Purple ZR-1 Road Trip to Yellowstone and the Pacific Northwest

[QB93Z]

Hi Bob,

Lyndi does not drive the ZR-1 when we are traveling. We have an equitable arrangement. I drive and she rides.

Jim

[QB93Z]

I gave up on the Hotel WiFi and used my Verizon WiFi Hotspot.

We drove north from Golden on the mountain route to Estes Park. We stopped at the small town of Nederland, CO:



Nederland is a fascinating place. Some of the streets aren't paved and some of the buildings are unused, but there is a ski resort nearby and they seem to be doing OK. They have a music festival in the summer and a Frozen Dead Guy Celebration in the winter:



The festival celebrates winter and was started after a local resident had his cryogenically preserved uncle shipped to Nederland.


There is a nice steam power museum so we got a photo with a steam shovel that was used in construction of the Panama Canal. Why the steam shovel ended in Nederland was not revealed:



This sign had us wondering who the target audience is:



After we worked our way through the Colorado mountains, we reached our destination:



to be continued...

[QB93Z]

We spent Monday afternoon touring Rocky Mountain National Park. At one of the overlooks, there were chipmunks and birds entertaining the visitors by eating the food that the visitors are not supposed to be feeding the wild life. Lyndi caught this Clark Nutcracker in flight:




We drove up the Trail Ridge Road to the Alpine Visitor Center. At 11,796 feet elevation, the Visitor Center near the top of the mountain. While we were there, we were surprised by a surprise snow storm:



We continued on towards Grand Lake. In a meadow we were able to photograph two elk grazing:





We crossed the Continental Divide near Milner Pass:




There were many over-looks that allowed us to stop for a view and a photo:



to be continued....

[QB93Z]

While we continued our visit to Rocky Mountain National Park, our travel companion, Army Man, got his photo with the mountains in the background. Army Man join us while were traveling on the Glenn Highway near Anchorage, Alaska in 2012:




The views from the Trail Ridge Road were amazing. The road was built from 1926 to 1932 and takes drivers to the top of the Rocky Mountains. The Trail Ridge Road is the highest continuously paved road in North America with the peak elevation of 12,183 feet:







As we returned to the lower elevations the pine forests were beautiful:



Jim

[QB93Z]

On Tuesday, we returned to Rocky Mountain National Park to do some hiking and to try to see and photograph a moose. We went to Lilly Lake where Moose had been seen a few days ago. The lake was beautiful, but there were no moose:




We also visited Bear Lake:




We drove the Trail Ridge Road for a second day to see the views again and to reach some hike trailheads we were interested in. The Trail Ridge Road is the center piece of the adventure in Rocky Mountain National Park. It 53 miles of well constructed two-lane road. It is in excellent condition. On many parts of the road, one side is a sheer drop off of thousands of feet. Near the peak, the road appears to go to the sky:



Near the summit, we stopped, and I used my phone to measure the altitude:



Several places on the road are marked with a simple sign:




We hiked a trail across a meadow and reached the head waters of the Colorado River. It was fun to stand at the beginning of the river that carved the Grand Canyon:



Rocky Mountain National Park is a wonderful place. The beauty and grandeur of the Rocky Mountains is hard to describe. It was fascinating to spend two days at elevations of 7,500 feet and above. For a lot of our visit we were above 10,000 feet. We adapted well to the altitude and enjoyed our visit.

Jim

[WARP TEN]

Originally Posted by QB93Z

Hi Bob,

Lyndi does not drive the ZR-1 when we are traveling. We have an equitable arrangement. I drive and she rides.

Jim

Pretty much my arrangement also, although in a pinch she will take over if I am too tired. --Bob

[efnfast]

Jim, how are you, Lyndi and the purple Z doing at 2 miles above sea level?

[PhillipsLT5]

As usual AWESOME Pics, unlike performance at 12,000 foot, 1 reason road in good shape, closed for winter, onto Golden for tasting at Coors?

[QB93Z]

Lyndi and I have done OK at these elevations. We have been above 7,000 feet most of the time for the last 11 days. We didn't do any strenuous hikes, though. The ZR-1 has been running fine. It pulled well on the long up grades.

Jim

[QB93Z]

On Wednesday, we left Estes Park, CO and began our trip home to Maryland. We drove east on US-34 through the Big Thompson River Canyon. If you are ever driving around the Estes Park area, I highly recommend US-34. It is about 20 miles along the river in a deep rock-wall canyon. We were greeted by two female Big Horn Sheep grazing on the roadside:






We turned north on I-25 and entered Wyoming:




As we approached Cheyenne, we saw some camels grazing in a field. We later learned that Camels were indigenous to the Wyoming area 14 million years ago.




We had a good time seeing the sights in Cheyenne. The Union Pacific Railroad Depot has been beautifully restored and is now a visitor center and a museum:




In Holiday Park, I got my picture with Union Pacific Locomotive 4004. This massive steam engine is one on eight surviving "Big Boys" that the UP had built starting in 1941:



to be continued....