COLORADO ROAD TRIP

August 2021

#colorado, #denver, #crosscountryroadtrip, #boulder, #aspen, #rockymountainnationalpark, #RMNP, #EstesPark, #moab, #ColoradoMonument, #hiking, #camping, #AirBnb, #GardenoftheGods, #ColoradoSprings, #Telluride, #MountainBiking, #paragliding

Simon and I packed our bags and headed on the road from Boone, North Carolina to Colorado Springs in about a day and a half! We definitely pushed ourselves and took advantage of being 20 years old- young and lively. This is the coolest trip we have taken yet, which is saying something considering I LOVE the beach, and spoiler alert... no beaches in Colorado! I have been so excited to share this trip with you all and hope to go back again. If I do, I would limit the amount of locations we hit to maybe 2-3 and really diving into those areas. Colorado is a massive state, and I think while planning it, I was a little too ambitious in wanting to go everywhere. Next time, I would love to stay in Boulder for a few extra nights. It is a lovely city, with so much to do, ranging from hiking by the Flat Irons to beer gardens, and so much more! From there I would recommend camping in Estes Park for maybe 2-3 nights to really appreciate all of the beautiful hikes in the area. Of course, it is a goal to hit a 14r as well, so maybe next time we go for longer hikes in each spot rather than trying to squeeze it all in. Yes, I was ambitious, but it was a perfect trip to see everything and learn what I want to see more of for our next time.

Garden of the Gods and Colorado Springs (Official Day 1)

We arrived in a super cute, quaint town called Manitou Springs in Colorado Springs. There is a gorgeous hike, the Manitou Incline, with man made steps the entire way up that looks over the city. We were a bit too tired for that one, but just looking at the incline was incredible! We had massive falafel gyros at The Sahara Cafe, a little Mediterranean Café right in the middle of town. After some exploring we got brain fuel at the coolest coffee shop, Good Karma, I can't remember the name of our iced teas, but they had crazy amounts of caffeine in them and revived us. We then drove to Garden of the Gods to hike around before setting up camp at KOA's Garden of the God location. A perfect spot, clean with nice showers and restrooms, just down the road from Garden of the Gods.

I had to share a pic of this MASSIVE falafel gyro!!

Boulder and the Bright Airy AirBnB

Simon and I got up and out early enough to catch part of sunset in Colorado Springs on the way to Boulder. This is the day I decided I needed an internship or some sort of reason to just move to Colorado. I fell in love with Boulder. It's an hour Northeast of Denver and an hour South of the RMNP. A perfect suburban city with phenomenal food spots and gorgeous hiking options. We headed towards our first real hike of the trip, a 4 mile out and back: Green Mountain West Trail. This was a perfect first hike as the distance and elevation were moderate, but coming from living at sea level in Delaware, it took us a bit of acclimating to the altitude change. We had planned on hiking the Flat Irons, which start at the bottom of where our hike was, but it was closed off from the forest fires. After our hike, we were lucky enough to have a picnic lunch with a view of the Flat Irons in Chautauqua Park. From there, we headed into the main town of Boulder - open to options for a little adventure and a cocktail. We ended up at the Rayback Collective, an outdoor beer garden with fun food trucks, and massive TVs everywhere for sports. I had seen the place on Pinterest when researching for the trip, but wasn't sure if Simon and I would have time to squeeze it in, but of course we did! We rented river tubes for $15 at a local place around the corner and headed to a little river area... definitely different from tubing off the pontoon in the bay! Finally, exhausted and hungry, we headed towards our cute Airbnb to unload and shower before getting to just walk straight into Boulder's main town! If you have ever been to Burlington, VT, picture that but with bigger mountains in the background. We enjoyed the biggest burgers I have ever had and bourbon flights at The West End Tavern. Much needed after the crazy packed day!

