. After a short stop, they drove to Coyote Valley Trail, a very flat, accessible pleasant trail around a stream, then ended the day after short hikes around the beautiful blue waters of Sprague Lake and Bear Lake.
As they drove back to their hotel, through rural mountain neighborhoods, they passed a house with a lawn where the trees were individually fenced off. For good reason. On the lawn lay a dozen or so animals–not wild rabbits, which Astrid would expect to see in her backyard in Michigan, but elk. Large elk with large antlers, large elk without antlers, little elk and medium elk. Elk, like bunnies in Michigan neighborhoods, infested the lawns in Estes Park, Colorado. If given a choice, Astrid would rather have bunnies plaguing her garden.
Not I 