Rocky Mountain National Park

Today we drove into RMNP. Surprisingly, I don't think I've ever been all the way around the park on Trail Ridge Road. Or even spent much time at all in the park itself.

Several weeks ago we all had to log in to their website right at 8 a.m. to get limited car passes to drive up Bear Lake Road and to the trailhead. This was the main attraction, and although it was a decent drive all the way around to the other side of the park, it was definitely worth it.

Not much else happened on the drive there and back. There were a few stops, but being locals, it was just another pretty view and one similar to what you can see on any number of 14er hikes. However, the trail to Emerald Lake and back was exceptional. We had lunch out of the back of our cars before catching the shuttle to the trailhead.

Grandma stayed behind with Huey while the rest of us hiked past Nymph Lake, Dream Lake and Emerald Lake. Dream Lake was my favorite of all of them. It had crystal clear waters and the best backdrop. We all found a good spot for a family picture down by the water. I would definitely recommend doing this hike.

KowTown Gravel

KowTown was a fun event. Matt, Justin and I did the short course, which took me about and hour and a half to complete. That's pretty much the perfect length to have fun, go hard, and not wreck yourself for the rest of day or weekend. I ended up winning the overall on the short course.

The race went well despite my bike computer wanting to send me off on various random turns. Somehow the reroute feature was turned on and it had trouble finding where I was at. That's not a great combination with never seeing the route before and not knowing where you're supposed to go. 

I took a wrong turn at one point up the first hill (per my computer), but other riders yelled at me to turn around. Later on I found myself at the front of the race alone, but had to pull over and wait for second place since my computer was telling me to go left and I didn't think it was right. Always fun to be out in the lead alone and chased by other people to the finish line!

4th of July in Granby

This year the entire family planned a short vacation over the holiday weekend. There were lots of festivities for the 4th, a gravel race for me, and Rocky Mountain National Park all within a short drive of the Air BnB we rented for the long weekend. Michelle and Huey even joined from California.

The first event on the calendar was s traditional small town 4th of July Parade. There were lots of horses, big vehicles, and even a few Denver Nuggets Cheerleaders were involved. Near the end we were treated to an unexpected flyover by two F-16s. In the end, the dogs were even involved.

Stacey also took a nice picture of the kids in front of Grand Lake, which was closer to where we were staying. This area on the backside of Rocky Mountain National Park is one of my favorite places in Colorado. It's harder to get to, so quieter, but it has some of the best water and scenery around. I'd like to go back again and do some exploring on my bike.