Where's there's population, there's tourists. Where's there's tourists, there's kitsch. Welcome to Estes Park, CO. More about the mass of humanity later...
For now, the ride:
The ride concerned me. Even though I had ridden to the campground as far up the climb as possible without actually climbing over the mountain, I was still concerned about today's ascent.
The Timber Creek Campground is locatead at the headwaters of the Colorado. So far, I have ridden by the headwaters of many important rivers: The Columbia (near Radium Hot Springs in British Columbia, Canada), The Snake (Grand Teton National Park), The Yellowstone (Yellowstone National Park, the Yellowstone leads to the Missouri), The Platte (connects with the Missouri south of Omaha, Nebraska), and now the Colorado. Some rivers flow from the parting of the waters to the Pacific, while others flow to the Atlantic.
Headwaters of the Colorado
From my campsite along the headwaters of the Columbia, I would climb to an elevation of 12,183 which was 2,000 higher than any other pass I had ridden to date.
It was suggested that I get an early start and I was on the road by 6:30 a.m. Overall the climb wasn't that bad and I kept with my planned pace - I got over the last peak by a little before 10:00 a.m. My body held up for the most part. Overall during this ride, the aches and pains have not been to bad. Maybe a few sore muscles, an IT band, and a sore derriere. I've had a low grade cold, but it didn't really stop my riding. This climb was the first time I experienced a really bad cramp - my left calf started to act up. I was able though to keep it under control for the ride.
The climb consisted of two summits. So when I went over the first summit at 12,183 feet, I then had to lose 300 feet of elevation and climb back up another steep hill to get to the second summit. Some of the road was gravel because construction was occuring. Why are construction contractors allowed to poorly maintain their construction BMPs? In a National Park?
View From the Top
Because I started my ride early, I was able to miss the bulk of the traffic and crowds. This gave me the opportunity to walk around the tundra. Above an elevation of 11,000 feet to 11,500 feet, the warmest average monthly temperature is 49 degrees. This is where the trees end and the alpine tundra begins. The alpine tundra is only a 1 foot to 3 foot layer of dirt where a fragile ecosystem of plants and mammals exists. Tundra that has been trampled by the tourist foot can take up to 1,000 years to recover.
Interesting Rock Formations at 12,000 Feet
After getting to the top, it was downhill all the way to Estes Park. My original plan was to ride onto Boulder. But, I decided to stay in the Rocky Mountain National Park instead. I stayed at the Aspenglen Campground. I got there right in time. I was actually given a "RV only" campsite because there were no other campsites.
The Rocks at Aspenglen
After I began setting in the the "RV only" campsite, Gary from Placerville, CA asked me if he could swap campsites. His kids had the adjacent campsite, but Gary's campsite was in a different part of the campground. This swap benefitted us both. Gary was able to camp next to his kids and I was able to get a better campsite that was nearer to a bear box.
View from My Campsite
After setting up the campsite, I headed to Estes Park to forage. I had emptied my bags of food as much as possible in preparation for my climb, so I needed to restock. Estes Park was a typical mass of summertime touristy humanity. There were the kids running around; the typical american tourists, a few locals, lots of traffic, people cheering as the noisy motorcylces went by. It's everything to look forward to in a mountain resort town in the month of August.
The Urban Camper
I noticed something different about the campers in the Rocky Mountain National Park. Even though I had heard from people who moved to Colorado that people were friendlier than say, California, I noticed something else. I attribute it to being near a large urban area and the type of guarded behavoir that causes in people.
When I was out in the middle of nowhere in Wyoming and Montana, and Canada, people seemed friendlier and more open to start conversations with strangers.
Now being near Denver, Colorado, a large urban area, I noticed a different way of behaving. I noticed that campers were less likely to approach me and ask me about my trip. People tended to stick to themselves similar to how people act in large urban areas. They didn't want to start a conversation with a stranger. Even though I would be able to connect with friends in the Denver area in another day when I got to my final destination, in the meantime, I couldn't connect with the strangers that were near me in the campground.
Day 36 - Timber Cr. to Aspenglen - 49 Miles
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