Before we get started, if you just want to look at pictures and read the takeaways feel free to scroll to the bottom. If you are interested in all of the details, then be our guest….
I think the planning for this trip started back in 2014. I was working part time and Kayla was still working on her Bachelor’s degree. We’ve always wanted to do a National Park trip and with limited time and resources, we settled on the coolest place we could drive to in the shortest amount of time – Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.
It feels so long ago since we went on this trip! Kayla and I had been together for six years when we started planning this adventure but we were still pretty young and dumb. I had a job but I wasn’t making any real money – not enough to really afford this trip. Kayla did have some airline miles that we were able to convert to a pretty sweet hotel stay in the Denver area so that took care of the most expensive part of our trip (we – or I – thought). We had already planned to drive from Columbia, MO to Denver, CO which was about a 13 hour trip so no need for plane tickets. The only other major expense would be food, so the last piece of the puzzle was determining when we’d set off on our first park adventure.
We settled on Spring Break 2015 for a multitude of reasons, chief among them was due to Kayla still being in school. Once my time off had been secured, we were able to book the hotel and plan all of the little activities we’d do for the week we’d be in Denver. To this day, I can remember how excited we were to be going on our first road trip together and it just happened to be the longest road trip we’d ever even done on our own.
We learned a lot about planning
Even though we didn’t do any camping on this trip, I think we learned a ton about planning and preparation for hiking and subsequently any camping we’d be doing in the future. We really didn’t come fully prepared for the weather we’d be encountering shortly after arrival. March in Colorado can be fickle with the weather and we had both ends of the spectrum to deal with. While we were in Denver, the weather was hovering around the mid-60’s to low 70’s. When we made it up to Dream Lake, we encountered sub freezing temperatures with blizzard conditions. This made for a really fun trip but man did I not bring the right stuff. I had work boots (barely waterproof) and I didn’t even think to bring anything more than a light jacket. After we did a day of Pike’s Peak in Colorado Springs, I knew I’d need something more substantial to wear when we went hiking through Rocky Mountain National Park.
Speaking of Pike’s Peak…
At the time, I thought this was one of the coolest places I’d ever been! Remember what I told you about our planning prowess? When we got to Pike’s Peak, I guess we didn’t even think to check the weather. We would not be able to make it to the summit on this trip. The park rangers had the road closed about half way up due to about 2-3ft of snow covering the road. We weren’t the only one’s trying to make it to the top but we did end up snagging a few good shots from the highest point we’d be able to climb that day.
On our way back down, Kayla had the idea to start our newest tradition of standing on park signs. At the time I thought this was the most tourist-y thing someone could do (and I’m pretty sure I still feel this on some level). Either way, here is the first of many photos of Kayla standing on a sign.
Because we didn’t get to the top of Pike’s Peak, we did have more time to visit another Colorado attraction that also happened to be in Colorado Springs.
Garden of the Gods
Honestly, this place feels like it’s located where a city park would be but happens to have some of the coolest scenery. There are plenty of nature trails, historical markers, and rock climbing (for those not afraid of heights… and with a permit).
We did get a chance to walk around for a few hours and we were also able to get a good vantage point on Pike’s Peak from a distance.
We also took plenty of selfies. Looking back now, it’s hard to believe how different we looked even 5 years ago.
Thinking back on it, I really felt like we (or I) rushed through this part of the trip. I enjoyed visiting both places but they really felt like boxes to tick at the time. I know I was looking forward to the next couple of days the most. We’d never been to the Rockies and we’d never been to Estes Park.
Back to those planning errors
As excited as we were to hit the mountains, I didn’t have even the bare minimum to traverse the snowy trails we’d be encountering. When we were back in Denver I found the nearest sporting goods store that still had winter jackets in stock. It’s March, mind you, so everything was switching to spring and summer gear. Let this serve as a lesson to all, or at least all that aren’t normal sized human beings – don’t go to the mountains in March without a winter jacket or you’ll end up spending way too much on the last jacket in stock in your size.
I’ve never spent that much on any one article of clothing in my life even to this day. HOWEVER, let the record show the jacket I bought still fits and I still wear it every winter! This is not an ad for any particular brand, but sometimes you have to spend some money for quality. Or to be taught a lesson in preparation. I’m losing track.
