I woke up in Estes Park to the sight and sound of rain. Lots of rain. I actually welcomed it — it’s like a day off! I ate breakfast at The Egg and I — an absolutely delicious apple cinnamon granola pancake that was bigger than the plate it sat on. Once again, I couldn’t even eat half of it and wound up with leftovers. I spent most of the day working on my laptop and hanging out at a cafe called Coffee on the Rocks, and then wandering around town to do a little shopping. I ended up having a great conversation with the owner, Brian, at a nice little jewelry store called Tesora Bella, and I bought a beautiful necklace there too.

During one break in the rain, I took a drive into Rocky Mountain NP and got a few photographs of a beautiful stand of aspens in their fall glory before the rain started again. To finish off my leisurely day, I had a great dinner of lamb korma at Nepal’s Cafe.

I left Granby and headed for Rocky Mountain National Park, which was only a half-hour away. It was cold and cloudy, and as I progressed up the winding scenic byway through the park, it got windier and windier and there were times of blowing snow and rain. Even with the uncooperative weather, many of the scenic overlook parking areas were crowded, which shouldn’t have been a surprise, since it was a weekend and Rocky Mountain is so close to Boulder and Denver. I was in a little bit of a funk that day, not feeling great, like a cold might have been coming on, so I didn’t feel up for a lot of hiking, especially in the cold and wind and at such elevations, but I did a couple of easy short hikes. Rocky Mountain is full of beautiful rugged mountain peaks, and at the upper elevations, it’s particularly striking to see how stark the mountains are above the timberline. There are some truly spectacular vistas, weather notwithstanding, although in some cases I caught only brief glimpses of how far the mountains stretched into the distance, as the clouds kept rolling through and blocking the views.

As the road descended into the eastern part of the park, the weather cleared a bit, and the scenery changed. Stands of aspens still clung to some of their yellow leaves, streams ran through meadows, and I saw lots of elk, some of them so close to the road that traffic was stopped and rangers were managing the crowds. Even though I was happy to see some remnants of fall color at the lower elevations, I bet it had been spectacular a couple of weeks earlier.

As I hiked the little loop around Sprague Lake to catch the last afternoon light, the clouds once again moved in and rain started to pour. The mountains disappeared behind the clouds, and I took that as a sign that it was time to go find dinner and a room for the night. Low temps were once again getting down into the twenties, so I wasn’t even going to bother looking for camping. I found a room at the friendly Silver Moon Inn in Estes Park, and arranged to spend the next two nights there. I was craving some ethnic food, so I walked through town to window shop and have a nice quiet dinner at Sushi Yama.