Sunday morning, we had a nice breakfast at the hotel and checked out. Then we continued west on I-80 to Arlington and head into the Snowy Range area in Medicine Bow National Forest. The Rock Creek Trailhead was about 2 miles off the interstate. Rock Creek Trail (#106) follows its namesake upstream.
The forest in the deep gorge was really beautiful to hike through. We saw some roughfruit fairy bells with little red berries.
In about 1.5 miles, the trail passed the remains of an old miner's cabin.
What little was left of the mine was just past here. There were more wildflowers blooming along the trail as we continued up.
A bee was busy pollinating coneflowers.
Western pearly everlasting had white flowers.
Fireweed is one of my favorite Rocky Mountain wildflowers.
And there were lots of berries too - the snowberries are all white.
Claspleaf twistedstalk had red berries.
In about 3 miles we crossed a bridge over a small tributary. A sign indicated "The Slide" but it was too overgrown to see much. After 4 miles, we came to another bridge, this one over Stud Creek Falls.
The little waterfall was pretty with the bridge over the top. And now I had a waterfall in Wyoming. From the bridge, the upper portion of the waterfall was visible.
Past here, Sandy spotted some pipsissewa blooming.
Past Stud Creek, the trail continued following the Rock Creek upstream.
We went about another mile to the third bridge, this one over Carlson Creek Falls.
I think this was the most scenic of the two. There were some upper drops visible from the bridge on this one too.
We took a break here and started making our way back. It was pretty warm when we were in the sun, but most of the trail was shaded.
Hiking away from the sun, there were nice views of the creek as we hiked back.
The trail got closer to the creek as we got closer to the trailhead.
It was about 10 miles round trip for our hike. And we didn't see another soul until the last mile or so.
Back at the car, we drove back towards Laramie and then into Colorado. We stopped in Fort Collins at Jaws Sushi for dinner. Then we drove the rest of the way to Estes Park through the beautiful Big Thompson Canyon. In Estes Park, we checked into the Stanley for Sandy's birthday.
After getting settled in the room, we toured around the beautiful hotel.
The stairs and hallways were really cool and we were glad to see no creepy children on tricycles.
Outside, they had a hedge maze, though the hedges weren't high enough to really get lost.
The views of Estes Park and the Rocky Mountains were great. After walking around the hotel and grounds, we had a couple drinks at the bar.
There was an artificial waterfall out here that was right outside our room. After a couple drinks, we headed to bed.
The forest in the deep gorge was really beautiful to hike through. We saw some roughfruit fairy bells with little red berries.
In about 1.5 miles, the trail passed the remains of an old miner's cabin.
What little was left of the mine was just past here. There were more wildflowers blooming along the trail as we continued up.
A bee was busy pollinating coneflowers.
Western pearly everlasting had white flowers.
Fireweed is one of my favorite Rocky Mountain wildflowers.
And there were lots of berries too - the snowberries are all white.
Claspleaf twistedstalk had red berries.
In about 3 miles we crossed a bridge over a small tributary. A sign indicated "The Slide" but it was too overgrown to see much. After 4 miles, we came to another bridge, this one over Stud Creek Falls.
The little waterfall was pretty with the bridge over the top. And now I had a waterfall in Wyoming. From the bridge, the upper portion of the waterfall was visible.
Past here, Sandy spotted some pipsissewa blooming.
Past Stud Creek, the trail continued following the Rock Creek upstream.
We went about another mile to the third bridge, this one over Carlson Creek Falls.
I think this was the most scenic of the two. There were some upper drops visible from the bridge on this one too.
We took a break here and started making our way back. It was pretty warm when we were in the sun, but most of the trail was shaded.
Hiking away from the sun, there were nice views of the creek as we hiked back.
The trail got closer to the creek as we got closer to the trailhead.
It was about 10 miles round trip for our hike. And we didn't see another soul until the last mile or so.
Back at the car, we drove back towards Laramie and then into Colorado. We stopped in Fort Collins at Jaws Sushi for dinner. Then we drove the rest of the way to Estes Park through the beautiful Big Thompson Canyon. In Estes Park, we checked into the Stanley for Sandy's birthday.
After getting settled in the room, we toured around the beautiful hotel.
The stairs and hallways were really cool and we were glad to see no creepy children on tricycles.
Outside, they had a hedge maze, though the hedges weren't high enough to really get lost.
The views of Estes Park and the Rocky Mountains were great. After walking around the hotel and grounds, we had a couple drinks at the bar.
There was an artificial waterfall out here that was right outside our room. After a couple drinks, we headed to bed.
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