On the fourth day of our adventure we scheduled whitewater rafting in Fort Collins on the Cache Le Poudre river. We got up that morning, jumped in the car, and headed out. Before we left town we went to Grubsteak restaurant for breakfast. I had an omelet that was quite delicious. Our waitress was Russian and seemed genuinely annoyed when the guy at the table next to ours asked where she was from. We ended up getting to Fort Collins a bit early and tried to check in at the rafting place however the lady there said that we couldn't register until 1:15. Since we had about an hour to go we decided to go see the taxidermy place across the road. That was closed. We went back to the rafting place and waited for a while. I went in to see if we could check in a little early and again was told 1:15. This lady was a nazi about the whole 1:15 thing. Finally 1:15 rolled around and everyone and their brothers was at the counter registering for the trip. We signed waivers saying that they would not be accountable for death, dismemberment, or any other thing that might happen. We received our equipment (orange vests and blue helmets), and climbed onto the bus. Once we got to the river we got our paddles and it was time to go. Our guide was very nice and told us when and how to paddle, but the death and dismemberment thing was an overstatement. Apparently we were rafting on the last day of the season and there was very little "whitewater" to be had. While we were floating down the lazy river in our lifevests and helmets we were being passed by people sitting in innertubes drinking beer. There were a few areas where there were actual rapids, and the photographer for the rafting company made sure to catch us as we crossed each of these areas. As Jason said, "technically we can check whitewater rafting off of our lists." I'm going to have to redo this one, and next time I'll remember to go in the spring. Before we headed back to Estes we went to REI. Being that this was Colorado I figured that they would have bigger REI stores than the one in St Louis. Its funny, whenever you go to the one here in St Louis if they don't have something they say it is because they are just a "baby REI." Well the one in Fort Collins is half the size of the one in St Louis so what does that make them. We went back to Grubsteak that night for dinner and again had a Russian waitress (different girl). In fact we counted at least 3 more Russian waitresses that night and found others at different restaurants in town. For some reason there has obviously been an influx of Russian waitresses into Estes Park, CO. That night while we were sleeping peacefully in our tent, Jason was nuzzled awake by the hot breath of a black bear in his face.
 |
| Home, no bears allowed in here |
 |
| Looks scary doesn't it |
I guess the bear decided he wouldn't be a good meal as Jason is still with us. The next morning Lindsay had made reservations for horseback riding. Cowpoke Corner Corral was excellent and its obvious that they take good care of their horses. My steed was named Big Jake, Jason rode Rocky, and I can't remember the name of Lindsay's horse. The two hour tour was very relaxing and we got to see great views of the mountains and the continental divide. At one point the guide pointed out a spot where there was 3 ways that the horses could hop down from and said to just let the horse decide how to get down. Jason's horse apparently found a forth way resulting in him almost whacking his groin on the saddle horn. His horse also tried to leave the trail, go down a steep hill, and make a shortcut back to the stable at one point. After horseback riding was over we decided to drive the Trail-Ridge road.
 |
| Trail Ridge Rd |
I can't believe that we almost didn't do this as it turned out to be a highlight of the whole trip. The Trail-Ridge is the highest road in the United States and goes 13,000 feet above sea level. The views of the mountains are incredible and at its highest elevations it encroaches on alpine-tundra. On this trip I learned that tundra means land with no trees, and there are definitely no trees at 13,000 feet. All that is there is mostly rocks, dirt, and wind, lots of wind.
 |
| Windy alpine tundra |
In many spots on this road there is very little separating your vehicle from a deep canyon or drop off. Lindsay white-knuckled her way through it admirably. Just past the highest point on the road there is a visitor's center, gift shop, and restaurant. We stopped there for lunch and souvenirs before turning back. Jason had shown some interest in climbing Long's Peak and luckily there was a guy there who had done it and was willing to talk with him about it. Most of the people we had met who had done it seemed to lie (this is Colorado) and say that it was easy. This man seemed to be honest, told him that it was doable, but also expressed the danger inherent in climbing the highest peak in the park. In addition, he also told us about another hike which paralleled a good chunk of the hike to Long's Peak, splitting off towards the end and heading to Chasm Lake. He said that this was a popular place to watch the sun come up in the morning. Sounded like fun to Lindsay and I. We headed back to camp to get to bed early since we were going to have to be on the trail by 2AM. Unfortunately a large band of raucous Russians had taken up camp two sites up from us and were hell bent on keeping us awake with their constant yammering. Between that and Jason's snoring I'm sure we got about an hour of sleep that night. In fact, this was the only night we didn't seen any elk, I'm convinced that our neighbors were able to keep them at bay.
On the fourth day of our adventure we scheduled whitewater rafting in Fort Collins on the Cache Le Poudre river. We got up that morning, jumped in the car, and headed out. Before we left town we went to Grubsteak restaurant for breakfast. I had an omelet that was quite delicious. Our waitress was Russian and seemed genuinely annoyed when the guy at the table next to ours asked where she was from. We ended up getting to Fort Collins a bit early and tried to check in at the rafting place however the lady there said that we couldn't register until 1:15. Since we had about an hour to go we decided to go see the taxidermy place across the road. That was closed. We went back to the rafting place and waited for a while. I went in to see if we could check in a little early and again was told 1:15. This lady was a nazi about the whole 1:15 thing. Finally 1:15 rolled around and everyone and their brothers was at the counter registering for the trip. We signed waivers saying that they would not be accountable for death, dismemberment, or any other thing that might happen. We received our equipment (orange vests and blue helmets), and climbed onto the bus. Once we got to the river we got our paddles and it was time to go. Our guide was very nice and told us when and how to paddle, but the death and dismemberment thing was an overstatement. Apparently we were rafting on the last day of the season and there was very little "whitewater" to be had. While we were floating down the lazy river in our lifevests and helmets we were being passed by people sitting in innertubes drinking beer. There were a few areas where there were actual rapids, and the photographer for the rafting company made sure to catch us as we crossed each of these areas. As Jason said, "technically we can check whitewater rafting off of our lists." I'm going to have to redo this one, and next time I'll remember to go in the spring. Before we headed back to Estes we went to REI. Being that this was Colorado I figured that they would have bigger REI stores than the one in St Louis. Its funny, whenever you go to the one here in St Louis if they don't have something they say it is because they are just a "baby REI." Well the one in Fort Collins is half the size of the one in St Louis so what does that make them. We went back to Grubsteak that night for dinner and again had a Russian waitress (different girl). In fact we counted at least 3 more Russian waitresses that night and found others at different restaurants in town. For some reason there has obviously been an influx of Russian waitresses into Estes Park, CO. That night while we were sleeping peacefully in our tent, Jason was nuzzled awake by the hot breath of a black bear in his face.
No comments:
Post a Comment