Rocky Mountain National Park: Estes Cone via Longs Peak Trailhead

 My friend Ben and I had originally intended to head to the Indian Peaks Wilderness for an ascent of South Arapaho Peak. However, that hike spends quite a bit of time up above treeline and the weather forecast was calling for a pretty good chance of rain. Instead of heading to Kelly Dahl Campground, we decided to call an audible and headed to the Peaceful Valley Campground instead. 

We awoke this morning to a beautiful alpenglow sunrise, 

ate a quick breakfast and then made the drive to the Longs Peak Trailhead at Rocky Mountain National Park. We wouldn't be hiking the iconic 14er today though, instead our destination was Estes Cone. 

We parked at the trailhead and then hit the trail at a pretty brisk pace.

Soon enough we were at the first trail junction 

where we took the trail to the right that led to Eugenia Mine. 

The hike continued on the Storm Pass Trail with a descent ascent.

Soon, we found ourselves at the mine site where we did a little exploring.

After our short break we continued on, passing through Moore Park with its nice views of our destination: Estes Cone.

From Moore Park the trail climbed a bit more steeply. We took a few breaks where there were some nice views out to Longs Peak.

After reaching Storm Pass the trail got quite steep.

The .7 miles from the pass to the summit went pretty slow due to the rugged nature of the trail. Still, the view at the summit out to Longs Peak and the surrounding area, was well worth the climb. 

We probably spent about 30 minutes enjoying the view before starting to make our way back down to the trailhead. 

Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge

 This morning I packed up camp at Chatfield State Park and hit the road before sunrise. I wanted to get to City Park to take some photos of the Denver skyline at sunrise. It took me a little longer to get to City Park than I had anticipated, but I was able to get a decent photograph of the city skyline before the light got too harsh. 

From City Park it was a fairly quick drive over to Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. I entered the refuge and found a pullout to eat breakfast: a bagel with cream cheese. Then I made my way over to the lakes area to go for a hike and look for wildlife. Just before arriving at the Lakes area, I found part of the refuge bison herd and watched the bison for a little bit, including a calf who seemed to enjoy running around.

From there I found a place to park and headed down to the loop trail that encircles the small Lake Mary. Immediately, I was able to observe a cormorant diving below the surface to look for fish.

From Lake Mary I headed over to Ladora Lake. There's a nice 1.8 mile loop around Ladore Lake and I was able to observe wildlife including a few great blue herons,

cormorants,

and a hairy woodpecker.

After the short hike, I made my way to the Wildlife Drive where I got a nice view of a bison with mountains in the background,

the distant Denver skyline,

and a closeup view of part of the herd.

After the Wildlife Drive I left the refuge and headed northeast to Greeley to pick up some beer at WeldWerks before making my way home. 

Chatfield State Park

 Tonight and last night I've been staying at Chatfield State Park. I chose this site because of its proximity to Denver and short drive to the train station at Littleton-Mineral. Besides the convenience, it offers some surprisingly nice views and wildlife viewing. Here's what I've seen over the past couple of days:

Today's sunrise over Chatfield Lake

Kayakers paddle Chatfield Lake at sunset

A prairie dog in a town near my campground

Observation platform in a picnic area

Mountain chickadee

Distant view of Longs Peak 

I think I would return to do a little more hiking and exploring, especially if Noelle and I decided to use it as a basecamp to head into Denver. 

Denver, Colorado

 I've spent a lot of time exploring Colorado, but I haven't really spent much time in Denver, especially downtown Denver. Today, I decided to do some exploring to change that. I took the light rail from Littleton-Mineral Station to Union Station and set off on foot. I had hoped to find a dynamic city with lots of energy like two cities I have recently visited: New York and Philadelphia. However, I found Denver to be a bit underwhelming. A report I recently read says that about 40% of Denver's downtown office space is currently vacant, which I am sure is part of the reason why it felt like there wasn't much going on down there. Anyway, here's what I saw:

Light rail at Union Station

An art installation outside Union Station

Union Station

Wazee Street

Larimer Square

relaxing on Larimer Square with a coffee

A sculpture at the Denver Center for Performing Arts

Denver Convention Center

The top of the Denver City and County Building

The Denver City and County Center

his guy asked me to take his photo, so I obliged

Colorado Capitol Building steps

The City and County Building from State Capitol

Colorado State Capitol Building

Fox Squirrel gathering mulch

Pioneer Mothers of Colorado Monument

One of many interesting murals

The new Larry Walker statue outside of Coor's Field

Shipping container art

Rhino sculpture in RiNo

interesting van

RiNo mural

another RiNo mural

Popeye

Swan mural

egret in the South Platte River

owl mural

My favorite part of the city that I explored was Five Points where I grabbed lunch at Shake Shack and got a couple beers at Our Mutual Friend. Otherwise, I wasn't too impressed.