For a Ph.D. student based in Chicago, I’ve been writing an awful lot of Colorado-based posts in my blog. There is a reason behind it: Colorado is the best state in the U.S. Don’t tell this to anyone, it’s our secret now.
My visits to Colorado started way early in my Ph.D. career thanks to my research collaboration with National Renewable Energy Lab, which is located in Golden, Colorado. Bits of Colorado I saw on my business trips urged me to explore the area as a tourist later on. Here and there, I was hearing about the rocky mountains in Colorado, but didn’t comprehend the greatness of it until I got the chance to visit Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) very recently.
My stay in the park was brief but it was a good introductory lesson to RMNP. I saw elks, deers, and bighorn sheeps; three lakes and a creek on one trail: Emerald Trail—one of the most popular trails in the park. By coincidence, the entrance to the park was free on that day, yey! That also meant more people and cars, of course. There is free shuttle service from Estes Park Visitor Center to the trailheads. Do your research on shuttle schedule, and get on the bus to avoid traffic/parking problems, but more importantly, to protect the fragile ecosystem in the park. After hiking, visit Estes Park downtown—a small historic town with a bunch of shops, ice cream/fudge places.
My short encounter with the park brought along challenges but also privacy on that crowded day. We arrived at the park at 5pm. We were told that the sunset was at 7pm. That just left us 2 hours of sunlight to cover the Emerald Lake trail of length 3.1 miles. We ran small portions of the trail just to make it to the top before the sunset. High altitude made it even harder to run. Yet, the best part of arriving late was to find the trail almost empty. We had the park to ourselves. On our way back, it got dark, really dark. But then, the full moon sneaking behind the trees lightened our path. This was a truly special experience.
This story should not end here. I should go and hike more in RMNP. Colorado, once again, proves that it has a magnificent landscape with mountains, forests, lakes, and valleys.
Colorado is always a good idea.
Cheers!
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