Park It!!

There are not many summer type days left to enjoy the Park before the winter type days arrive. It was time to get up there and enjoy it all.
This was the weekend I had a small tour planned through Northern Colorado that I set aside so I can help Debbie as she heals up from her broken arm/horse incident. All good because we always have a pretty nice National Park right here in our backyard!!
Saturday afternoon we headed up to check out some Aspen leaf changing. I had heard from a friend who works up there that it was peaking for the season. We decided to ride the shuttle up to Bear Lake and a very short and easy loop hike to Bierstadt Lake. The morraine that Bierstadt sits atop is always a pretty show for Aspen.

We will let the pictures do the talking!!

What a nice day!!!

PICK IT UP!!!

You remember we left our hero a few weeks ago at upper Hidden Valley and having to race back down the mountain to tend to a broken arm and all that horse business. On Sunday the idea was to pick up where I turned around.....although....I had to ride back to upper again. No free rides here!!!!
Sunday morning turns out a bit overcast to start, but warm for a Late September day. After a nice cuppa and some oatmeal at Kind Coffee I head up through the north entrance and on into Horseshoe Park where the sun pops out. I love when you catch the Aspen changing but there are some with their green left to really give you some contrast.

The hillside right below Hidden Valley rivals the Bear Lake corridor for beauty with its willows leading up into the Aspen grove.

Trucker is the bike choice now for this season. I like having the larger bag to carry lunch along with extra layers, beanie and gloves if needed as I head up to timberline.

I chug on past Upper Hidden Valley with no phone texts or messages of disaster going on below!! Yea!!!
There is a stop at Rainbow curve with a gazillion people and begging chipmunks and grey Jays. I was getting a bit tired of the traffic zooming by me.....comes with the territory of riding on a fall Sunday. I did talk with a nice fellow who was admiring my bike. He had a new Surly Travel Check with the S&S couplers for packing and airline travel. We also traded stories about the Katy Trail. I had my shirt on and he told me about riding it a few years ago.
On we go up above Rainbow Curve where the Tundra starts and you roll up over the 11,000 foot level.

Not yet....Not today!!!!

Look at that!!!! Look where Trucker took us today...up onto the tundra!!

The goal of the day was to ride to Rock Cut but I was just tired of the Sunday traffic so turned around a bit below Forest Canyon overlook and decided one more picture before the big downhill blast. I had to put on a long sleeve shirt for the downhill roll.

The local Rotary Club puts on their fall fundraiser downtown, Beers, Brats, and Bands. What could possibly go wrong with that kind of program. I cruise into downtown a little shakey after a long downhill with elk watching tourists clogging the roads at a moments notice and brake pull!!
One of my favorites, The Wendy Woo band was the headline act for Sunday afternoon

Nuff' Said!!

Everybody have a great week!!

And thanks for following along!!

Jim