Rocky Mountain Cruise

[Sgt Beavis]

So Tuesday is my wife's birthday. She decided she wants to break with tradition and NOT experience 100+F temps that we got when we were living in Texas. Instead she decided to have me drive her up to the Rocky Mountain National Park and see some snow and/or ice.

Sounds like a great opportunity to drive the Jag.

So after breakfast we headed out to Estes Park, CO and took in some of the tourist trap sites while tooling along the river walk. It's a really nice place. The main challenge here was keeping our son, Carpenter, from jumping into the river. It looked like a lot of fun though. Temp 74F




Then off to the RMNP we go. First stop was at about 9600 feet where we watched the chimpmunks run amok. Temp 67F


Miyako posing with her birthday present... Which is NOT my Jag.


We drove up further to about 10200 ft and pulled over for a few pictures. Temp was about 59F but felt a bit more chill than that with a slight rain.




Somewhere over 11000ft and Carpenter wakes up from the nap he's been taking. He decides to hike out to a cliff with us for some pictures. Temp about 55F

[Sgt Beavis]

Here is a panoramic pic I took from there. You can see the SUPER HELLA BIG FULL RES VERSION HERE.


Now we get to 12050ft and go for another hike. Poor Carpenter had to pee so badly but held it until we got back to the restroom by the road. TEMP 50F.


Objective achieved. This was the closest we got to the ice. I small glacier along the side of an old lava flow that had sheared off into a steep cliff. Temp 49F IN FRIGGIN JULY!



Down the mountain we go. We hit some pretty heavy fog so I pulled off while it cleared. First mod for this car is going to be Xenon or LED bulbs. Most likely Xenon.


Driving all those hairpin turns was damn fun.

[mstng86]

We took our expedition. The scariest I have ever felt driving.

[JC316]

Here is a panoramic pic I took from there. You can see the

Now we get to 12050ft and go for another hike. Poor Carpenter had to pee so badly but held it until we got back to the restroom by the road. TEMP 50F.

Objective achieved. This was the closest we got to the ice. I small glacier along the side of an old lava flow that had sheared off into a steep cliff. Temp 49F IN FRIGGIN JULY!


Down the mountain we go. We hit some pretty heavy fog so I pulled off while it cleared. First mod for this car is going to be Xenon or LED bulbs. Most likely Xenon.

Driving all those hairpin turns was damn fun.

Used to vacation up there every year. I was a freaking expert at every mini golf course in estes park. That 12K feet gives me one heck of a headache, or at least it used to.

We took our expedition. The scariest I have ever felt driving.

Flew up to Black Hawk last winter, it's a mountain gambling town just outside of Denver. We came down the mountain to the Coors factory in Golden and it came a fucking blizzard, the first blizzard of the year to be exact. Going back up the mountain in a rented mini van SUCKED, we barely made it before they shut the road down.

That one was pretty scary, but there was a worse one. My dad and I took an S10 blazer up one of the 4x4 trails in Leadville to hagerman pass. At one point in the "road", there was a trench cut in the snow, just wide enough to fit a truck through. It was roughly 10 feet of snow on either side. We made it through, but it was definitely a pucker moment.

[Torinoman]

I take the dog and the girl friend up there every summer. Her family has a cabin in Allenspark. Good times

[yellowstang]

Good times, we used to go to Estes Park and have keg parties when I was in HS.

Do they still have that big slide you sit on a little blanket to slide down? This was back in the 70's and 80's when I went, may have changed a bit, lol

[AnthonyS]

Beautiful. Enjoy the weather.

[JC316]

Do they still have that big slide you sit on a little blanket to slide down? This was back in the 70's and 80's when I went, may have changed a bit, lol

Last time I was up there, they still had that slide. Back in 08.

[Sgt Beavis]

I honestly didn't know about the slide.

[Big Dad]

nice view

[shumpertdavid]

It's beautiful up there, we came home from Sturgis 2015 by way if Colorado, rode up the 1 way mostly dirt road to the back side if the lodge at the top of Rocky mountain National Park, then down by grand lakes or something of sorts, ended up between Fraiser and Winter Park at a little camp ground. Low if like 42 in August sleeping in a tent was awesome. Next day gave way to near 100 again as we crossed south eastern Colorado, south western Kansas and Oklahoma.

[Sgt Beavis]

I know the area. We had dinner at Winter Park before heading back home to Erie.

[LANTIRN]

Beautiful. I love Colorado.

[threefortytwo]

Nice shots!

[Chili]

Love it! There was still plenty of snow in the San Juans when we were there a couple weeks ago!

Example camping temps at 11,000':