For my birthday last year, I was given a national parks pass. I only got to use it a few times, and it runs out in November. I need to get some good out of it and fast. I have had plenty of chances to go up and admire the fall colors at altitude, but I wanted one more trip to Trail Ridge Road before it was too late in the season to be there. Tomorrow's weather is supposed to be "dreary" (more on that later), so today was my best chance to go. My foster daughter has never been to Rocky Mountain National Park, and being a flatlander, she is unlikely to take the initiative to drive up there herself. I kidnapped her (a recurring theme with us) and off we went to Find Our Park, as it were.
Having a first-timer in the car meant I didn't mind if we were stuck in a long line of leaf-peepers, so when the traffic heading into Estes Park was literally backed up for four or five miles up the highway and stopped dead, I took it as an opportunity to describe what we would be doing. She not only isn't used to driving on twisty turny mountain roads, she's not used to riding on them or being at altitude much at all. She wasn't sure she was ready for what I was suggesting. I wanted to take Fall River Road to the top, and it only goes one direction, so it had to be done first. I negotiated with her by talking about Stephen King novels, and pointed out that the turn to the main entrance to the Park went through a super congested downtown, while the less-traveled route to the Fall River side went past the Stanley Hotel, the site of the genesis of The Shining. There were remarkably few other cars heading the direction we were, and I started to get a little paranoid that this gate was already closed for the season. But our friends who live in Estes were there just a couple days ago, as photographs evinced, so we pressed on. We got into the Park quickly, with no vehicular backups.
Once inside the confines of RMNP, we started to see more fall colors. The trip up from Lyons is mostly evergreen trees, nearly no aspens to stop and admire. We pulled over only a couple times down low, where I pointed up and showed her the clouds swallowing the top of the mountains. I said we were headed there, into that mist. I'm not sure she believed me at the time.
The trip up Fall River Rd is slow and steep, and on clear days the views go for miles. On misty days, they're spooky and mysterious. I enjoyed this in a completely different way than when we drove up during the summer. Foster daughter had fun, possibly because the mist was so thick she couldn't see how high up we were driving, nor how steep was the drop off in certain stretches.
We ended up at the visitor's center at the top of Trail Ridge when we reached the end of Fall River Road. It spits out at the base of the trail where one can hike up to 12,000 feet (plus), and we could barely see it. By then the fog was so thick we could only see ten or fifteen yards in front of our faces. It was a sneak preview of my very favorite day of the year, the first cold and gloomy and drizzly day when everything smells of pine wood smoke and the only things you can think about are blankets and hot chocolate. It's due down here tomorrow, if the forecast is correct. But up on top of the mountain, there was actually snow in the mist. I had snowflakes melting in my hair, on the first full day of fall!
We went to one rest station, and it had a sign that the bathrooms were already closed, and the whole of Trail Ridge would close by 8 for incoming weather. We went to the visitor's center for coffee and Fritos, and as soon as we finished paying, they announced that the weather had rolled in even sooner, and we all had fifteen minutes to buy anything we were holding, and get out. We took our snacks and left, heading back down, stopping only in Lyons for early dinner. It was a fantastic trip for me, and it was a whole load of fun getting to show my foster daughter the mega park up the hill from us for the first time. I can't wait to take her back up next year. I think I want another parks pass for this birthday too.
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