Our Colorado adventure continues!

In our attempts to see all of Colorado’s beauty, we decided to switch things up a bit for the next leg of our trip.

On Monday September 28^th, we said goodbye to our cute Colorado Springs Airbnb and set out on what felt like our own piece of the great American road trip. We pointed the car west and headed for Telluride. This was no short drive by the way- it took us about 7-8 hours in total, but the conversation and stunning views made this drive an event of its own.

Upon our arrival in Telluride, we quickly dropped our bags off at The Hotel Telluride, our charming home for the night, and headed out for a hike to Bridal Veil Falls before the sun went down.

This was a spectacular hike and I would highly recommend it! You definitely should check it out if you are in the area. Based on time we only hiked to the lower falls, but we were nothing short of amazed. This time of year is something magical because of all the stunning yellow Aspen trees. Everywhere you look there are vibrant hues of yellow and orange, and for this Texas girl it was almost unbelievable!

After a few drinks and some pizza (and a stop at the local market for our favorite two men: Ben and Jerry) we headed back to the hotel to get some rest.

The next day, Tuesday the 29^th, we had a very specific mission, and that was to find Wilson’s peak! For those who are not familiar, Wilson’s peak is the mountain depicted on the Coors beer cans. Of course, we had to find it and take a picture there (and pay homage to all of those cans we emptied in college… sorry mom)!

We found a place off the beaten track, on a road near the Telluride Airport. We thought the view was best and most uninterrupted on Last Dollar Road. We were the crazy people taking pictures with our beers in the middle of the road at 11 am on a Tuesday! Sounds a bit nuts now that I’m writing it, but we had fun so that’s all that matters!! My favorite part was watching the locals drive by and laugh .

After all the excitement and attempts to be the new Coors ad campaign, the rest of the day consisted of driving straight to Estes Park. The next part of our adventure would be exploring the beauty of Rocky Mountain National Park.

We drove all day in the sunshine but as we neared Estes Park, the sun faded away and the sky became an unforgettable, eerie, bright glowing shade of red. As the sun set, the smoke from the very nearby wildfire settled in. We knew the seriousness of the fire and we were all a bit apprehensive as we drove into the area. We were worried the fire had spread more than we thought, and as it turns out, the fire was at the norther part of the park. This wouldn’t end up effecting any of our plans, but it was a serious wake up call. We experienced hazy, smokey afternoons and could see the ash fall like snow at times throughout our stay.

Once in the park, we drove up to one of the several bus stations in the park and rode to where we could get to three of Rock Mountain National Park’s most famous lakes. We opted to take the bus as opposed to driving further because we didn’t think we’d be able to find parking up the mountain, and as it turned out we were right and the bus was the right move here.

We took the rest of the day to hike to Nymph Lake, Dream Lake, and the beautiful Emerald Lake. Each lake was breathtaking in its own way, but our favorite lake of the three was Emerald Lake. Once we reached the lake, we carefully maneuvered the rocky shore on the left side. We found ourselves a spot on a boulder overlooking the crystal-clear water away from the crowds to enjoy our lunch. We enjoyed the moment here and soaked up as much of this place’s magnificent beauty that we could. This is something I love to do when hiking, especially in a place as grand as the one in front of us. As we sat and ate our sandwiches we watched and laughed as the more “brave” visitors jumped in for a swim – this is definitely not something I was planning on doing in these temperatures.

By the time we hiked back down, rode the bus, and reached our car the sun was setting into the most vibrant shades of yellow and orange that seemed to completely engulf every aspect of your view. The smoke from the fires began to set it to soften the light and made it feel even more unreal. To make this already perfect scenery even more of something from a dream, as we drove towards the exit of the park, we were shock to see hundreds of elk basking in the glow of the gorgeous sunset. We stopped (with about a hundred others) to take in this incredible scene. While this was beautiful, it isn’t all that unusual for that time of year. We were right in the middle of the elk breeding season. Aside from being majestic creatures, the elks are known for their unmistakable mating calls. People come from all over to hear the elk bugle, and it makes the fall one of the most popular times to visit the area.

The elk weren’t the only animals we were going to see though. The next day, October 1^st, was one we had all been anticipating – we were going horse back riding!! The only one with any experience on horses was Kellcie, but that didn’t stop us. We all had recently finished the latest season of Yellow Stone and were ready to let our inner Rip shine (if you haven’t watched this show you need to). This ended up being our favorite day in Estes Park and I highly recommend doing this if you have the chance! We rode with National Park Gateway Stables and really enjoyed our experience with them. We rode through parts of the park that we hadn’t seen yet and of course, the views were incredible.  To top it off, our guide was entertaining and very knowledgeable. We did a two-hour ride and felt this was the perfect amount of time. Any shorter we would have felt we missed out, and any longer we would have been a bit more sore! The stables are only operational May- October, so be sure to plan accordingly.

We finished our last day in the park with a drive on Old Fall River Road. This is one of the best scenic drives in the park, but it consists of a very narrow, primarily gravel, one-way road with lots of switch backs and steep climbs. We drove it through to the Alpine Visitor’s Center and celebrated with hot chocolate. Once we were back at the Airbnb, we turned in pretty early… the following day we had another big adventure planned.

Check out the third and final part to our grand adventure story (I think you will like this one)!

– XOXO, Kate

Click here to read part one of this story if you missed it!