Hiking and climbing in Colorado - Day 3 of 8

We woke up pretty late today, having gone to sleep at around 3 am last night. After a stop at Wild Oats for grocery and the cranberry walnut scones Megan fell in love with, we made the scenic drive to Estes Park, then to the Longs Peak campground on the eastern side of Rocky Mountain National Park, where we plan to camp for the next three nights.

The campground itself is above 9,000 feet, which was the highest point Megan has been to date. Her previous record was the highest point in Australia, Mt. Kosciuszko (2,229m or 7,310 feet). She would break this record two more times within a week's time, but first, we went on a short acclimatization hike after setting up camp. Not having done any kind of aerobic exercises in the last half year or so, I was going pretty slow. It took us about two hours to get above timberline, which was around 11,000 feet. The scenery reminded me (surprisingly) of Dolly Sods in West Virginia. Or maybe it was the other way around.

We took some pictures, stuck our feet in the bone chilling stream, then went back to camp and turned in after dinner.

Alpine Meadow with Longs Peak in the top left

Avoid horses, they are dangerous

Photo: Megan Dunn