Roadtrippin' Colorado Style

Heading past the lake seen on the last page.

Just checkin' out the rock retaining walls used throughout Trail Ridge.

I know it's hard to believe, but we've been documenting everything on the eastern side of the Continental Divide up until this point. Welcome to Milner Pass.

Oh, how I wish for a clear day right about now.

Informational signage about the old Fall River Road.

You can tell it's getting near the end of the season just because of how many places have been closed off.

Reality check time. We're exactly two miles higher than any coastline in the US. Even better, we're exactly one mile higher than where we were about 2 hours ago.

A really old rock cut.

Nice.

Rock walls and random drainage culverts.

Thought process for this pic: "Okay, a switchback is ahead. Hey, what's that number on there for? Wow! I should get a picture of it! Crap! Camera turned off. Okay, camera's on and I've slowed down so not to miss the pic. And take the pic... now. Oops! Moved my hand."

Just after switchback 5 is switchback 4.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

3

Switchback 2's sign thought it would be sneaky.

But not sneaky enough! BWAHAHAHAHAAAA! .... wow. i need a life.

<radio announcer voice>"And rounding out our countdown of the top 5 switchbacks is our number one hit!" </radio announcer voice> Seriously, though, what's up with numbering the switchbacks?

Once we're done with SWITCHBACK COUNTDOWN MADNESS, we break into higher speeds and the Kawuneechee Valley. No, don't ask how to pronounce Kawuneechee.

We're mere feet away from the source of the mighty Colorado River.

Yeah! So the only thing that will be flying like bats out of hell here will be ... uhhh.... bats.
Out of hell. (yeah, I got nothing)

Mother Nature's fireworks show. This is a small part of what the mountains look like in September and October.

Wow! People parking hapazardly. This can only mean one thing when in RMNP:

A herd of elk. Look beyond the trees.

Rolling along the southern edge of the Kawuneechee Valley. (That's a fun word to type)

Alright. Potty break time, and I have filled the memory card on my camera. Since I have yet another new toy, I can pull the images off of the camera while taking a break. When I was done with all of that, I looked to the north. That's the Never Summer Wilderness Area, there. It's not part of RMNP, but it won't be developed any time soon.

The mighty Colorado River at about 3 miles old.

These workers are putting up all those sticks we've been seeing since Hidden Valley. They've done a pretty good job of sticking up the park. (Oohhh, another bad one from r-dub.)

Uhmmmm, ouch?

Slowing down for some reason.

And that reason would be the western boundary of RMNP. It took us just under 1.5 hours to completely travel the park today.

The best way to know that we're out of the park: random snowmobilers on stilts. Gotta admit: that's a pretty crappy ski area.

The next town we meet is Grand Lake.

The first indication that we're on 34 since Deer Ridge Junction. This is also at the former END! of SH 278, which was decommissioned in the late 80's.

BIG number sign. You think Grand Lake is serious about its speeds? Oh, by the way, we're heading down former SH 278 right now.

Interesting that the boat launch is on the left when Grand Lake is on the right. Is there a trebuchet to literally launch the boats into the lake?

Approaching the central part of Grand Lake.

Grand Lake in all its finest. There's some really tough putt-putt courses here.

So why's it called Grand Lake? Well, see for yourself.

Alright, this was fun. Let's head back to US 34 now.

Old skool sign sighting.

More meeses. The Comrade would be proud. But do these meeses know the difference between a road and a banana?

US 34 curves around Grand and Shadow Mountain Lake for quite a while.

So who can tell me what's wrong with this picture? HINT: It's not that this roadtrip has gone on too long under these sky conditions.