17th July 2010, 02:44
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| BHPian  | Quote:
 Amazing pics there idle brain, now im seriously considering a trip to CO soon, may be will trouble you once i get a tentative plan on Quote:
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22nd July 2010, 08:24
| #77 | |||
| BHPian Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Atlanta, US
Posts: 117
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22nd July 2010, 08:31
| #78 |
| BHPian Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Atlanta, US
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| Black Canyon of Gunnison pics contd...last set: Nice creativity...huh...??    This is called Painted Wall...      |
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22nd July 2010, 08:53
| #79 |
| BHPian Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Atlanta, US
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| Day 5: We left Montrose (Black Canyon of Gunnison) that morning and headed north towards Rocky Mountains National Park. (Estes Park). We know that we can't reach our destination by evening because of mountain driving, we decided to drive upto Silverthorne by evening (on I-70) traveling via the paradise for Skiiers - a small town called Aspen. Aspen is a small town near Denver with an elevation of 7890 ft. During winter months lot skiers flock this town from different parts of country. And summer people will be visiting to enjoy the nature and outdoors. Some 10 miles away from the Aspen, there is a lake called Maroon Bells Lake, which is considered as one of the most photographed lake in Colorado or probably in country itself. Probably you will agree with me once you see the pics. some random road pics while on the way to Aspen, CO:       All private vehicles are allowed only before 9am and after 5pm. Between 9am and 5pm, everyone must use public transportation. There is a bus service available from Aspen Highlands Center.     |
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22nd July 2010, 09:01
| #80 |
| BHPian Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Atlanta, US
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| And finally we are Maroon Bells Lake: Man...what an amazing place on earth....If my pics can capture atleast 10% of what is there in reality, then I am successful. One must see this place to appreciate the nature.           |
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22nd July 2010, 09:09
| #81 |
| BHPian Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Atlanta, US
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| More Maroon Bells Lake pics:    Do see a black bear in the pic:        |
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22nd July 2010, 09:09
| #82 |
| BHPian  | |
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22nd July 2010, 09:21
| #83 |
| BHPian Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Atlanta, US
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| After visiting the Maroon Bells Lake, we returned to Aspen town and continued our journey towards Silverthorne for night halt. One the way we gained an altitude of 12,095 ft and passed thru Independence Pass - continental Divide. A continental divide is a drainage divide on continent where one side of the divide will drain into one ocean or sea where as another side will drain into another ocean or sea. Typically in US, one side of the divide - all the waters will drain into Atlantic ocean/gulf of mexico and another side of the divide will drain into Pacific.           |
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22nd July 2010, 09:43
| #84 |
| BHPian Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Atlanta, US
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| Thats the end of Day 5. Day 6: Headed towards Rocky Mountains National park. But the time we reached RMNP (Estes Park) it was already noon and by the time we had lunch it was already 2pm, so we decided to visit Bear Lake and Sprague Lake for the rest of the day. Somewhere on I-70           |
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22nd July 2010, 09:47
| #85 |
| BHPian Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Atlanta, US
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| some wildlife in RMNP:      end of day 6. |
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22nd July 2010, 10:20
| #86 |
| BHPian Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Atlanta, US
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| Day 7: RMNP Typically the visit to Rocky Mountains National Park is considered as drive from Estes Park (on east side) to Grand Lake (on west side). There is a proper two-way paved road is there - called Trail Ridge Road. The distance from Estes Park to Grand Lake is around 48 miles through rockies and at one point it reaches almost 12000+ ft elevation. This road is closed during winter and usually opened during Memorial Day weekend (last weekend in May) until mid of Oct. And this is considered as highest continous paved road in America. There is another road which is called Old Fall River road. This is a one-way unpaved gravel road with very narrow and steep curves. Actually this is very first road laid in the park between these two towns using prisoners as labor between 1918 and 1920. But the then automobiles could not able to commute on this road and they laid a new road called Trail Ridge Road. Still Old Fall River road is open to automobile traffic between July - Oct. Rest of the period its closed because of heavy snow. Both these roads provide some spectacular views of the snow covered rockies. There are plenty of lakes, hiking trails etc within the park. The previous night we stayed at Loveland, CO. This is the lake in the heart of the town.  some pics from Old Fall River Road:          |
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22nd July 2010, 10:26
| #87 |
| BHPian Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Atlanta, US
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22nd July 2010, 10:34
| #88 |
| BHPian Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Atlanta, US
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22nd July 2010, 10:41
| #89 |
| BHPian Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Atlanta, US
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| The west end of the RMNP - Grand Lake           Last edited by idlebrain : 22nd July 2010 at 10:42. |
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23rd July 2010, 04:37
| #90 |
| BHPian | |
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