Day 10 (Part 1) - Wow!

We picked a good day to go to the mountains.  The high was 98 degrees but it was cooler at 10,000 altitude.  We took the Cache La Poudre - North Park Scenic Byway.    We started out at 8:00 on the Front Range following Hwy 14 through the Poudre Canyon along the Poudre River.  It was awesome.  I took lots of pictures but was disappointed in them because the pictures do not capture the real beauty of what we saw.  Our eyes looked up, down, and searched around every rock outcropping for the next gorgeous view.  We climbed from 5,000 feet to 10,000 at Cameron Pass.  At that point we were in the North Park Valley.  The views became meadows and we could see snow on the mountains west of the valley.  We drove the speed limit (45 MPH) but it wasn't fast enough for some people.  Several times Carol would pull off the road for others to speed by us.  Sometimes he didn't pull over and I felt we helped those people who had to follow us slow down and enjoy the beauty around them.

We were lucky enough to see two big bull moose eating lunch near the road.  I snapped some pictures.  We stopped at the  Araphoe National Wildlife Refuge which is home to 208 different kinds of birds, 37 species of mammals, reptiles, and fish in the rivers that supply the water to the area.  One of the rivers that flows through it is the Illinois River.    We stopped at an overlook in the Refuge.  It was a nice break from driving.  It had taken us nearly two hours to drive 50 miles up to Cameron Pass but the descent to Laramie, Wyoming was much quicker.  We drove through sand hills and red mesas from Laramie to Fort Collins.  It was a day of very diverse scenery but all beautiful.

We got back to camp around 2:00.  It was so hot and the weather forecast calls for temps in the high 90's all week.  We stayed inside in the air conditioning until it began to cloud up.    We sat outside and watched a thunderstorm move in from the west and mountains.  It was quite a storm.  The camper rocked and swayed in the wind.  Thankfully, the camper stayed on the ground.  After the storm we were able to turn off the air conditioner.  When we took Sandy for a walk, we saw lots of small branches down and the staff picked up a few larger ones.  It is interesting to hear the first sound of thunder over the mountains and then hear it closer and closer until the rain begins.  The storm doesn't last long, so far, only 30 minutes or so.

After the rain there was another beautiful sunset.   Tomorrow we will go to Rocky Mountain National Park.  Should be another picture-worthy day.