Day 10 , Still in the Rockies

The Rockies


Silver moon Lodge in Estes Park , Co ( highly recommended..cheap and beautiful and friendly)


High Meadows



My friend at 10,000 feet



Elk crossing in the morning


We are still at 9000 feet above the sea level in the Rockies. Estes is a very pretty town, highly recommend staying here if you are not camping. This lodge is the best deal I have found in all my travels. Location, rates and room size and cleanliness and above all a very friendly owner/manager.

In the morning, at the breakfast we met an American man ( with Japanese wife) retired and living in Okinawa/Japan . They talked for at least an hour. We had a good time talking ot them about the world and travels.

In the Rocky NP we were greeted by Elks crossing the road. Morning was beautiful, blue skies and not too cold weather. We did lot of sight seeing and some hikes. It is amazing how tired I got and how quickly. As soon as the trail will start climbing up, my legs did not want to move. I had to constantly remind myself that I want to hike in Nepal :)

We drove up to 11,000 feet and hiked up there. As the day went by, the clouds and wind came in and we had to run to the car to escape the rain ( thanks to my rubber legs , we did not go for too long a hike). The weather changes so quickly here.

We checked out the town ( as Jagdish puts it...got a feel of the town) There is a historic hotel built by Stanley ( in 1902) . Estes has been a tourist and therapeutic town for a long time. ( sanitarium)

After we came back to the town, we stopped by at the lobby for free tea and coffee and were greeted by the owner/manager. I am totally impressed by how well read and interesting this person was. We talked for an hour and solved all the world's problems.

People , in general , are very friendly and relaxed here.

Good night for now.

Day 9 Road to the Rockes

The Rockies


An Elk wandering around


Frozen lake near the camp ground


University of Colorado, Boulder



Black Hawk, old mining town turned a gambling town



We started late ( 9 am) and actually chickened out from camping in the Rockies. The weather report said it was 60% chance of rain/snow and temp. in 30s. Our potential campground was at 9000 feet, so we decided to find a cheap lodge instead at the entrance of the Park, in a town named Estes Park. It worked out very well. It is a small lodge with a name, " Moon Shine Lodge" but the owner is very friendly, there is a river in front and kids running around and biking. It turns out most of the roads in the Park are still closed. There were only two tents ( out of 237) in the camp ground and snow on the ground and frozen lake. ( all these are our excuses for chickening out)

But, it is a good thing that we did. I think Jagdish is having altitude issues even though he will not admit it. I hope he is better tomorrow.

We came here via scenic roads, slow and windy. We passed through old mining town of Black Hawk ( turned into a gambling town) . We also saw Boulder and the university there. It is very picturesque town , sort of like Berkeley but not quite.

Rocky National Park is still frozen for most part. We tried few small trails and JAgdish was not feeling good, so we came back. We will try some more tomorrow. Most of the trails start at 10,000 feet and go up.

I think I need to stop blogging and let JAgdish sleep. Good night from Estes Park , Colorado. It;s not letting me publish pictures, i will do that in the morning,

Day 8 Arches to Frisco Colorado

Vail , Colorado, Pretty as ever


Spring Festival at Vail


Popcorn machine at the festival



Vail


Eaktatres and Jagdish , old college friends



We just came to civilization and I turned blackberry on and got your emails :) Happy :)
We drove on 70, fairly straightforward and uneventful. We passed towns like "CISCO" ..no services and "WEST WATER"...no services , just few independent souls.

Colorado welcomed us with , " welcome to colorful Colorado" sign and it is a complete change of scenery . Snow, water and green stuff. We stopped at a small town and I had the best coffee ever. I asked for a latte and she pu three shots of coffee in vanilla ice cream and caramel on top..yum.

Stopped at Jagdish's college friend ( from Indore, India) and had a wonderful Indian ( MAharashtrian) food and talk about old days. They live in Grand Junction , Colorado and are one of the four Indians who live there. It is a relatively big town , with Safeway and Walmart and you would think there will be some Indian to go along too, but none ( except these guys). No Chat Palace , no Indian Grocery...how boring.

Anyways, continued east, stopped at Vail . Jagdish wanted to remember his old Cypress days when we used to come here for NVM conference. And they had the End of the ski season party. Rock band and lots of people , almost like the " Bay to Breakers" may be little less wild. Vail is beautiful as ever , little more built up but still pretty.

We are in Frisco, small town 20 miles from Vail. Pretty and quite. We are going to be camping for next two days so the blog may be interrupted for the lack of Wi Fi but i will try my best.

