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My fiancee and I are staying in Estes Park, Colorado over Labor Day weekend.

We plan on spending most of our time hiking, fly fishing and just bumming around in Rocky Mountain National Park. We're staying in a cabin at the local KOA.

What are some things that we should do while in the area? Is there a lot to see and do in Rocky Mtn National Park? How about local bars? Any really good ones? Would we be better off driving to another area?

We'll be flying in and driving to Estes Park from the Denver airport. Any places we should stop at along the way? Any cool, funky bars at which we should stop?

Thanks!

Are you set on the Estes Park side of Rocky Mountain National Park? Didn't anyone ever tell you KOA isn't real camping?

The Grand Lake side is sooooo much prettier IMHO. I guess if you have time you can drive over Trail Ridge Road to Grand Lake for the day.

Here's some pictures from a trip I took to Grand Lake a year ago. (Thanks Shrinky)

And my gratuitious post includes the holes I shot in a tree aiming for the egg from about 20 yards away:



I should add I had never touched a gun in my life before that day and it was a muzzle-loader.



Guns go bang, bang!

buffettbride wrote:

This is what the trees look like after the drinking.

My family does Estes Park every Labor Day weekend. Well, my grandparents anyway, we try to make it up there when we can, but it's like a 9 hour drive with Labor Day traffic

They have an in with the YMCA (insert Village People joke here ), so they get a cabin, and we pretty much just hang out. Some golf, some go into town to do the touristy stuff, some just hang out and read or whatever. The kids like to play outside. There's some go-karts and stuff in town that the kids like too.

I'm not really the fishing/hiking type, but there's plenty of that too.

RMNP is a really cool place. I was there last summer and can't wait to go back. We didn't really explore Estes Park, but just passing through it looked like a quaint little town. A trip along Trail Ridge Road/Fall River Road is a must, but not for the faint of heart if you've never done much mountain driving.

We spent the day in the park and then used Boulder as a base of operations to do Denver/Golden/etc. Boulder is a gorgeous town, so if you get tired of RMNP and Estes Park, head down that way. Pearl Street reminded me of Mallory Square moved to the mountains, a lot of great restaraunts and bars there, as well as beautiful scenery, and the Mork & Mindy house.

C & R - I love that area in fact that's what made me move here 10 years ago - I wanted to LIVE in Estest Park. I agree with everyone's suggestions - Grand Lake is awesome as well!

HOWEVER, there is this little party on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend that you could come down the mountain for

PHAW Webmistress wrote: HOWEVER, there is this little party on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend that you could come down the mountain for

And it looks like I'll be at LDOL after all.

Party? Party?

Count us in!

We are really excited to see this part of CO. We've been to Aspen (but not for Jimmy's shows ) and CO Springs but never RMNP.

Thanks for all the help!

Paul

buffettbride wrote:Are you set on the Estes Park side of Rocky Mountain National Park? Didn't anyone ever tell you KOA isn't real camping?

The Grand Lake side is sooooo much prettier IMHO. I guess if you have time you can drive over Trail Ridge Road to Grand Lake for the day.

I was going to say Grand Lake as well - really like it.

Thanks, everyone!

We loved RMNP. We did a whirlwind 1,000 mile loop exploring everything from the Park (drove the whole Trail Ridge Rd - that was spectacular), Grand Lake (had a great lunch at the BBQ Place - think it was called the Stagecoach, it was in teh old courthouse bldg).

We drove from Grand Lake through the Arapaho Forest. We then hopped on I 70 and went through Idaho Springs (fun town) and cut back through Central City (holy casinos!) and up to Estes Park by stopping in Boulder for a quick tour/beer.

The next day we went to Denver for the Taste of Colorado festival where I had some very yummy Argentinian food and a sample of deep fried alligator tail, also very yummy. Downtown Denver is beautiful and the people we met were very nice. We drove to Denver by taking Route 34 through the Big Thompson's river valley. That was a beautiful drive and it's nice that the road follows the river most of the way.

We were done with the festival by 2 pm so, because road signs said that Cheyenne, Wyoming was only 80 miles away, we shot up there to see if Cheyenne had anything interesting to see.

We did see some pronghorn antelope on the way to Cheyenne. That was kind of cool as I'd never seen one before. We also saw a gyrofalcon chasing some crows. I'd never seen a gyrofalcon, so that was also very cool.

Cheyenne was very depressing. It stank like the nearby gas refineries and most of the downtown businesses seemed closed. We were going to have a late lunch there but nothing looked fun. The only cool thing in Cheyenne was the Sierra Trading Post outlet.

We drove to Laramie, WY hoping that there'd be a fun place to eat in the home of the University of Wyoming. Laramie was just as depressing as Cheyenne and the downtown seemed decaying. Oh well.

We then drove down to Fort Collins, CO on what I think was Route 270. The 2 hour drive was beautiful - rolling prairie with lots of antelope and birds of prey spotted along the way.

Ft. Collins is a really cool town. It was very busy on Labor Day Sunday and we had a tough time figuring out where to eat. We ended up in an outdoor table at a place called Austin's. I had a glass of the Sunshine wheat beer made by the in town brewery (new Belgium, I think?). That was outstanding. Otherwise, the food was pretty good - not exceptional, but good.

