Need help to plan Colorado trip from Oct 7th - 12th
Oct 9th, 2017, 03:58 PM
#41
Not too bad in Fort Collins, most of the moisture fell as rain. Maybe an inch of snow on the grassy areas in the morning, mostly melted by early afternoon.
From the Snotel site it looks like Bear Lake in RMNP got 7 inches between 2:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
Hopefully swtraveller is making the best of it. WhereAreWe's plan sounded good, but most routes would be passable. Of course Trail Ridge Road is closed now, but should open again before the full seasonal closure. CDOT says Peak-to-Peak highway is wet with icy spots.
From the Snotel site it looks like Bear Lake in RMNP got 7 inches between 2:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
Hopefully swtraveller is making the best of it. WhereAreWe's plan sounded good, but most routes would be passable. Of course Trail Ridge Road is closed now, but should open again before the full seasonal closure. CDOT says Peak-to-Peak highway is wet with icy spots.
Oct 12th, 2017, 01:22 PM
#43
This has happened to us a few times: weather sucks when you are there but beautiful on either side of your trip. In fact, that was the story on a big mountain trip for me last month. Part of the territory, I guess.
Yeah, hope they did OK and report back. The high country did look beautiful with the fresh snow this week.
Yeah, hope they did OK and report back. The high country did look beautiful with the fresh snow this week.
Oct 12th, 2017, 04:57 PM
#44
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We live on a ridge so we see both the front range and the deep, high mountains. They were beautiful with white, sparkling snow as the sun came up. A lot of snow on the high mountains. Arapahoe Basin opens on Friday. The ski season begins.
Oct 13th, 2017, 05:55 PM
#45
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Thank you so much everyone for all the responses. I really appreciate all of your advice. Everyone has been so helpful. I can't thank you all enough.
Here is our brief trip report-
Saturday: We reached Denver airport at 2pm and spent almost 2 hours at Avis car rental to pick up our van. The service was very very slow and pretty bad. We drove to Boulder and checked in to the Hotel. Then went to Safeway to pick up few things and then had dinner at Pei wei. We just walked around for few minutes and went back to the hotel.
Sunday: The weather was perfect. We drove to Estes park through Peak to peak highway. We did not see any fall colors. When we reached the Estes park visitor center, they said the Trail ridge road was open. I was very excited to know that we could drive over there. It was very beautiful. We drove to the summit, Alpine visitor center was closed for the season. The weather got windy and cold in the mountains. We did not take the shuttle. Kids wanted to hike. Luckily we found parking space close by bear lake entrance. We hiked to bear lake and also nymph lake. We saw Moose and Elks in the park. Kids were tired and we headed back to Denver. The traffic was pretty bad as WhereAreWe pointed out earlier. We were stuck in the traffic for an hour. We could not enjoy the scenery as it was dark. My daughter had little cold also could not tolerate high altitude and complained about sharp ear pain. We searched for an urgent care and took her to Denver hospital. The service was very slow, they took about 2 1/2 hours to diagnose ear infection and prescribed some antibiotics. We checked into the Denver downtown Hotel at 10 pm and we were super tired.
The next day, it started to snow and we just took it easy. When it stopped snowing, we went to Money museum around 3 pm. I liked 16th street mall road and glad we stayed in downtown.
Tuesday: We wanted to visit US mint. Unfortunately we could not get any tickets, it was over for the day. Then we went to the Denver art museum. It was very nice and kids enjoyed spending time in the museum. We walked around 16th street mall and came back to the hotel.
The next day we decided to go to Colorado springs, since weather was 70s there. We drove to Garden of the gods and then to Pikes peak. We went half way on Pikes peak and decided not to go further. We went up to 12000 ft altitude and did not feel comfortable driving to the top. We felt Colorado springs is little dry. We drove back to Denver.
Overall it was both fun and relaxing trip. Colorado is very beautiful with many picturesque places to see. I felt that our trip was kind of incomplete. We lost 2 days because of the weather and health reason. We did not get to see any fall colors even though it is October. Also we could not go to Vail or Aspen, which I always wanted to see. Hmmm...There is always next time
Again, Many many thanks to everyone.
Here is our brief trip report-
Saturday: We reached Denver airport at 2pm and spent almost 2 hours at Avis car rental to pick up our van. The service was very very slow and pretty bad. We drove to Boulder and checked in to the Hotel. Then went to Safeway to pick up few things and then had dinner at Pei wei. We just walked around for few minutes and went back to the hotel.
Sunday: The weather was perfect. We drove to Estes park through Peak to peak highway. We did not see any fall colors. When we reached the Estes park visitor center, they said the Trail ridge road was open. I was very excited to know that we could drive over there. It was very beautiful. We drove to the summit, Alpine visitor center was closed for the season. The weather got windy and cold in the mountains. We did not take the shuttle. Kids wanted to hike. Luckily we found parking space close by bear lake entrance. We hiked to bear lake and also nymph lake. We saw Moose and Elks in the park. Kids were tired and we headed back to Denver. The traffic was pretty bad as WhereAreWe pointed out earlier. We were stuck in the traffic for an hour. We could not enjoy the scenery as it was dark. My daughter had little cold also could not tolerate high altitude and complained about sharp ear pain. We searched for an urgent care and took her to Denver hospital. The service was very slow, they took about 2 1/2 hours to diagnose ear infection and prescribed some antibiotics. We checked into the Denver downtown Hotel at 10 pm and we were super tired.
The next day, it started to snow and we just took it easy. When it stopped snowing, we went to Money museum around 3 pm. I liked 16th street mall road and glad we stayed in downtown.
Tuesday: We wanted to visit US mint. Unfortunately we could not get any tickets, it was over for the day. Then we went to the Denver art museum. It was very nice and kids enjoyed spending time in the museum. We walked around 16th street mall and came back to the hotel.
The next day we decided to go to Colorado springs, since weather was 70s there. We drove to Garden of the gods and then to Pikes peak. We went half way on Pikes peak and decided not to go further. We went up to 12000 ft altitude and did not feel comfortable driving to the top. We felt Colorado springs is little dry. We drove back to Denver.
Overall it was both fun and relaxing trip. Colorado is very beautiful with many picturesque places to see. I felt that our trip was kind of incomplete. We lost 2 days because of the weather and health reason. We did not get to see any fall colors even though it is October. Also we could not go to Vail or Aspen, which I always wanted to see. Hmmm...There is always next time
Again, Many many thanks to everyone.
Oct 14th, 2017, 05:28 AM
#46
Thanks for reporting back. Sounds like you made the best of a couple of difficult situations thrown at you. Glad to hear you got to see elk and moose. The Nymph Lake walk is nice.
Hope you daughter is feeling better and that you have a great time on your next visit to Colorado. Maybe the weather will cooperate then.
Hope you daughter is feeling better and that you have a great time on your next visit to Colorado. Maybe the weather will cooperate then.
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