Good Day with a Bad Ending

We decide to drive to Loveland one day. My Mom wanted to look at some shoes she had a coupon for and I thought I might have a look myself. My Dad also likes to eat at the Cracker-Barrel and they only seem to be in north Denver and there is one in Loveland. I always get the city of Loveland confused with the Ski Area of Loveland but my parents were patient with me and explained we were not going to a Ski Area to buy shoes.

After eating in the Cracker Barrel and my Mom buying some shoes we decided to go to Boyd Lake State park. We found the park after first making one wrong turn but once at the park none of us seemed that impressed with the park. It was just a lake and did not seem to have any thing special about it so we hardly got out of the car.

I had seen a sign for Rocky Mountain National Park and ask if this was the normal route we would take to the park. My parents said this route goes through Big Thompson Canyon and sometimes they go this way but usually come up from Boulder. I suggest we go back to Denver via Big Thompson Canyon, Estes Park, Boulder and then Denver. They though this was an OK idea so off we went.

For some reason I did not take any pictures on this drive but have found a couple on the internet to post in the blog. This picture is of the Big Thompson Canyon.



The canyon is very impressive as soon as the road enters it. The walls of the canyon are basically straight up and covered with very rugged looking rocks on both sides. The bottom of the canyon seems to only have enough room for the road and the creek. The really narrow part of the canyon is only a few miles and then it open into more what I would call a normal canyon or valley with mountains on both sides. Here is another picture I stole off the web.



Looking at how narrow the canyon gets at places I understand why the flash flood in 1976 was so devastating. The flood killed 143 people. Here is a picture from 1976.



We saw a group of 3 young big horn sheep standing by the side of the road as we drove to Estes Park. From Estes Park we drove south going through the mountains to Boulder. At one point we past a deer crossing sign and there was a group of deer within a 100 yards of the sign. It is good that the deer know where they are supposed to cross the road.

The drive was really nice until we got back into Denver were at one point the traffic came to a stand still. This would not be a big issue except for the guy behind us did not come to a stand still without the help of the back of our car. Mom was driving and when she stopped she started saying, “don’t hit me, don’t hit me, don’t hit me” while looking in the rear view mirror and then came the screech of the tires and the boom sound of the vehicles meeting. None of us were hurt and I don’t think he did a lot of damage to the car but we can’t tell just yet if the frame of the car is bent. The police were called and showed up in a short amount of time and filled in a report and sent us on our way. Here is a picture I took while wait on the police.



It was a good day but ended in a manner that we would have rather skipped.

Castlewood Canyon State Park

Castlewood Canyon is another state park that is really close to Denver so we pick up my Aunt Cecil and headed out to the park close to Castle Rock. It is a really pretty place but from the landscape around it you would never expect it to be here. It is just a hole in the ground that seems to be in the middle of the prairie. I believe Eastern Colorado is part of the great plains and to me there is not a lot worth seeing in the great plains unless you like to look at wheat or corn fields.

Here is a picture of the canyon.

My dad and I took a 3 mile walk down into and through the canyon. It was a really nice walk but I was surprise to see some ice on the trail with the weather being as warm as it has been. The trail was a lot rockier than the trail we had walked in Roxborough park and I think a little bit more difficult. My Mom and Aunt suffered from the strong wind being on the brim of the canyon but Dad and I were in the canyon it was really nice. Here is a picture of my Dad along the trail.

Dad and I found our way out of the canyon and back to the car even though we both wanted to walk the wrong way. I guess we got a bit turned around in the canyon and we kept feeling the trail was going away from the parking lot but we stayed on the trail and it went right to where it was suppose to, go figure. We drove over to the platform that overlooked a bit of the canyon a little bit further down from where we walked and then headed home. This is the view from the overlook.

No echo at Echo Lake

I have been in the Denver area for over a month now and have not been to the mountains. I decided I should at least take a drive up there since the weather has been so beautiful. My parents and me hopped in the car and headed over to 6th avenue and drove up the twisting and turning road along Clear Creek. This canyon is as pretty as I remember and I think this is a lot prettier drive up into the mountains than interstate 70. We than head up the road going to Mt Evan. The road up the mountain is still closed until the summer but was open to Echo Lake.

We stopped at Echo and just walked around the lake a little and a bit up into the trees. The lake was still frozen over and there was a lot of snow on the ground. Here is a picture of my dad around Echo Lake.

That picture was taken just a few minutes before my dad stepped on a sheet of ice and fell pretty hard on his butt. He had been talking about going for a slide but don’t think this was what he had in mind. Once I was sure he was OK I was upset at myself for not getting a picture when he was down and for some reason he refused to go back and do it again.

We drove south from Echo Lake through the mountains and drove back towards home following Bear Creek. It was a really nice day but I really enjoyed making it to the mountains even if it took me over a month to do it.

This is a picture I took on the drive towards home.

Where’s that darn Eagle

My parents managed to drag me out of bed one day and we headed out northeast of Denver to Barr Lake State Park. This is suppose to be home of some nesting bald eagles. We walked along the edge of the lake and went to an area that had a bunch of signs that said you could not enter because it was an eagle nesting area. They also had a piece of plastic pipe at one point that you could look through to spot the eagle’s nest. The nest had to be well over a mile away and I am not sure if I would have been able to see an eagle from that distance even if he was in the nest jumping up and down and blowing me kisses.

We did see a huge number of geese on the lake. They sure make a lot of noise if they decide to take off or land. Here is the only picture I took of the geese on the lake and not really easy to see the geese.

We did walk up on 3 deer grazing along the lake and saw a few hawks flying through the sky. We also saw a really attractive woodpecker. We walked out a walkway to a gazebo type of thing above the lake. Here is a picture of my parents on the walkway.

I did see a large bird setting on a branch a ways away and looked at the bird through my dad’s binoculars and figured it was a hawk. When we walked past the visitor’s center before leaving they had a picture of an immature eagle and I decided this was what I saw.

When we were leaving the park my parents spotted a bird from the car that they said was a falcon. I am not really sure what a falcon looks like so to me it is was just another eagle but this one was not pouting or acting immature at all.

A walk in the Park

After returning from Texas and applying for a new passport I returned to my lazy lifestyle. My parents have managed to drag me out of the house a few times to go to state parks. We went to Roxborough state park that is within a 30 minute drive of my parent's house. My father and I walked the Fountain Valley trial and walked up to Lyons Overlook. I was hoping to see a mountain lion but only saw a couple of birds on the walk. Here is one of the pictures I took during the walk.

About a week or so later my sister and her husband (Donna & Eric) had to come to Colorado and we decided it would be nice to take another walk in the park. We all got in the car and headed back out to Roxborough. We walked a different trail this time that was called the South Rim. I think it was a lot harder walk than the first one but I made the 3 mile loop without dying somehow. Here is Eric, Dad and Donna at the top of the trail.

Again did not see a lion but did see some birds. I guess we need to bring a dog along next time as mountain lion bait.

One more picture this is one of those pictures where I take a number of them and then stick it together.