Boyd Lake State Park, Loveland Sunday, 27 September 2020
Before I left the campground this morning I looked up the weather forecast and saw there's an air quality alert for exactly where I planned to go today. The Cameron Peak fire (now 3rd largest in CO's history) that's west of Fort Collins is only 25% contained, and the wind's been sending out particulates from the fire to this whole area. The weather people expected the problem to dissipate as the day went on because they thought the wind would shift southward. Seemed to me that'd just send the problem down to Colorado Springs and Pueblo, but they didn't say anything about that. But I have reservations for the next 2 nights at a campground right where the smoke's going now, so I may as well go and see what it's like by the time I get there.
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| today's route |
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| detail of southern part of route |
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| more route detail |
Oklahoma State University Memorial Site This memorial turned out to be about 5 miles from the campground, so I went on over to take a look. I can't say I've seen one quite like it, so I'm glad I went.
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| the memorial |
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| the reason for it (the dots are from rain) |
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| One of the life summaries shown for each victim. |
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| a second life summary |
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| They had photos of each victim; in the center is the OSU mascot. |
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| Though it seems odd to see these "never forget" signs, these 10 were killed 9 months before 9/11/01, so the phrase had a different meaning then. |
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| Pistol Pete is the OSU mascot and has a fascinating backstory, which you can read at this link. https://go.okstate.edu/pistol-pete |
To get to this site I had to go down a gravel road that had such a completely washboard surface I was surprised the residents it served put up with it. I wouldn't have thought bringing in a road grader would take too much money.
Immediately across the road from the memorial was the Bijou Hill Dairy (and the smell of cows and the noise of their dogs barking at mine). All very local-looking.
On the road I drove through northern Denver again, then on northwest. We stopped in the town of Superior, with an elevation of 5,495', about 12,000 residents, and a history of coal mining. What they also have are some upscale shopping areas, and we stopped at one that was nearly empty early on a Sunday morning. The dogs wanted a walk. So did I until I realized how strong the wind was and how chilly the morning still was. Maybe partly because we were climbing again and heading into the mountains.
From there we went to Boulder, and I'd planned a route in town to see a little bit of the place. Of course, my directions were wrong, I got lost and had to stop and get found again, but it worked out okay. I passed the University of Colorado (the branch in Boulder is the flagship), which looked like the buildings had all been put up at the same time - they all looked alike, all a red/white brick, and an attractive campus.
I passed a church where an outdoors, socially distanced service was in progress. A few people had brought folding chairs and (it looked like) blankets, because it really was chilly outside.
I realized, when we stopped for directions, that I've seen more rabbits in CO than squirrels. But I haven't spent much time in the cities, which probably accounts for it.
My take on Boulder is that it's an upscale college town, complete with a Peugeot dealer. Pleasant but it felt like the character may be a little smug, possibly having to do with the fact that 88% of residents are Whites, 1% are Blacks, and 5% are Asian. Not typical of an American town.
Continuing the drive northwest, I saw that one group of volunteer litter pickers-up was Sons of the American Legion. While I grew up hearing about the American Legion, I don't remember hearing about this sons group. Their website says they're male descendants of those who served in the US Armed Forces covered by an act of Congress. Last year Congress changed the eligibility date to begin with Pearl Harbor Day and continue until Congress determines the US is not at war. I know they meant to honor the military, which is important, but the idea that Congress thinks we have been and continue to be in an ongoing state of war since 1941 is chilling to me. Anyway, these Sons pick up litter in this area.
The road from Boulder to Estes Park is 2 lanes, often with no shoulder, full of curves, s-curves, and switchbacks. Luckily I was on the mountain side of the road and there were occasional climbing lanes to ease the pressure of me holding up traffic.
In someone's yard I saw a beautiful huge weeping willow, which I wouldn't have thought would thrive in this climate. Very high up on the hillside I saw a house that reminded me a lot of that house in North By Northwest. It looked like almost all of it was perched on struts and stilts over the valley, and there's no way in the world I'd have trusted it in case of an earthquake. Which are actually in the realm of possibility: the largest earthquake in CO history was not far from here in what's now the Rocky Mountain National Park.
There was an electronic sign that said an elk had been struck 9/24 (3 days earlier), and drivers should watch for wildlife. That made me, for one, take those yellow caution signs with an elk on them more seriously.
Estes Park
We entered the Roosevelt National Forest, and Estes Park is a small enclave in the middle of it.
