Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, USA

My 10 day US visit was coming to an end soon and there was only one weekend left before I was to head back home to Vancouver. I had a good time so far with the rafting trip and the casual care free stroll in downtown Denver. For the last weekend my brother in law made a plan to visit the Rocky Mountain National Park which was just a couple of hours away from Denver.

So on a clear pleasant Saturday four of us including my sister sheereen, her husband Azaan, their friend Rohini and myself started off for the RMNP at around 8 am in the morning. The air was fresh and sunny making the drive an enjoyable one. As we approached the hills the landscapes were beginning to turn more picturesque with grassy carpets and quaint homes studded on hill sides. We made a stop at the famous Stanley Hotel which is situated just 5 miles away from the entrance to the RMNP. It was built in 1909 in a Colonial Revival style of Architecture. Stanley Hotel's claim to fame is that it served as the inspiration for the Overlook Hotel in Stephen King's best selling novel 'The Shining'. Stephen King stayed here in room no. 217 and after a nightmare the concept of 'The Shining'was born in that very room. We took a tour of the hotel albeit a short one which featured just the reception area and the surrounding grounds. I am a big horror fan and this visit was very special to me.

From here we proceeded to the Rocky Mountain National Park. Set up in 1915 it is one of the world's first biosphere reserves and also ranks as one of the most visited National Parks. From the entrance itself we could see a number of vehicles on the road. As it was summer and a Sunday there were a lot of people. We made a number of stops as we moved along. There were some spectacular view points where we spent a considerable time just enjoying the views.

We reached the the last point which is the Visitor Centre in the afternoon. Here we walked to the top of the nearby hill from where there were some excellent views of the surrounding mountains. After this short hike we had some delicious lunch at the cafe at the visitor center. With our energy levels recharged and rejuvenated we decided to do the Bierstadt lake trail near the entrance of the park. It was a short and easy hike. The thing which made this hike special for me was that for the very first time I was hiking with my sister. She had started hiking recently and was still a little hesitant about doing even the moderate hikes so Azaan bhaiya had selected this. The hour long trail leads to a lake called, you guessed it, Bierstadt lake where we spent some time just enjoying the solitude. The sky was beginning to turn dark and it looked like rain was imminent anytime. We resumed our hike and sure enough it started raining. It was gentle at first but then picked up pace and in an hour it was pouring. Taking in the conditions we decided not to retrace our way back to the trail start point and instead join another trail and go its end point. In retrospect this proved to be a wise decision and we reached the end point soon. By this time all of us were soaked to varying levels. Soon enough a bus picked us up and dropped us where we had parked our car. We immediately started off on our return journey and took a quick break at a Starbucks to get some hot coffee.  We reached home a couple of hours later content and happy. And thus ended a fun 10 day trip to visit my sister in Denver. I had a good time thanks to Azaan bhaiya and Sheereen.