Having the privilege of a two-week summer vacation from a job where summer vacations are a rarity, I decided to take a little trip. Since I don’t drive, but I like trains, it was a train trip. So, where to go? It needed to be some place I’ve never gone before, and Amtrak had to get me at least part way there. Far away, but not too far. I live in Reno, Nevada, and eastbound Amtrak would certainly get me gone some distance, and Colorado seemed a good choice. I discovered there was a shuttle service for hire from Denver to Estes Park, Colorado, and that’s immediately outside Rocky Mountain National Park, so RMNP it was!
I began planning this trip back in March, and by the second week of April I had all my reservations locked in. There was one snag: I wanted to camp in RMNP from June 7 to June 14, arriving on a Wednesday and leaving the following Wednesday, but all the campsites in the entire park were already booked for the weekend portion. Cripes, I thought, what a revolting development. Then I gave it a little more thought, and since I could book my campsite for the days preceding and following the weekend, I just went ahead and did that and decided to rely on the kindness of strangers, hoping someone would be willing to share their space for two nights. Of course, I would offer to pay my share, but it turned out that wasn’t necessary. I just had to move my tent three times: once for Friday night, again for Saturday night, and then back to my own spot. Fortunately I was doing this trip backpacking-style, so actually moving my small tent was no great chore.
My train left Reno late Monday afternoon, June 5. I had booked a two-person “roomette” because the trip from Reno to Denver is scheduled for twenty-five hours and that’s just too long for me to travel coach: I needed a bed. My compartment was just inside that door behind me in the photo, and there was plenty of room for my backpacks and my guitar. (The grey suitcase and small pack behind me aren’t mine. My trash is on my back and in front of me.) We pulled out of the station just a little after 5 p.m.
I had brought several cold beers in a small soft pack cooler and as soon as I was in and sitting down I cracked the first one open. I have to say it was definitely a bit of a thrill for me when the train began moving. I’d ridden Amtrak several times before over the past decades, but this was the first time I had a private compartment. My roomette was the smallest Amtrak offers: two facing seats and a fold-away one-person bunk overhead. There’s just enough room for two people, with the seats also folding down into a one-person bunk. For a single guy like me, however, it was plenty roomy enough. Besides, I knew I wasn’t going to be spending all that much time in there except for sleeping. The views, the people, all happen up in the observation lounge car. Let’s get to a couple of views, shall we?
I will mention here that the Amtrak roomette price includes meals. Dining on Amtrak is an experience in itself; you will be seated with people you’ve never met before so the social opportunities just present themselves. The food? Meh. For my first meal, dinner, I ordered the fettuccine. I’m sad to say the noodles and the vegetables were undercooked. No more on that subject.
By the time it got dark I was pretty much ready for bed. Utah in the morning!
(For anyone who is interested, I purposely set my date/time stamp “on” so it would help me remember the photo location. Times displayed are actually one hour later; time zone change. I also kept a rough note book. After all, I did sort of brag about this upcoming trip here on Daily Kos, so I needed to be able to write about it accurately after the fact. I apologize to anyone who finds the date/time stamp distracting.)
Here’s some various photos as the journey continues. By the way, the train got seriously delayed traveling across Utah. If you travel Amtrak you just need to accept this. Amtrak does not own the rails it uses and frequently has to yield to the money trains — freight, that is. But it wasn’t other trains that held us up. The signal and switching system was having serious heat issues. We spent a lot of time stopping, creeping, stopping and creeping through out the day of June 6. But hey, what a great reason excuse to buy yet another cold (overpriced) beer and shoot the breeze with fellow rail travelers.
Well, getting there is (supposed to be) half the fun, right? And I’ve got a fair beer buzz on, and there’s plenty of cold beer available, so crack another one and relax.
Oh, my freaking dog, we’re IN Colorado. We’re actually in freaking Colorado. Denver, overnight in a classy motel, and Rocky Mountain National Park here we come!
Time to cut this part of the story short. By now I’m well-oiled, as the old saying goes, and I went to dinner. Couldn’t eat a bite, had to excuse myself and go lie down. It was dark by the time I woke up and I was still feeling bushed, so I pretty much stayed in bed until we finally arrived, a good six hours late, in Denver at midnight. Taxi to my motel, and more sleepy-time. In the morning I enjoyed the motel’s very nice complimentary buffet breakfast, and had lots of time to kick back until I had to get back to the train station to catch my shuttle van ride to Estes Park at 1:00 p.m.
From the Estes Park Visitor’s Center there is a free park shuttle bus service into Rocky Mountain NP, and so I duly arrived at Glacier Basin campground at 3:55 p.m. Just twenty minutes earlier, while still on the shuttle bus, the skies opened up and sent down a veritable torrent of rain and sleet. Snow!!! Yet by the time the bus dropped me off the deluge had passed over. I set up my little tent quickly, with some light intermittent rain coming down, and boogied back into Estes Park for final supplies: stove fuel (backpacking-size propane/butane canister; you can’t legally carry it on the train) and a couple of big cold beers and a bottle of peppermint schnapps.
Then, in the morning, the first true wildlife photo of the trip:
I had planned a six-mile hike for my first full day in RMNP, but decided to stay in camp and acclimatize instead. Glacier Basin campground is approximately 8,200 feet elevation, and although I’ve never had altitude problems I just thought it would be a good idea. My planned hikes would take me up over 10,000 ft. and I wanted to be sure I was good to go.
A sad note about Rocky Mountain National Park: the pine beetle kill has been devastating. Well over half of the campsites in Glacier Basin campground are utterly bereft of trees, the Park having to cut all the dead trees down for fire prevention. Naturally, my campsite was one of the unfortunates.
Longs Peak
is a high and prominent mountain summit in the northern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The 14,259-foot (4346 m) fourteener is located in the Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness, 9.6 miles (15.5 km) southwest by south (bearing 209°) of the Town of Estes Park, Colorado, United States. Longs Peak is the northernmost fourteener in the Rocky Mountains and the highest point in Boulder County and Rocky Mountain National Park. The mountain was named in honor of explorer Stephen Harriman Long and is featured on the Colorado state quarter.
Stand on Chiefs Head Peak and you are standing on the Continental Divide.
My first hike was not terribly challenging. About a mile and a half over to East Portal (part of the Alva B. Adams Tunnel water system, which transports water from the west side of the Continental Divide to eastern Colorado and goes smack-bang right through the middle of the park, although you’d wouldn’t know it unless you saw it on a map. It’s way underground.) and then return up the Wind River Trail, for a total of about 6.2 miles. I set out early in the hopes of getting some bird photos but birds, it turns out, can be damn hard to photograph. I had to settle for this:
But… it’s got wings, and is beautiful, and is wildlife, and I could identify it.
Next day’s hike got me here:
Glacier Gorge and Mills Lake was my destination for the day. But I chose the wrong trail to get to Mills Lake.
Headed back down, somewhat discouraged, because this meant a real short hike for the day. However, at the trailhead I spoke with a RMNP volunteer, who suggested Boulder Creek Trail. Yep, tomorrow’s another day.
Part 2 (and final) tomorrow; Boulder Creek, bear sign, Alberta Falls, and more. “Praise of Trek Poles” explained. Thanks for reading.