Labor Day in Winter Park…Hell Yeah!

On Saturday morning we headed up to the mountains to spend the weekend in Winter Park.  We left the house shortly after 8am and after stopping at Whole Foods to pick up some items for dinner and eat breakfast, we jumped on I-70 hoping to beat the stream of people heading West to spend Labor Day weekend in the mountains.

Thankfully, we had no issues heading up and after checking into the condo and dropping our stuff off we headed downtown to check out what was going on.  We did a little shopping and then enjoyed a beer and a snack on the patio at Deno’s.

After heading back to the condo for a short snooze, Sara arrived and we planned the rest of our day.  Since our last visit a couple of weeks ago, we had been wanting to drive to the top of the Moffat Road.   We had ventured part way up back in May 2007 (that’s when the picture below was taken) and again a few weeks back with Sara, but we were not successful in making it all the way to the top either time.

So, with Mike behind the wheel of my Jeep, we started out.  The first couple of miles appeared to be well traveled. but as we go further along the bumps and holes seemed to increase drastically in size.   It was so bumpy that Sara’s pedometer registered almost a mile of steps!

At the top we got out and walked around.  Unfortunately with me in Crocs and Sara in flip flops, we didn’t walk far, but here are a couple of pictures from the top.

The trip down the mountain took us two plus hours as we couldn’t go more than 10 or 15 miles per hour due to the terrain.  Plus we stopped to investigate an old train bridge along the way.  I didn’t include that in my post as I figured my description wouldn’t do it justice.

After returning to condo we relaxed a little before making dinner.  We dined on fine cusine from Whole Foods while waiting Ninja Warriors on G4.  Sara discovered this show while in Santa Fe and I don’t claim to be a fan…at least not yet.  I was a sleep by 9pm that night and while it was hotter than all get up in the condo, I slept fairly well.

The next morning (Sunday) we woke early, headed to the Rise and Shine to enjoy a protein packed breakfast before heading up to the outskirts of Rocky Mountain National Park to hike.  Mike had done his homework and knowing that we wanted to get a 10 mile hike in, he selected Cascade Falls and Big Pool as our destination for the day.  Just outside of Grand Lake, CO we found the trail head and started out on our trek.

The first two miles of the hike were relatively flat, however at the two and half mile mark we started to climb a little.   Here’s a shot from the path before made it to the falls.

Surprisingly on our way to the falls and ultimately Big Pool we only saw a handful of people.  On the other hand we did see a lot of horse poop and even a dead mouse!

Around the three and half mile mark we made it to the falls.

We took a break by the falls and enjoyed a snack and snapped a few pictures.  The rushing sound of the falling water was not only soothing, but also cooling.

Next we proceeded up the trail and on to Big Pool.  We figured it was another two miles from the falls, which would get to us to to just over the five mile mark, which on an out-and-back would give us the ten mile hike we were looking for.

We didn’t talk as much on the second leg of the hike, but we were still cruising.  Upon making it to Big Pool, we snapped a few pictures, looked at the fish swimming around in the pool and then headed out as we still had five plus miles to hike before we got back to the car!

We didn’t chat as much on the hike back to the car.  We only stopped once or twice to re-tie our shoes or get a rock out.  With about two and half miles to go, I realized I was out of water.  Oops!  The good news is that that part of the hike was relatively flat and whle the last mile is always the toughest, I powered through without any issues.

After visiting the port-o-potty which I was extremely excited to see after a ten mile hike, we headed into Grand Lake to enjoy a treat.  Sara and I split a carmel apple with peanuts and Mike enjoyed a waffle cone with cookie dough ice cream.

On the drive back to Winter Park, I felt like taking a snooze, but I knew if I did, there was no hope of getting me moving later.  So, we left Sara at the condo to relax and Mike and I headed down to Doc’s Roadhouse to enjoy a beer and a snack.  After we headed into town and bought new hiking shoes, had another beer and then returned to the condo to pick up Sara for dinner.

We enjoyed a nice dinner at the Untamed Southwest Grill.  I will mention that we’ve been in there twice as they are a vegetarian friendly restaurant, but the service is decent if not sub-par.  Oh well, with only a handful of restaurants in Winter Park, what do you expect!

Mike enjoyed a little dip in the hot tub when we returned while Sara and I watched the end of the CSU/CU game and then it was off to bed.  A ten mile hike can be draining, especially without a nap!

This morning we woke up early and Mike and I enjoyed another breakfast at the Rise and Shine before heading out of town.  We were home by 10:30 and look forward to relaxing at home today.

Happy Labor Day to everyone.  Hope you’re weekend was as much fun as ours was!