Colorado - You lite me up !!

Country roads, take me home

Hiking through the Rocky Mountains of Colorado while playing Country Roads, Take me Home on my iPod has been one thing on my bucket list forever. I love hiking, be it valley hikes, fall hikes or mountains. The adrenaline rush, shortness of breath (Sometimes :D) and the muscle soreness are just a by product of the experience but I have always felt that the sense of satisfaction that you get after reaching the summit and the breathtaking views take away everything.

I decided on doing one such not so relaxing and rugged vacation away from the city life and in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Having lived in midwest and almost having reached the saturation point of fantasizing snow, I decided to visit Colorado in the month of September. I don’t know if its a thing, but I have a particular sense of smell that I associate with the fall season and what’s best to relish that smell in the laps of mother nature.

Staying in midwest comes with its advantages of being on a drivable distance to a good number of scenic places. Being a fan of road trips, I decided to drive from Kansas To Colorado, the drive was pleasant and satisfactory to be least. If I was on a time crunch, I would have definitely wanted to fly but flying at 38,000 feet, breathing the same circulated air and listening to music wasn’t exactly how I had planned this vacation.

The drive was long, I did take a few stops on the way and checked in to the hotel. Next day was supposed to be eventful since I had a lot of things on my mind so I crashed right after reaching the hotel. Woke up next morning feeling fresh, had good amount of American Breakfast and started my drive towards the Rocky Mountains National Park. The drive was an hour and half long but it was breathtakingly scenic.

Right after I reached the Rocky Mountains, I found a suitable parking spot for my car and checked with the visitor’s center for the next available shuttle timings to the Park. I got pretty lucky and the next shuttle was leaving in a couple of minutes. The good thing with taking shuttles is usually if you visit the park in peak times, its tough to find parking within the park. These shuttles come in handy since they drop you right where the trails start. I was carrying a small backpack with enough water for myself to survive the entire day, some fruits and protein bars. The shuttle ride from the visitor center to the Bear Lake (Our first destination) takes about 25 minutes. On the way I decided the hikes that I wanted to cover in this trip starting with Bear Lake followed by Nymph Lake, Emerald Lake and Alberta Falls.

The trails for Bear Lake and Nymph Lake were relatively small of about half a mile each, so I spent most of the time strolling across the lakes and exploring the forests surrounding. It was a bright day which made the hike even more pleasant. The view of the snow covered mountains was too surreal to be true and I ended up spending most of my time taking pictures and talking to the guide.

The shuttles between the various trails run every 15 minutes and it is easier to cover the three lakes in a couple of hours depending on how much time you spend on the lakes. The last shuttle is at 6 pm and I still had Alberta Falls to cover from my checklist so I decided to cut off my time at the Emerald lake. For Alberta Falls we decided to take the Glacier George Trailhead and it took us 15 minutes to reach the falls. This trail was relatively tiring and had much higher altitude gain. Alberta Falls was my last spot for the day and I boarded the shuttle which was also the last shuttle to the visitor’s center :P.

On the way to visitor’s center, I came across this Himalayan Curry & Kebob restaurant and the North Indian in me could not control. I stopped for a quick bite and believe me or not had the most mouth savoring Momos ever. It was now time for us to bid adieu to Rocky Mountains and start for Vail, also called the Ski Town.

For my stays I usually like to cut down on expenses and decided to go for an AirBnb which was in a prime location. We drove down to the historic town of Vail which was nothing more less an architectural bliss and apparently we reached just in time for the Rubber Duck Race - albeit charity fundraiser event but it does attract a lot of crowd because of the lip smacking food and the beer. The surrounding was lit, there was merriment, there was food and there was beer to beat the heat of Vail. Vail has a lot of touristy things to do and is specially known for its Skiing adventure and scenic spots, We weren’t visiting in the prime time but I made most out of our trip, stopping at every scenic spot and capturing moments through my lens. We spent an hour in the town tasting wines from local vineyard and eating churros and decided to head to our next adventure - The Gondolas.

The Eagle Bahn Gondola was a new experience for me. In the peak season these Gondolas take you to the ski resort which offers numerous adventures such as skiing, zip-lining and hiking. The Gondola ride was a fun experience, watching the mountains and the Vail Town from an elevation added to the charm of the town. The Gondola ride to be honest was the highlight of Vail for me. We did a mile long hike on the fireweed loop, both upper and lower which took us about an hour and a half in total and the next thing we knew, it was almost time for the last gondola to descend. The hike was moderate to easy, the altitude gain wasn’t a whole lot and the views of the lush green mountains were awe-inspiring.

Our three day long trip was coming to an end and it was almost time for our last destination, Boulder and we started our drive from Vail to Boulder just around sunset. We spent the night at the Aloft Hotel, had a delicious American Breakfast in the morning and started for our hike to the FlatIrons. As compared to Vail and Rocky Mountains, Boulder was very bright and the temperature was around 80 degrees which made the easy hike a little tough but thankfully I had enough protein bars and water with me to keep me sane. It took us about an hour and a half to finish the trek to the glorious flat irons and it was definitely worth it.

The three day long trip was coming to an end, and I was driving back home to Kansas City, I had too many emotions in my mind, Vacation Ending Blues and Monday Blues being some of them but as I was putting my Mastaani on cruise mode for next 5.5 hours, I knew one thing, there is going to more of destinations to cover, memories to make and pictures to click with ever paycheck.

Until Then Ciao!!