i had some food in my panniers, but for the most part i forgot to bring some things that was really looking forward to, like my cheese, and turkey. i had some other food, but decided to go to taco instead. i got to the taco bell at just around 8:55, they opened at 9. of course i was the only customer and they didn’t seem like they were ready to serve anyone. good thing for them i ordered something easy, two bean burritos and some water. i sat in the dining area and finished off one, and put the other one in my pack for later,

right after taco bell i went to the safeway to get some gator aid and to see if i can find a knit beanie to cover my ears when i get to the top. i also found some cold frapachinos to try and make the morning super. when i checked out i asked if they had any beanies. needless to say, ‘safeway doesn’t sell beanies”… as i was informed by the checkout lady. she could of just said, “no”, but she said it like i was asking for a few gram of weed or something. anyway i sat outside in the sun and drank my frap and just did a little people watching.

i saw a group of cyclist unloading their bikes from a minivan, getting ready for some big ride. they were probably going to ride the park or something… they didn’t look like they were going to climb trailridge. although they could have been, but a couple of the people in the party, didn’t look like they could it.

remember the movie “the shining” ? well the stanley hotel in this sign is the hotel from the movie. sorry i didn’t get a picture of the actual hotel :) i took the picture because i liked the rocks in the background.

i was really glad to see estes park. i was getting pretty tired, not really sure why, the climb up to estes was only about 2000 feet. i think maybe i was getting a little fatigued because i wasn’t eating very much, and it was a little colder that i planned.

here is estes park as seen from around the corner (note: you can’t really see the estes park sign):

here is the damn:

see those clouds up there? yep that’s where i’m heading…. it should be gone by the time i get up there… so i’d hoped.

close up shot.

this is one of the wider sections

i stopped to “rest” here. not really sure why i took the picture, i’ll bet if anyone saw me with a camera outside the restroom… would be a little worried.

aren’t you glad we don’t live in a two dimensional world? this rock didn’t seem to have a backside.

i wonder how it got that way….

the walls of the canyon are pretty steep. the canyon is like a huge crack in the mountain hundreds of feet high, and maybe one hundred feet wide. anyway in 1976, there was a flood where water from a dam break and heavy rain poured down the canyon…. anyway here a plaque:

there is a man made waterfall right at the entrance to the canyon.

another view of the fall.

as i was riding away i thought the over head water bridge was pretty cool looking.

right before the enterance to the big thompson canyon, there are a lot of “camps”. there are at least two christian camps, a girls camp, cowboy camp… and a few mysterious ones like the picture below:

i don’t know why i thought this was so neat, but there was this hippie store in love, with this big neon heart and arrow.

Darn bike path. I kept running into these little clouds of small flying bug. i couldn’t see them because it was so dark. i just kept my head down, and my mouth closed. this is me at 5:30am.

… minutes i should be out of here. it’s so dark outside right now. it doesn’t feel cold right now either. i read that it was going to be windy up at the top.

and i forgot my fig newtons and gator aid…. what the hell did i go for? now i have to make the powder stuff. i should be in bed soon, i was planning on leaving my house at 5:15am.

i just checked google maps. it is only 33 mile from my house to estes park and 50.5 miles from my house to trail ridge road. that’s not bad. if fall river road is closed, i can take trail ridge which would add another 8 miles to the distance. i wonder what the elevation gain is…. trail ridge visitor center is 1179ft. i am at 4993… so that is only 6803ft or 1.3 vertical miles.

:)

till tomorrow