Our new happy place
It didn’t take long for us to fall in love with this park. We we warned by park officials that blizzard conditions were possible late in the day but we had a few hours to explore. These conditions kept most other visitors away from the trails and I think we liked that the most. Estes Park and this part of the park are always busy but we mostly had the place to ourselves. The wind was icy and we had no idea where we were going. It was our first visit after all and it wouldn’t be until our next trip during the summer months that we’d realize the trail markers were buried three to four feet below us in the snow. We stuck to what looked like the trail and didn’t have any issues.
There was so much for us to take in and we were only barely scratching the surface of what this park has to offer. To be fair, the weather did influence a lot of what was open and available to the general public. We saw beautiful mountains and the wildlife was unlike anything else you’d find in mid-Missouri. I’ll be honest, the weather did have some affect on the things we wanted to do, but we felt like we were able to absorb as much of the scenery as possible in the few hours we had. That only meant we knew we’d have to come back here, and soon.
This was like no other trip we’d been on before. We were in Colorado for nearly a week but it was still very quick. But we were young, freedom still fresh in our minds. We didn’t care if it was a long trip or not, we just wanted to get away. We were both in our early 20s but still never truly strayed too far from home on our own. This was a big adventure for us!
Even though we didn’t camp this trip, we knew our next visit would have to include a stay at one of the many camp grounds located in the park. This was a vacation for us and we weren’t trying to be that adventurous on our first trip. We learned a few basics that would lay the foundation for our future trips and that alone is enough to consider this a perfect test run for years of exploration to come. I don’t remember when exactly we decided on it, but it was many years ago that we promised ourselves to visit as many national parks as we can, sort of like our bucket list. Rocky Mountain National Park was box number one, checked.
How do you end these things?
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to start a blog over the years. To be honest, it always failed after the first post because how interesting was my life to anyone else? Full credit where credit is due. On the 5th anniversary of this first trip Kayla suggests we should start a blog about our adventures. I wouldn’t say our trips are anywhere near as exciting as the ones you can find on any social media platform today. That’s not why we go on these excursions and that’s definitely not why we are writing about them now. This is for us. We take a ton of photos on every trip and maybe one or two make it to Instagram. These memories just sit on some hard drive or someone’s cloud to never see the light of day again. This is a way for us to remember all of the fun we had and a way for others to maybe learn from our mistakes.
I think something we can do at the end of each adventure is wrap up with a little something about what we learned. There were plenty of mistakes made on this first trip. You have to make mistakes to learn. You just have to fail forward, that’s all!
Debrief
- Always check the weather of where you are going. Check historical charts and check constantly on the days leading up to your trip.
- Pack layers. Make sure to have all ends of the spectrum covered, literally. Sometimes you are lucky and can find an overly expensive jacket in town, sometimes you are SOL.
- Overpacking is almost as bad as under-packing. Carrying a bag that is too heavy sucks, especially if it’s full of stuff you’ll never use on your trip.
- Planning on visiting multiple parks in one year? Buy an annual parks pass. This is so worth it. Daily rates at parks can be expensive and some places have annual pass holder fast lanes. This comes in handy more than you’d think.
- If you are using a smartphone, find a way to download the maps of where you are going so you can access them when you don’t have service. Dedicated GPS devices have their place but after this trip we never needed a dedicated GPS again. I’m just glad I still had it in my car!
Specifics
Hotel: Westin Westminster
Places Visited:
- Pike’s Peak
- Garden of the God’s
- Estes Park
- Rocky Mountain National Park
- Denver Zoo
Trails:
- Dream Lake
- Bear Lake
Must Dos:
- Honestly all of it is great and on the more touristy side so beware of crowds during the on-season
- West Horseshoe Park (just inside the Fall River Rocky Mountain NP entrance)
- Great for wildlife viewing
- Denver Zoo- one of the best in the country
Must Eat:
- Kachina Southwestern Grill
- This is the hotel restaurant at the Westin and was phenomenal
- Pepper’s Fresh and Fast Mexican Grill
- In Estes Park just outside Rocky Mountain great for a fast meal after a long hike
While we did learn a lot on this trip, the actual good stuff is still to come!
OFF THE CLOCK CAMPERS 