Looking Down on Rocky Mountains
Estes Park, CO - Saturday, 2 Sept 2017, 8pm.
After making it to the top of "Huffer's Hill" and spending a while there, it was time to start heading home. Just turning around to look at where we came from was another worthy view.
Looking down across Alpine Ridge. Stairs lead down to the Alpine Visitors Center perched on the rim of a glacial cirque.
In the center of the picture above is the Alpine Visitors Center, where we started the uphill trek. The wide perspective in the photo makes it look a long way away. ...About as far as it felt hiking up this hill at 12k feet elevation!
Once back at the car we started our drive back to town for the night. We didn't retrace our route on the Old Fall River Road; it's one-way uphill because it's so narrow. And even if it weren't one-way we'd have wanted to see a different route anyway. We happily took US highway 34, which crosses through the park.
Interestingly, as high as we were atop Alpine Ridge, it's not the highest US-34 goes in the park. The high point on the road is about 1.5 miles south, where it snakes around behind the Lava Cliffs (visible in the left of the photo above). The road's highest point is elev. 12,183 feet (3,713 meters). This is the highest point reached by any national road in the U.S. There used to be a sign there, rangers tell us, but people kept causing traffic jams by stopping for photos so they took it down.
Driving back to town wasn't simply a point-A-to-point-B matter. Even though it was getting late and our stomachs were rumbling, we made a few stops along the way to appreciate the sights. Eating protein bars staved off the rumbling, and drinking from the several water bottles we packed helped with the headaches from altitude sickness.
The view from Rainbow Curve on Trail Ridge Road (US-34)
We stopped at a few places along the way down the mountain. I'll share just one for now, this picture (above) taken from Rainbow Curve on the highway through the park. On the right you can see the highway zig-zagging down into the valley. Notice that tan-colored area at the left of the valley; that's the Alluvial Fan we visited earlier in the day. Sadly, the smoke from wildfires in the region is visible, too.
After making it to the top of "Huffer's Hill" and spending a while there, it was time to start heading home. Just turning around to look at where we came from was another worthy view.
Looking down across Alpine Ridge. Stairs lead down to the Alpine Visitors Center perched on the rim of a glacial cirque.
In the center of the picture above is the Alpine Visitors Center, where we started the uphill trek. The wide perspective in the photo makes it look a long way away. ...About as far as it felt hiking up this hill at 12k feet elevation!
Once back at the car we started our drive back to town for the night. We didn't retrace our route on the Old Fall River Road; it's one-way uphill because it's so narrow. And even if it weren't one-way we'd have wanted to see a different route anyway. We happily took US highway 34, which crosses through the park.
Interestingly, as high as we were atop Alpine Ridge, it's not the highest US-34 goes in the park. The high point on the road is about 1.5 miles south, where it snakes around behind the Lava Cliffs (visible in the left of the photo above). The road's highest point is elev. 12,183 feet (3,713 meters). This is the highest point reached by any national road in the U.S. There used to be a sign there, rangers tell us, but people kept causing traffic jams by stopping for photos so they took it down.
Driving back to town wasn't simply a point-A-to-point-B matter. Even though it was getting late and our stomachs were rumbling, we made a few stops along the way to appreciate the sights. Eating protein bars staved off the rumbling, and drinking from the several water bottles we packed helped with the headaches from altitude sickness.
The view from Rainbow Curve on Trail Ridge Road (US-34)
We stopped at a few places along the way down the mountain. I'll share just one for now, this picture (above) taken from Rainbow Curve on the highway through the park. On the right you can see the highway zig-zagging down into the valley. Notice that tan-colored area at the left of the valley; that's the Alluvial Fan we visited earlier in the day. Sadly, the smoke from wildfires in the region is visible, too.