Hot Sulphur Springs

The Hot Sulphur Springs stop was a great relief after our RMNP hike and other stops.  This is a historic spring site where the waters are not filtered. It smells like rotten eggs, but you get used to it after a while and it really is rejuvenating. 24 pools in all, you have your pick of really hot pools to more moderate pools. We tried most all of them, settling on the cooler pools so we could stay. One pool is built under the spring outlet itself..the rest of the pools, the water is piped in.  Here are a few pics!

Leaving RMNP, Lake Irene and a historic dude ranch

After our fantastic Ute Trail Hike, we headed out of the park towards Hot Sulphur Springs, our next overnight stopping spot.  We stopped at Lake Irene for a short walk and then another stop at a historic dude ranch. Grabbed a late lunch in Grand Lake and sped towards those hot springs!

Never Summer Mountains

Pretty damn close to the head of the Colorado River

Rocky Mountain National Park/Ute Trail Hike

The key to touring Rocky Mountain National Park is to get up early and drive it alone...at your own pace! It costs $20.00 per vehicle to enter the park and drive the Trail Ridge Road. But not if you enter the gates at 6:30 a.m.!!!  We slept great in the tipi..but the marmots had us up early, so we decided to hit the road as soon as we could roll up our sleeping bags. The morning view was colorful!

On the way to the park entrance we encountered a mother elk and her "baby". They were headed to meet up with the rest of their herd, who apparently feel right at home at the campground.

As far as the RMNP itself, It seems impossible to pick which pictures to post. There are so many.  But here are some of my favorites.  Headed in and up to the visitor's center, which is the highest point.

Note that ours is one of only a few cars in the visitor's center...driving early alleviated the traffic on the scary road and gave us a glimpse of some wildlife before they got scared off by the crowds! Also, take note of the pic overlooking the lake...that lake is along the Ute Trail..where we hiked. Here are those pics:

Estes Park Tipi

Roy is 1/32 Choctaw…or something like that!  We thought this would be a cool way to spend the night on the cheap and it really was fun!  The tipi is actually really big inside and perfect for a guy as tall as Roy.  We waited out a rainstorm before we set up the mattress, just to be sure that the tipi would stay dry…and it did..mostly! It does have a big hole at the top, but strangely, all we felt were a few drops if you sat directly underneath it.  Once the storm passed, we were able to set up our bed.  We stayed dry…but it was quite a cold night.  The hardest part was keeping the marmots out of our tent. Those silly little buggers were constantly peeking in looking for food.  Thankfully, they are not nocturnal. I was a bit worried that one of them was going to attack me for a gluten free cracker in the night!  We campfire cooked sausages and tamales that we bought from the organic market in Salida. We turned in early to ready ourselves for our tour of RMNP and our first hike above 11,000 ft!