Day 7 Another Canyon day

upheaval Dome, a meteorite hit here sixty million years ago


Sand Boarding on the dunes



Jagdish's throne


Hike into the Canyon


Our Camp site and companion( yes, I left Prius behind)



We woke up to a beautiful morning , made oatmeal breakfast and went off to the visitor center for the daily necessities :)

We to Canyon Land National Park , which is literally across the road from the Arches but a world different. It is most rugged and remote of all the Utah NPs. No water , no services and is HUGE. The Canyons are formed by the Green river and the Colorado river and the place is haven for the rafters and adventure seekers. We did few hikes , all less than 5 miles, it was hot and dry and hikes were hard ( for me) , mostly on the rocks. But, it was fun and beautiful.
One hike took us to Desolation Crate formed by the falling meteoroid 60 million year ago , at that spot. It is cool to stand there and imagine that something from heavens hit that very sight.

Canyons are impressive and huge and intimidating all at the same time.

Back to the camp, we talked to several neighbors. One couple from Connecticut going to see their daughter in Arizona , another young girls from Montana, traveling around. We slept well and seemed like the " camp site hunting" was only friday night phenomenon.

Day 6 Arches National Park

Fiery Furnace view point


Landscape Arch ( a big chunk of it fell off in 2008)


Double Window


Delicate Arch ( Most Photographed )


Our home for next two nights


Another day , another NP ( Arches ) and lots of hikes under the Arches. But, the first order of business was to find a camp site. We got info. from the NP service and drove around to look for an empty site. So, we made some mistakes :1) We should have reserved the camp site in the NP ahead of time. 2) We should not have selected a site near the toilet ( even though it was not much of a toilet) 3) We should not have camped close to the main road. But, regardless, it was beautiful site with canyon wall on one side and Colorado river on the other. We set up the tent and went to the park for hikes and sight seeing.

Arches is full of Arches of all sorts, and hikes over the boulders and rocks. It is compact and ever changing. Arches are born and arches die ( break) over time and it is interesting to see that happening. All these are made from sandstones over a salt bed from an ancient ocean million of years ago . We saw every Arch that was within a 5 mile hike and every view point.

I asked the ranger if there was anything else to do for tomorrow and he said just relax:)

So, we came back to the camp site. Made Pasta with Chicken ( thanks to Smita and trader Joes) and slept. For at least an hour people keep coming to look for the camp site ( very annoying) but once all were settled we slept well. It was stormy and windy at night , but the tent held on nicely :) Actually it did not rain just the wind and sound of the river.

Stay tunes for tomorrow's adventure.

Day 5 Bryce to Arches NAtional park via hwy 12

Hwy 12
Hwy 12


Caves on hwy 12 ( Amarnath)


Road to Capital reef


Uranium Mine in Capital Reef


Oh, the internet is working now....yeh ....

Sorry , no pictures today, I will put them on soon. This hotel does not seem to have internet so I am using blackberry :) Anyways, hwy 12 is amazing, long and takes for ever. We drove without seeing anyone for hours, beautiful canyons, mountains and little towns of population 10 to 100 :) I had the best bagel at a town called Boulder . The town had a gas station, a trading post ( very friendly owner) and a restaurant. ..not kidding. We stopped at Capital Reef National Monument and saw a Uranium mine in the canyons. This predated Atom bombs and in those days ( 1920's) they used Uranium bracelets, uranuim water etc for all sorts of cures. We also stopped by a cave that had ice sculptures like Indian pligrimage site in HImalayas " Amarnath" ...Jagdish was very excited.
Now we are at Moab, at Arches National PArk. It is very touristy and crowed. We will hunt for a camp ground tomorrow and I will send updates and hopefully picutres every day.

Good night and sorry about no picutres.

Day 4 Bryce Canyon

Sunset at Bryce Canyon


Snow fight in Red Canyon on the way to Bryce


Bryce Canyon


All American Diner on the back road to Bryce


Checker board rock outside Zion

Today was beautiful and full. We went out of Zion through the back road to Bryce. Stopped at Red Rock and other scenic vistas along the back roads. Bryce Canyon is beautiful and had plenty of snow on the ground and in the canyon. We did the 3.5 miles hike into the canyon on a snowy and muddy trail complete with bare feet french hikers and other Europeans.
Sunset was awesome and the Best Western Hotel ( grand) is 1 mile from the canyon and has huge rooms ( upgraded) and breakfast .