The Rockies - camping at KOA Estes Park

We camped at a beautiful site that overlooked horses on a ranch right in front of the rockies! We waited our turn in line to go hike Bear Lake, Emerald Lake, and Sky Pond. The entrance worker told us we needed to have a separate ticket for that trailhead road, but we could wait until after 5pm when the park closes to enter and hike it. We spent the day adventuring around Estes and got to drive Trail Ridge Road. We stopped on the road to walk and explore the mountains. I was lucky to have Simon driving, so that I could take TONS of pictures! When we were finished the drive, we parked in front of a trailhead that overlooked the mountains with green fields. We spotted a bull moose and leaned up against a boulder crash pad to play cards and eat our PB&Js... waiting for the park to close. I felt like we were sneaking in at 5:00pm, but we were one of MANY cars with the same idea and Simon politely reminded me that we were not sneaking in, in fact the trail ranger is the reason why we were there in the first place. This hike was breath taking. We sat in awe of the mountains and its silence. Even with other tourists, it was like an unspoken rule not to talk, but just to breathe and absorb the nature around us.

Aspen & Grand Junction

After a long day of hiking and exploring Estes Park, we finally got back to our campsite. We looked on google maps to see how long it would take us to cross the state- the goal was to get towards Moab, UT. Due to forest fires in the North and mudslides, the main highway across the state was closed. We decided not to stress and to figure out a plan of getting across the state in the morning. I was stressed. I spent the night thinking if it made more sense to go up North towards Steamboat Springs or if that would be a bad idea. Finally, we woke up early and looked one more time at google maps- the highway had opened! We made our way West towards Aspen. How lucky we were to find our the Aspen Farmer's Market was going on when we entered town! I bought Simon a beer bottle opener / sign thing that was made from a wine barrel in Monterey, CA (our last road trip). I tried myself to a groovy looking piece of wood that had CO license plates on it saying "ski in ski out," it would be my manifestation to move out here one day. After exploring Aspen, we headed further West for Grand Junction where I found us a last minute AirBnB. The owners had created zip lines that went through the Colorado Monument, where we did a sunset hike before staying in air conditioning for the rest of the night to binge Season 2 of OuterBanks.

Moab, Ouray & Telluride

After a refreshing evening in an AirBnb, we hit the road early for mountain biking in Moab, UT. As some of you all know, I grew up in Delaware at sea level. My idea of a long bike ride was a 3 mile ride to the local acaii bowl shop in OCMD. I did not understand biking up a hill, let a long slick rock mountain biking in Moab. It was a crazy terrifying experience, and I think it taught me my passion for running because the ENTIRE time, all I could think about was "wow, I would rather be running this!" I love Simon for pushing me to try new things, even if they seem so scary to me! We ended up driving to Ouray where we could camp for the next two nights at their KOA. We met the owners, LOVELY people who upgraded us to a cabin our first night due to poor weather coming in soon and their understand that our Walmart $15 tent might not hold up too well. We made dinner over the campfire and stayed up late playing Kings in the Corner (our favorite card game). The next morning we drove towards Telluride for paragliding off of their ski mountain (my turn to push Simon out of his comfort zone). On a map, Ouray and Telluride look very close to each other, BUT there is a huge mountain that makes it a significantly further drive. We made it literally just in time for our paragliding adventure. We took a gondala up to one mountain where we had a short hike to meet our guides at the jump off spot. This was my adventure and I loved it. I convinced myself I would move to Telluride and be a paragliding instructor in the summers. I loved it!! I loved it so much that my instructor gave us extra hang time by doing bigger spirals in the air, whereas Simon's instructor got the message- Simon wanted a straight and safe way down! After the paragliding adventure we got donuts at the local bakery and walked to the famous falls. That night we drove back to Ouray for our final night of camping. We stayed in our danky little tent, during an insane wind / rain storm. We were up all night hold our tent up over our heads and laughing hysterically. Camping is always a success if no rain gets in your tent! Simon and I both fell in love with Colorado and found ourselves talking the entire drive back to North Carolina, about how we could end up there!