I probably would have tried to go to Estes Park anyway, having heard the name for many years, but a young man I met in La Junta said it was a wonderful town. He'd been in CO for the last 6 months, coming here from TN because he could make double the money he'd made in TN for his expertise in building roads. Which is what he'd been doing when he was in Estes Park earlier this year. He raved about it, so I put it more firmly on my itinerary. Sadly, I was completely disappointed. By the time I got there, it was a sunny noon-ish Sunday, and the town was absolutely packed to the gills. In fact, I couldn't even get into town because of all the traffic.
Actually, I couldn't get into the Visitor Center for the same reason. Google had given me directions to the center that were accurate, but I didn't know they'd be useless - even dangerous - for a non-passenger vehicle. I now think the Visitor Center has 2 levels and the lower level, where Google directed me, funnels all traffic into a parking garage with an 8' clearance. There was a sign saying no RVs, but the sign wasn't posted until part-way down the driveway. By then it was completely impossible for me to turn around. I had no choice whatever but to drive into a walkway clearly reserved for pedestrians, on which people were pedestrianing and giving me ugly looks and saying ugly things, but the only alternative would be to enlist volunteers to stop all traffic into the driveway while I, with more volunteers, cautiously turned around to exit the "entrance only" drive. I mean, I really had no choice. When I finally got to the end of the walkway, I came to a shuttle bus driver who also criticized me, so I rolled down my window and told her what had happened and she said I could get out the way I was going (which seemed like a duh! kind of remark since that was the only possible way out). I had trouble finding an opening in traffic to do the exit, and kept running into more and more traffic.
I tried to park in the upper level parking at the Visitor Center but it was full so, in desperation, I turned into a shopping center across the street, only to find narrow rows with almost all parking spaces full. But I did find a spot to stop in, turned on my hotspot and laptop, and found the quickest route out of town. The critters and I wanted a break and a walk and some lunch, and it was impossible for me to find a place for us to get them. I couldn't see anything else to do but keep going down the road. What a disappointment.
So my very limited take on Estes Park is that it's entirely a resort town - complete with restaurants, t-shirt shops, signs for attractions - the whole resort town bit. If I'd gone there on a rainy Wednesday, I may have had a very different experience, but this was mine.
Back on the road
I'd thought before I went that there may be a lot of people out looking for some fall color, but on the way up to town I hadn't seen any at all and was surprised. But as I was driving out of town, I finally started to see some aspen turning yellow. That was nice, but it took me a while to unknot from too many people, dogs and cars.
Then I noticed the cars in the oncoming lane nearly stopped, so I slowed down in case of an accident. No accident but instead 3 elk grazing by the side of the road. So yes, they're there. And I started to see signs warning to look for Bighorn sheep, which isn't a sign I've seen before.
Big Thompson Flood
The road downhill from Estes Park was much like the one we took uphill - 2 lanes, no shoulder - but this time I was on the downhill side for much of the drive. It follows the Big Thompson River all the way to Loveland, which means it twists and turns all the way down.
By now I was getting a little desperate for a break, still being a little shaken up by the trouble in Estes Park, when I saw a sign for a Point of Interest. I don't usually stop at places on the other side of the road, because it's hard for me to get back on the road due to my limited field of vision. But this time I grabbed it. The parking place turned out to be a small parking lot that serviced the volunteer fire station that was there too, and when I pulled in I saw a memorial beside the building.
But first we needed to walk a bit, so we went to the even smaller parking area next door at the Big Thompson Canyon Association.
When I turned around I saw a little memorial that surprised me.
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| the base for the rock (below right) |
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| the rock that goes with that base above left |
From there we walked back down the hill to the Point of Interest where I found a second memorial for the Big Thompson Flood.
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| This is the memorial . . . |
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| . . . and this explains the flood. |
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| detail of the base |
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| a list of the victims |
The bricks in front of the memorial were each dedicated to various people, and I was surprised to see most didn't have anything to do with the flood. Instead, the memorial was erected on the 25th anniversary of the flood, and the bricks related to 2001, rather than 1976. Here's a sample.
Back on the road
From that respite, we continued down the road, suddenly finding ourselves at the bottom of a very deep canyon of gray rock - undoubtedly created by the Big Thompson River, which continued to run alongside the road (or vice versa).
I passed the Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch, which seemed to be in an attractive setting, though I couldn't see the buildings from the road. What I could see were some of their many horses grazing, and they all looked very well cared for. It seems a little spendy - $1,675 for 5 nights in the spring and fall and $2,400 for 6 nights in the summer - but that includes meals, lodging, horses and other activities - all inclusive, I guess. So not too bad if you can afford it and like horses.
I got to Loveland, 4,982' elevation, 77,000 residents, and found it to be situated around a bunch of lakes. Apparently 7 of them, because I found several areas and businesses with their name including "7 Lakes" somehow. I'd intended to do some errands but was so tired I just went straight to the campground for the night.
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