Rocky Mountain

Hiking the Rocks

Another big and popular national park was on the agenda on July 27th, Rocky Mountain National Park. We had very high expectations for this one...

... so, maybe that's why we were a little disappointed on day one when we drove the Trail Ridge Road to the highest point. Don't get me wrong, the views were still very beautiful but after Yosemite, Crater Lake, Olympic, Mount Rainier, Yellowstone, ..., I guess we were expecting to find the "ultimate mountain" in Rocky Mountain. Or maybe we are getting a little bit too spoiled? In that case, flat, densely populated Belgium will bring us back to reality...

The next day, we decided to go exploring on foot. We started at Bear Lake and hiked 11 km all the way to Mills Lake and Jewel Lake. And I have to say that we liked Rocky Mountain a whole lot better after this hike. Hiking through and on the rocks of Rocky Mountain, following rivers to their spring in mountain lakes was much more to our liking than just driving through the mountain valleys.

Usually, I don't mention in this blog the hotels we are staying in. That is because we are staying in cheap, standard motels (how else do you think we can afford a three month road trip?). But the hotel we stayed at in Estes Park (a birthday present) is definitely worth mentioning: The Stanley Hotel. The hotel is mostly known for being the place that inspired Stephen King to write his novel "The Shining"... Rumors go that the hotel is haunted. Well, we didn't spot any ghosts but the hotel definitely had a spooky vibe!