My entry ticket for today's visit was from 9:00-11:00am. But I was excited, and up early, so I headed over for the 2+ hour drive, and arrived around 8:00am. And they let me enter then. So, joy!
It was a beautiful day, with a relatively cool morning temperature, sun in the sky, and an estimated high of the mid-80s. That's about 30C for those keeping track. The forecast was for rain and thunderstorms starting around noon-ish. But I kept positive.
Some of you know that I have been struggling somewhat emotionally and psychologically for the past 6 months or so. Over the last several years, I have realized how dependent I have always been on all kinds of energy (high levels of sensitivity, empathy, spirituality, intuition, and other natural energies). I hit an inflection point in my life early in January of this year, and lost my ability to connect with, access, and work with those energies. Occasionally I could experience flashes of the energies being there, but that's all. It has been very difficult for me.
The minute I arrived in the park, I could feel a crackling field of energy around me. This was all earth energy, all of the myriad and integrated ways the earth expresses, supports and nurtures itself. It wasn't there for me to work with, it was there as a manifestation of our world. It was overwhelming.
My plan was (first, because of possible weather issues) to drive the length of Trail Ridge Road. It covers the entire park, connecting Estes Park (the route I took in) and Grand Lake. It includes amazing mountain scenery, including forests, alpine tundra, and a chance to cross the Continental Divide. The road is over 45 miles long, with 11 miles above the evergreen forest treeline. The highest point on the road is above 12,000 feet elevation, which is over 2.25 miles. Just an aside, I definitely felt the elevation when I got out of my car to walk to the various overlooks that provided the best pictures. Denver is one thing, the ridge trail is something else entirely!
Enough words. I took (literally) hundreds of pictures, but I will try to pull a far smaller number for this post. It really seemed like every new opportunity for pictures was more spectacular than the one before.
Still in the foothills:
Starting to really climb:
On the tundra
I'm going to stop adding pictures; I could just keep adding and adding and adding. It was amazing and stunning and spectacular and ridiculously moving for me.
By this time, it was about 1:30pm. I was overwhelmed. I decided not to look for a hike, because I knew that I couldn't do it justice. The altitude was getting to me a little bit, and I wasn't really sure how much more of the pure exhilaration and energy I could take. I drove out of the park, knowing that before too long I will have to go back there and spend much more than part of a day.
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