Happy Trails with Mike & Ellen Taylor

We had a great weekend with Gwen. She arrived in Denver early Friday morning and we enjoyed the day together catching up. Saturday we headed to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. We hiked to a beautiful mountain lake called Nymph Lake. We tried to go further to Dream Lake but the snow (!) was too deep and the path too steep, so we headed over to Alberta Falls instead. It was a beautiful day and we really enjoyed the scenery and having Gwen along to share it with. Sunday, before we had to take Gwen to the airport, we managed to get a good hike/walk in with the dogs at a county open space area called Devils Backbone.

The weather really turned bad on the way to the airport--rain, wind, hail and tornadoes. You may have seen the pictures of a shopping mall near the airport that was struck by a tornado.

Sunday evening we drove over to Estes Park and had a wonderful dinner with our friend Laura Grantham who lives there in the summers, and in Kingwood in the winters. We enjoyed getting to see her and her beautiful mountain home.

Monday morning was cold and damp but we headed out for Yampa River State Park near Hayden, CO. The route we chose took us up the Cache La Poudre River canyon. It was kind of twisty and slow going for us with the trailer, but it was an incredibly beautiful drive. We passed several really nice USFS campgrounds and thought about just stopping. When we crossed Cameron Pass the temperature was 32 degrees and it was snowing/freezing rain...what fun! The drive also took us over Muddy Pass and Rabbit Ears Pass on the way into Hayden.

I can't remember why we decided to come to Yampa River State Park but it is a real disappointment. It is on the Yampa River which is running high and fast right now, but other than fishing there doesn't seem to be much to do here. It's not in the mountains either so there aren't really any views. We've had thunderstorms and hail both days too, just to add to the atmosphere.

The other disappointment is that the facilities (restrooms, showers and laundry) are all very new but they have not been taken care of and are filthy. When Ellen asked one of the "Rangers" in the Visitors Center about the cleaning schedule she just sort of shrugged and said she guessed she could go clean them! Anyway, we were supposed to stay here for four nights but we're leaving tomorrow and going down to Buena Vista. We'll have a better 'net connection when we get down there, so keep an eye out for updated pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/TxMike3 .