We set out this morning for Vail but through Rocky Mountain National Park using trail ridge road. This is the highest paved highway in the US.
We left the Alpine Ridge Estates motel where we stayed. It was very basic but clean and had everything that we needed. As we set out towards Rocky Mountain we ran into a herd of Elk heading towards town. We believe that it was the same herd as yesterday. One huge male and then a lot of female and youngsters. They were not at all bothered by the cars driving along the same road that they were walking and they felt no fear in blocking the road. Once they moved we were able to continue on.
As we entered the park we drove a windy road as we climbed higher and higher above valleys and mountains. We stopped quite a few times to take pictures.
First overlook in the park
We thought that this tree was interesting growing into the rock you can see it’s roots spread out.
These birds that we believe are Magpies were all around in Colorado
In Rocky Mountain and most of the higher elevations fall has already started so we saw some beautiful color.
We even attempted a selfie along the way – clearly we are not very good at selfies.
As we drove higher and higher the outlooks became more spectacular and the temperature kept going down. It was also starting to rain/sleet.
One of the higher outlooks that had an observation platform – it was very cold.
As we reached the visitors center in Rocky Mountain National park – the altitude was 11,796 at the parking lot which is the highest visitors center in the National Park system. It was definitely hard to breath at that altitude especially since we had been staying at sea level all summer. There is a short hike up to a viewing area above the visitors center. The climb is paved and has steps and it rises to 12005 feet in Altitude. We made sure to hydrate and decided to make the climb. It’s definitely called Huffers Hill for a reason. Conrad was fine climbing but I had to stop a couple of times along the way to catch my breath. I wasn’t feeling light headed or nauseas so we made our way to the top. It felt pretty good to be able to get to the top.
Here we are at the top
Views from the top of Huffers Hill
Views from the top of Huffers Hill
Views from the top of Huffers Hill
Looking up from the parking lot to the top of Huffers Hill after we climbed back down
Once we left the Visitors center after visiting the gift shop we started to descend towards Vail. We saw a lot of cars stopped along the road and found that they were looking at a moose. Never wanting to miss a shot we stopped as well and took some pictures.
We left Rocky Mountain National park and headed into Vail. We wanted to at least leave our luggage at the hotel before we headed to the Gondola so we called and our room was already available. We went to check in and talked to the valet who parked our car. He recommended which of the 2 Gondolas to take up the mountain – Eagle Bahn in Lionshead village – a short walk from our hotel. Then he recommended that we take the short hike at the top over to Gondola One which descends into Vail Village where our hotel was. We thanked him for the information and went up to the room to leave our luggage.
We were staying at the Sonnenalp – a Swiss themed hotel, as it seems that most of Vail Village is Swiss themed. The room was really beautiful so we had to take a few pictures before leaving for the Gondola.
We had valet parked our car for the duration of the stay which was perfect because there really is very little available parking in Vail. Our hotel was at the edge of Vail Village and we needed to walk to neighboring Lionshead Village to find the Eagle Bahn Gondola. It was a short paved trail through wooded areas with a stream running through. An easy walk. We had purchased tickets ahead of time so we just needed to stop at the ticket window to retrieve them.
The gondola was not crowded and we had our own car with no wait. We noticed that there were lots of mountain bikers around town and as we climbed in the Gondola we realized that the cars were outfitted with racks for bikes and the riders could them come down a series of paths from the top down into the village. There were quite a few bikers taking advantage and they could purchase a pass so that they could use the Gondola all day instead of the single use tickets that we had.
When we arrived at the top of Eagle Bahn we found some lovely views and also a restaurant where we grabbed a quick lunch since we had been on the road all morning and hadn’t stopped to eat.
There were some rides at the top of the mountain but we didn’t ride any, we did take a few photos.
We checked with one of the employees at the top who pointed us to the trail over to Gondola One so that we could ride down into Vail. As we took the trail we realized that the advice of the valet at the hotel was good for several reasons. 1. The Eagle Bahn Gondola had restrooms and a restaurant as well as other concessions at the top while Gondola one really had nothing open at the top.
2. The trail between the Gondolas was more downhill from Eagle Bahn to Gondola One. We saw several people struggling to come the opposite way.
3. We arrived back in Vail Village at the end of our journey down on Gondola One so we could do a little but of souvenir shopping without having to carry things onto the Gondolas.
We tried to take some pictures on the trail and the ride down.
Views from the trail at the top between the gondolas
View before getting on Gondola One to descend
View from the ride down looking down on Vail Village.
View from the ride down looking down on Vail Village.
Once down in Vail Village we did a bit of souvenir shopping and took a walk through the main street of town. There were lots of shops and restaurants and little hotels along the walk back to our hotel.
Many of the buildings reminded us of Switzerland.
One of the buildings in town that appeared to be lodging of some sort
We returned to the hotel to rest from our long day. A little nap and a soak in the tub refreshed tired legs and we then had a little bit of time before our reservation at the Bully Tavern in the hotel for dinner.
View from a small bridge near our hotel
A view up the main street of Vail village from bear our hotel.
We sat inside at the Bully Tavern and the table next to us was loud and kind of obnoxious, drinking quite a bit. The menu was limited but we enjoyed what we had. We decided to head out into the village in search of dessert instead of staying near the loud table. We found a little market that sold Gelato and sat on an outdoor table near the main street. We noticed that there were shuttle busses going up and down the street, no other vehicle traffic but people out walking. Mostly the town was quiet and there wasn’t much going on. We returned to the hotel because we had an early start in the morning towards Aspen and wanted to get a good night sleep. We liked Vail, and Vail village was charming and quiet. Lionshead Village seemed a bit more active with more to do and more activity but we didn’t visit it at night.
We liked Vail very much.