After Ft. Collins we drove back to Estes Park and tiredly got back to our cabin.

The next day we awoke at 5 am (sux still being on EST). We had a later flight, so we drove into RMNP to see the sunrise. It was spectacular! We saw many elk, a few mule deer, a handful of huge coyotes in the big meadow. We didn't see a moose but we were told by a park ranger that there are only 65 moose in the entire park so they're not that commonly spotted.

We had a great long weekend trip. We now want to move to Denver!

Thanks, everyone who posted above!

So did you catch and release?

I'm glad you had a great time here and glad you guys stopped by Grand Lake. That is one of our favorite spots. Idaho Springs can be a lot of fun, too, especially if you go to eat.

If you move here, move to Ft. Collins, not to Denver. You'll actually be able to afford it and it's just a more pleasant place.

I coulda told ya Wyoming sucks.

Tequila Revenge,

We were on a whirlwind 3 day trip so I felt very guilty about having my girl sit around waiting for me to fish. Surest way to turn me into a kid saying "we'll leave after just one more fish, okay?" is to have me start fishing. I've finally become self aware enough to realize that "one more fish" turns into half the day is gone cuz I selfishly couldn't pull myself out of the river. Me and fishing are no different than a person with an alcohol problem saying "just one drink isn't gonna be bad". If I start fishing, it is very hard to stop fishing, especially if they're biting. There was so much to see and do that I didn't feel that I missed out by not wetting a line.

Plus, on the tuesday before we left, I spent the day wrestling with
10 to 20 lb king salmon on the Little Manistee River here in West Michigan. The fish were very fresh and my arms felt like over cooked spaghetti at the end of the day. I battled at least a dozen salmon. That full day of fishing made it an easy choice not to lug my trout gear to CO.

Next week, I have a day off to fish for salmon on my way up to Petoskey. Pray for rain to bring in a big push of fresh kings and coho!

Catch&Release wrote:Tequila Revenge,

We were on a whirlwind 3 day trip so I felt very guilty about having my girl sit around waiting for me to fish. Surest way to turn me into a kid saying "we'll leave after just one more fish, okay?" is to have me start fishing. I've finally become self aware enough to realize that "one more fish" turns into half the day is gone cuz I selfishly couldn't pull myself out of the river. Me and fishing are no different than a person with an alcohol problem saying "just one drink isn't gonna be bad". If I start fishing, it is very hard to stop fishing, especially if they're biting. There was so much to see and do that I didn't feel that I missed out by not wetting a line.

Plus, on the tuesday before we left, I spent the day wrestling with
10 to 20 lb king salmon on the Little Manistee River here in West Michigan. The fish were very fresh and my arms felt like over cooked spaghetti at the end of the day. I battled at least a dozen salmon. That full day of fishing made it an easy choice not to lug my trout gear to CO.

Next week, I have a day off to fish for salmon on my way up to Petoskey. Pray for rain to bring in a big push of fresh kings and coho!

Good for you. I'd do the same for Mrs. TR

But I got to tell you, those Rocky Mtn Cutties are real beauties

Real quick-

Fire Hole River in mid October
Fall colors and it's snowing
Elk bugling in the background
Cutties taking EC Caddis dry flies like candy

buffettbride wrote: I coulda told ya Wyoming sucks.

That's because Utah blows.....


Actually, not ALL of Wyoming sucks.....Jackson/Teton area is magnificent!

TR,

You've painted a wonderful image of why fall is the best season of the year for a fisherman.

In the Great Lakes, it's fishing a crystal clear Lake Michigan tributary in late October at daybreak as the sunrise kisses the gold, yellow and red leaves of the trees fringing the bank. On a tuesday morning, when the rivers are mainly empty of other fishermen who have gone back home to Chicago and Detroit after clogging our fair rivers over the weekends, one feels like king of the world to have the river to oneself. At each shallow bend in the river, there are pods of rotting kings thrashing out the end of their spawn. Below these doomed fish are steelhead and brown trout whose size is measured in pounds, not inches.

As the kings wriggle out the last of their spawn, and as their decaying flesh drifts into the deeper pool, the steelhead and browns await a feast. A nuke egg, glow bug or flesh fly thrown at just the right moment is invariably gobbled up by a steelhead or trophy sized brown. The steelhead will bolt and crash, trying to make their way back to Lake Michigan. The browns will zig and zag trying their best to get into a log jam to win back their freedom.

While it's not Alaska, it can be a frenzy of spending hours fighting 5 to 15 lb fish. Ah...Fall is upon us and the world is as it should be!

There are a dozen pics from our trip on teh 2nd and 3rd pages of my myspace pics.

www.myspace.com/paulshibley

pbans wrote:

buffettbride wrote: I coulda told ya Wyoming sucks.

That's because Utah blows.....


Actually, not ALL of Wyoming sucks.....Jackson/Teton area is magnificent!

I'd LOVE to do Jackson and the Tetons. It's very high on our list.

buffettbride wrote:

pbans wrote:

buffettbride wrote: I coulda told ya Wyoming sucks.

That's because Utah blows.....


Actually, not ALL of Wyoming sucks.....Jackson/Teton area is magnificent!

I'd LOVE to do Jackson and the Tetons. It's very high on our list.

If ya do, you better call me.....it's only three hours from here!!!