Day 10: Hiking marathon in Rocky Mountain National Park

 Had a fabulous day in Rocky Mountain National Park after I got over the challenge of timed entry permits. This park requires permits with a 2-hour window to get past the entrance. And just to make life interesting, they have 2 types of permits, one which includes Bear Lake Road and the other that does not. I wanted to do the Sky Pond hike from Bear Lake Road, so  needed that permit. The earliest one I was able to get was for 2pm. To avoid twiddling my thumbs till then, I got up early and entered the park from Grand Lake at 8am, before permits are needed.  It has become hard to do spontaneous trips anymore for the popular national parks, need to plan everything months in advance. 

The morning was devoted to driving the famous Trail Ridge Road, covering its 48 miles from east to west. It is jaw dropping beauty, and I stopped at most of the vista points and turnouts along the way.

 

The road is very well built, smoothly winding its way through the high mountains, reaching an altitude over 12000 feet effortlessly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did two short hikes on the Trail Ridge Road,  the Alpine Ridge Trail and Tundra Communities Trail. Even though they are short, The 12000 feet elevation for both had me huffing and puffing. My hotel stays above 7500 feet the previous two days probably helped with the acclimatization and I did not have any altitude sickness symptoms.

 

The highlight hike of the day for me was doing the Sky Pond Hike, which is a tough 10 mile hike, climbing almost 2000 feet to reach maximum elevation of 10900 feet. The trailhead is on Bear Lake Road, for which my permit was at 2pm. When I got to the trailhead, the parking lot was full, so I had to park at the next one a 1/2 mile away. I was finally ready to start the hike from the trailhead at 2:45pm.  It was going to be hard to finish the hike before sunset, so I set myself a target to turn back by 5pm. 

 The trail was beautiful, but tough due to the high elevation and lots of rocks on the trail. Had to scramble almost vertically straight up large boulders to get on top of this waterfall.  I met a couple along the way, who were also unsure if they would be able to make it all the way to Sky Pond.  I think we motivated each other to keep pushing forward and not give up. 

By 5pm we were still about 20 minutes away from Sky Pond. On my own, I probably would have turned back. But, together we decided to persevere and continue on.  It felt great to reach it at 5:20pm and soak in the beautiful setting. 

 

After a few minutes enjoying the views, it was time to rush back. It was hard to go faster due to the steep downhill and scrambling over the rocks, trying to avoid slipping. I was also very tired.  Reached back to the parking lot about 15 minutes after sunset. There was still enough light that my headlamp was not needed.

Drove to the hotel, very tired and exhausted, and quickly checked in. Had a nice hot shower and then went out for dinner at a Nepali restaurant in Estes Park.  By this point, it was already 10 pm, and I felt very grateful to have experienced this day that I will treasure forever.

The raw numbers for the day:

• 99 miles driving, 31000 steps walking
• 0 charging stops
  
• 1 state - Colorado

 Next:  Day 11: Wind Cave and Mt. Rushmore (Sept 14, 2022)