Our final days in Denver were spent learning photography techniques from Albuquerque photographer, Zach Sutton. His two day workshop explained his lighting techniques and editing strategies and we practiced the techniques, on location at Cheesman Park, under the beautiful historical Cheesman Pavilion. It was a great experience shooting with so many great photographers and models. I am now convinced we need to take photography field trips more often.
Leaving Denver was hard for us since we pretty much fell in love with it, but we had to get to the Rockies!!!
We made it to Estes Park that afternoon and started our explorations soon after checking in to our cabin at Pine Haven. The owners gave us maps to the trails that started right at our back door. The forest was thick with pines as soon as we got on the trail. We hiked up, excited to see what we were told would be one of the best views of the mountains. We saw the end of the trail coming up and then we stopped. Poop. There was a pile of it on the trail, and it looked like it might belong to a bear.
We had to turn back. We didn’t want to be those people that end up getting eaten because they ignored the signs. We were so close, but there were large animal tracks everywhere. We figured we could go back to the office to ask if there might actually be bears on the trail. Turns out yes, there are always bears on the trail, especially in spring! Eeeek!!!! They showed us their dinner, which was a deer, that had been hit on the road earlier that day… and then gave us a bear horn. Seems a little strange that they would show that to us, but it’s all part of the adventure, and they were the nicest people ever. It’s too bad we didn’t have the horn the first time we hiked the trail, because it was to dark to go back at that point so we decided to visit the town instead.
We woke up ready to visit the park!!! We knew we didn’t have much time since we had to start our drive home to Texas the same day.
Once we had entered the Rocky Mountain National Park we found the visitors centers and were told the highest trail views were still closed due to snow. They directed us to Bear Lake so we followed the signs to our destination.
The caribou grazed in the fields as we drove past them. Spring had proved to be the best time to see wildlife. We had seen so many animals on this trip, more than any trip we had taken before.
We finally arrived at Bear Lake and to our surprise there was snow!!! You know us Texans never see snow, so you can only imagine our excitement. The lake was beautiful and mirrored the pine forest that surrounded it. We couldn’t believe the beauty. Although our goal was to see the mountains, we were happy to have found the lake. We spent the time we had left admiring the view and then we had to start our journey home. We will definitely be visiting the park again, but next time we will stay much longer, so we can explore the Rocky Mountain National Park and all the beauty it holds.
Back in Texas we stayed in a cabin at a KOA since our tent had been broken by the wind, the first day of Denver adventure (Denver, Here We Come). We had never stayed in one of there cabins and we definitely recommend it to everyone! It’s just like camping but in a cabin!
In the morning we made one more stop before starting our way home. Cadillac Ranch, in Amarillo, TX!!!!! Although it was flooded out we, and a couple of other brave souls, made our trek through the mud to get a couple of close ups of the art installation that attracts hundreds of tourists every year. It was the perfect end to a great road trip!
