Blogs from Rocky Mountains, Colorado, United States, North America - page 8

Creede Elevation 8,862; Mineral County Population ~ 900 We arrived in Creede June 1st to clear blue skies, with chilly daytime temperatures and overnight freezing. Since much of the country was sweltering or being flooded, we didn’t complain too much. The weather did warm up nicely during the month. Creede is an old silver mining town whose heyday was the late 1800’s. Quite a few colorful Western characters spent time here over the years. Silver was mined until the mid 1970’s, and a mining company plans new exploration this year. Evidence of old abandoned silver mines remain in the hills around town, and a popular driving tour has mileposts marking historical mining locations. There is not even one traffic light in town, and the pace of life is relaxed and definitely Western! Creede has a very ... read more

With all of our spare time out here, we decided to spend some time camping in nearby Rocky Mountain National Park. The park is about 45 minutes from Boulder, but it feels so much more remote. We stayed at an amazing campsite in a glacial valley, with views of snow covered peaks on two sides of us. We are definitely planning on returning to the park soon.... read more

The train journey from Denver to Winter Park was a short but enjoyable one. We left at about 8.05am and proceeded west until we reached the mountains. The train then snaked it´s way up the mountain side, doubling back and forth on itself, climbing only short distances at a time (the train could only go up a max. gradient of 3%). As we climbed we passed through small tunnels carved out of the rock. Eventually we reached the top and could see the peak which was surrounded by clouds. By now my ears had popped on numerous occasions due to the altitude. As we travelled along the mountain top we passed tiny little towns made up of a handful of houses and a frozen stream ran parallel to the train. I arrived in the small town ... read more

Wow- after getting back from 3 days in the Rocky Mountains, I was blown away by how pretty they are, and the variety of flora & fauna. Every 30 mins the scenery changes, and you enter a different climate with new animals. It's really amazing, and you get really entranced by driving through it or hiking. Becca & I left Boulder after the triathlon on the 22nd (or rather after our nap after the triathlon), and headed to Estes Park, on the east side of Rocky Mountain National Park. The drive there was really nice, but we were both really tired, so we pitched a tent in the Moraine Campground and found a nice joint for some bbq ribs for dinner. Sleeping in the tent is something that I am not really used to (the 3 ... read more

August 9, 2007 Today, we hung by the camper until noon. We had an “open house”, where other campers came and saw the inside of our camper. So many people seem to be interested in the fact that we are pulling the camper with a mini-van. Now that I think of it, we really haven’t seen any mini-vans pulling campers….hmmmmm. We met some cool people named Alyssa and Andrew, and their son Max, from the Bronx. Alyssa is doing her Ph.D. in Social Work, and was pregnant, so we chatted about parenthood and academia. We learned today that a tornado hit the Bronx...how weird. Next, it was off to Wendi and Scott Stewart’s home in Longmont, CO. It was about an hour drive, and we thought we would pack up, stop and have lunch, then arrive ... read more