We got into the park last Sunday, after staying the night in Denver on Saturday. We came in through the Loveland Pass, which we hadn't seen before (quite the sight for two civil engineers!). What an unbelievable cut through the mountains. We prefer staying on the far west side of the park because the crowds tend to congregate on the east side, in Estes Park. So, we drove through the park on Trail Ridge Rd (which, by the way, is the highest highway in the US - pretty cool, unless you're completely freaked out by heights, as I am) to get to Grand Lake, CO Sunday afternoon. We made a few stops to do some short hikes... here's our stop at the Cub Lake trail. Ceci was pretty excited about (1) being let out of the car and (2) being let out of the car to play by a river.
The first full day that we were in CO, we did a portion of the East Inlet trail, which is still my favorite trail in RMNP to date. I'm pretty sure the trail crosses the continental divide to go all the way across to the east side of the park, however, I in no way lay claim to being able to accomplish that at any point, and our hiking expectations were considerably lower this year with a 25-lb Ceci strapped to Aaron's back. Aaron and I hiked a decent stretch of it a few years ago in the rain, and I thought that it was one of the prettiest trails I've ever been on. It follows the East Inlet river of Grand Lake all the way up through Mt. Craig.
We were actually doing pretty well on the hike... Aaron got some trout fishing in, Ceci was being mostly cooperative, and then I noticed that half of Aaron's fly rod had fallen out the back of his pack where it had been jammed. So, all hiking ceased, and it became a "search for the stupid fly rod" mission. We didn't find it after combing a good portion of the trail twice, and finally gave up as Ceci's patience deteriorated. I figured Aaron would be getting a new fly rod that evening. But then he went back and did the hike again that afternoon while Ceci was napping and found it! Yay!!! So all was not lost. There definitely would have been a new rod purchase had he not... I can't even imagine the trauma had he not been able to fish while we there. ;-)
We were pretty happy about the view from the condo we rented for the week, too:
Some pics from goofing around in Grand Lake on the second evening we were in town:
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