Gearing up for more RMNP, Jesse and I decided it would cool to take an alternative route to the park. Rather than staying on highway 36, we headed west through Jamestown and Allenspark. This trip turned out to be more of a drive and explore outing rather than hiking. We would drive around and find something that looked interesting, get and explore for a bit, then head on to the next thing that caught our eye.
Once we got to RMNP, we checked out this massive wash from a lake busting out 10 or so miles up in the mountains. There's a pretty cool waterfall reasonably close, but it was a little too busy for our liking, so we went the opposite direction into the wash. We then continued to the gate for the Old Fall River Road. It's funny what you don't know until you know it. All we could see was an old dirt road that went up a mountain through the woods. We started to work ourselves up wondering if we could make it in my little truck, if we were prepared and all that kind of thing. Like we were about to go crazy off-road. We mustered our courage together and decided to push on.
We were immediately met with incredible views and minivans. Yeah, so the road is tame, and any stock minivan could get up it with ease. Once we made it to the top, we found ourselves at the Alpine Visitors Center, what a zoo. After a coffee, we headed back down by the Trail Ridge Road, stopping for anything that caught our fancy.
Photography Date: 7-24-16
Writing Date: 2-19-18
