I  can’t believe that after living in Colorado for over 5 years that I finally made it up to Estes Park. I always seemed to be too busy to make my way up there from Denver. Creating distance in my mind as if it were a 3-hour drive. I filled my mind that I had more important “necessary” things to do. Which now, looking back, was really just a lie to myself.

 

I decided since it was a perfect 60 degrees out (Perfect for Colorado in the Winter) that I would make the drive to Estes Park. For those of you that don’t know about Estes Park, it is a small town in Northern Colorado that is

also at the base of Rocky Mountain National Park with world class hiking trails, wildlife and scenery. I grabbed my dog, enlisted another CB30 teammate and started to drive.

 

 

–In all reality the drive was maybe an hour.

 

We arrived at this cute little town sheltered from the rest of the world surrounded by nature. Estes Park had a small town feel with local shops selling hand made trinkets such as beautifully carved wood statues.

Our CB30 team was on a mission. We weren’t traveling to Estes Park for trinkets but rather an adventure into the wild. We continued to drive through the town in order to get to the National Park. At the entrance to the park was ranger booth collecting money. It was $20 for a day pass if you had a car or $10 if you entered by foot. We paid our dues to help support the park and wildlife and in exchange we received a handy trail map.

 

There are literally dozens of gorgeous famous trails such as Emerald Lake Trail (3.5M RD Trip) or Sky Pond (9M RD Trip). For a detailed list of Estes Park Trails check out All Trails. Since we had a later start to the day we decided on the shorter hike. We parked the car and put on our boots only to realize that DOG’S ARE NOT ALLOWED. We thought that maybe dogs weren’t allowed on just the Emerald Lake Trail, but unfortunately it

turned out that National Parks don’t allow dogs on trails. Only State Parks do. Dogs are allowed in the park though just not the trails. Essentially they can only go about 100 ft off the road.

Luckily for us Estes Park has a scenic road called Trail Ridge Road. This is perfect for those that want to experience the park in all it’s glory without leaving the car. Trail Ridge Road was built in the1930’s and coined the road to heaven by some. Obviously us at CB30 stopped everywhere along the road to get out and climb some rocks or do a 5 minute hike to bring all of you some amazing photography.

All in all Estes Park was an amazing day trip. I can’t wait to go back. Just have to leave my travel buddy, Loki, at home. Sorry Bud!!