Update on Colorado Trip

It has been few months since we went to Colorado, but the trip definitely deserves a post. Colorado is unbelievably beautiful. If Kashmir is heaven on earth, then Colorado is definitely heaven on US. As you already know our trip was short (just 3 days), so very hectic. We covered the following places:

Day 1: Colorado Springs (Garden of Gods, Pike Peak)
We reached Denver airport early morning on Friday. We headed straight to Colorado Springs and made our way to Crystal Lake. Its serene beauty was really what set the mood for the whole trip. The lake with its crystal clear water is safely enconsed at the foot of mountains. The excitement we felt could not be described. We were literally jumping around and clicking pics.

We didn't feel like leaving, but we went on to Pike Peak. I don't know if it was the height or the zigzagging road, but I got terrible headache. The view from the top as well seemed just OK. Or maybe it was just too cold (32 degrees below zero). Anyways, we soon retreated and came to Garden of Gods. The weather here was pleasant 50 degrees. We all just loved the rock formations. Plus the color radiated from the rocks/hills was very pleasant. The pictures seemed to come alive in their hue. I was acting like a monkey and trying to climb various rocks :-). I hadn't seen great reviews about this place, but I thought it was a must see.

It was evening, and we were famished by now. After eating stomach full of Indian food, we started for Longmont for our night stay.

Day 2: Rocky Mountains (Trail Ridge Road, Bear Lake, Alpine Visitor Center, and Mountain Shadow lake)
We started for Estes Park early in the morning. We had heard lot of good things about Rocky Mountains. Today was the day to see them. First off we went to Bear Lake. It was beautiful!! The lake is big and surrounded by mountains. We did a trail around the lake and saw different shadows in the lake. The trail itself was nice and easy. We then trekked to see the Alberta Falls. This place is also a hidden beauty. I will be posting pics for all the places I mentioned in separate post. We also saw Sprague lake but didn't like as it is not well maintained.

After Alberta Falls, we went towards Alpine Visitor center (via Trail Ridge Road). The route is very scenic and we stopped several times to click pics of the amazing views. The best though was the view from the highest point. It looked like gateway to heaven. I am at a loss of words to describe the beauty of all the scenery. After a short stop at the visitor center we headed for Shadow mountain lake. The lake was nice but not as beautiful as we had expected it to be (maybe because it was not sunny). It was nice regardless.

The main surprise for us was the route to Dillon for our night stay. We didnt take the main highway I70. Instead somehow we got routed through a local highway. We couldn't believe how beautiful the route was! Small lakes, railway tracks, hills and mountains were scattered all along the route. This made it one of the high points of the day. It is rightly said, some of the best moments are the ones that are not planned.

Day 3: Independence Pass and Maroon Bells (Aspen)
For the last day, we again left early in the morning to Independence Pass (via Vail and Leadville). We were releived to know that IP was open. The route was very nice and we had some nice clicks on the way. The highest point of IP was again the highlight. It was very gorgeous. We even had a snow fight! I still can't believe why Colorado is not a must visit place for my friends. Anyways after this we went straight to Maroon Bells lake in Aspen. This lake again was very beautiful. It is famous for the shadows the mountains cast, but we couldnt see that as it was not very sunny. Still the lake was worth the drive and we loved playing near it. I guess another good part was that it was not at all crowded.

We were sad that the trip was over and we had to leave for Denver. But the biggest surprise came in the form of the route from Aspen to Denver. The initial 2 hours of the journey was drop dead gorgeous. It was better than all the sight seeing I had done. And amazingly no one talks about it! The curving roads with tunnels, and a river running alongside the road was awesome! If you come to Colorado, you must absolutely come to Aspen and take this route. I hope this post helps people plan their trip better.