We checked out of Winter Park this morning and headed to Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). We had cancelled our car camping reservations for the night before and decided to just go ahead and cancel our 2 night backpacking trip as well. At this point, we were physically and mentally just done for. Our last camping spree lasted for 8 days and it was glorious, but the thought of backpacking in freezing temps and having to sleep in a tent for another 2 nights was just too much. So, we decided to find a hotel in Estes Park and explore the park by car and foot. The park was beautiful!!!! The smell, the trees and the fall colors gave us this feeling of being at Brett's grandfathers place. It was also cool to see the fresh snow on top of the mountain peaks.
We made our way through the park and stopped to have some lunch and then off to our hotel. We spent the rest of the evening hanging out in the hotel and dining on some amazing New York style pizza from Antonio's and having our last bottle of red wine from California. At this point we were also debating skipping Denver all together and just coming on home. I'm not real sure what had us feeling conflicted but we decided that we would do a day-hike in Rocky Mountain National Park the next day and put off the decision until then.
Day 2
Got up this morning feeling sad and depressed at the thought that today could potentially be the last day of our trip. We checked out of the hotel and grabbed breakfast at Notchtop Bakery. While we were there I called the Magnolia Hotel in Denver to cancel our reservations for tomorrow night. At this point we had nowhere to stay tonight (we were supposed to be backpacking) and everything in Denver seemed to be booked up or WAYYYY expensive. The Magnolia Hotel informed me that we would not get a refund because when we booked we agreed to their no refund policy for the discounted rate. This was super frustrating. However, it helped Brett and I make our decision to do our hike and then head to Denver to enjoy 2 nights of the city. So that's what we did.
The trail was absolutely beautiful. The elk are in rut so, as we were hiking, we could hear the screeching-like bugle sound coming from the male elk. If you have ever heard this sound you know that it is unforgettable. We stopped off and watched a couple males hanging out in the open field but that's all they did, just hang out. We then hiked down to the lake and took some time to soak in the beauty of the Rocky Mountains.
We made it back to the van around 2:00 and started the drive to Denver, but not before stopping to view the elk one more time.
We arrived in Denver around 4:00 and checked into our hotel. Our goal: Grab dinner and then DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!!