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.

A stroll in downtown Denver, USA

On the fourth day of my 10 day visit to USA I decided to visit downtown Denver with my sister. After that great rafting trip in the Colorado river, I had spent the next two days doing my University assignments. There were two papers to submit and it was a lot of work. My sister got a bit annoyed by this. I had come all the way to visit her to do assignments at her place. Though I understood her annoyance I was helpless. On the third day, I put in some extra effort to complete my work and planned a visit to downtown the next day.

Denver is the capital of the state of Colorado. It is known as the Mile High city of because of its elevation which is around 1600 Mtrs. One of the fastest growing cities in the United Stated it has also the added benefit of being close to the Rockies which are just a couple of hours away.

The next morning after a good breakfast, me and my sister sheereen took the local train to Downtown. I am a huge fan of public transport as mentioned in my numerous previous posts. So adding the experience of riding in the public transport of another city excited me. As Sheereen's home was in the outskirts of the city, it was a 40 min ride to downtown. The train sped past different neighborhoods and past the University of Colorado. Some sections of the tracks were elevated giving us a good view of the surrounding rocky mountains far away. We got down at the Auraria Station and after a brief stroll took another bus to the Capitol building.

We got down a stop ahead of our actual stop and started walking. We spotted the Capitol building a bit ahead. We could see its Golden Dome shining in the bright sunlight as we approached it. As we neared the building we could see that a lot of restoration work was going on. We took went around it in a circle having a closer look. Built in the Neo classical style this building houses the home of the Colorado General Assembly. Built in the 1890s, the dome of the building houses real gold leaf which was added during the Gold Rush period in the year 1908. The front of the building had more construction going on and we couldn't get on the steps to the famous Mile high marker.

The day was getting more hot now and I was looking for somewhere to sit. Directly on the opposite side of the Capitol Hill far away I could spot another building with similar architectural style. Google maps told me that this was Denver City Council Building. I spotted a swathe of low trees in the park in front of it. We crossed the road and walked towards and inside the park. There were a number of food trucks parked selling a variety of food stuff. We looked around to see if we could find anything interesting but we did not so we walked away towards one of the trees at the edge of the park. We selected one offering a nice view of the council building and sat there in the shade. It was relief to get away from the scorching sun. This heat reminded me of the summers of India. I wasn't expecting this in US honestly.

After that rejuvenating rest we resumed our walk and sheereen suggested we check out the nearby Denver Public Library. Established in 1889, the Denver public library system houses around 2 million items including books, reference materials etc. We went inside and took a leisurely stroll. As my sister and me are both avid readers we spent a lot of time checking out the different books. There were multiple levels with conference rooms, computer rooms etc. One thing that stuck me was the presence of a large number of homeless people. There were too many of them.

From the library we walked past the building of Museum of Art with its quirky design. Then we decided to head home as the heat was becoming unbearable now. Before doing so we headed off to a local Indian restaurant called Zaika and had some biryani there which was easily one of the worst Biryanis I ever had in North America. After this we then started for home taking the same train line and were back home by 4 pm.

River Rafting in Colorado, USA

''Manifest Destiny. Westward Expansion. Come April it will start again'' So starts one of my favorite monologues in a Horror movie. The movie is called ''Ravenous'' and it is so diverse it is difficult to pinpoint its genre but I will go with Horror. This movie is partly inspired from the story of Alferd Parker also called the Colorado Cannibal,who confessed to resorting to cannibalism while travelling with a group of men through the mountains of Colorado. The monologue was playing in my mind as I sat in the flight from Vancouver to Denver, Colorado. The movie was part of my preparation for my trip to Denver.

This was a couple of months back when I was in the United States of America to visit my sister Sheereen and her husband. This was my first visit to USA and I was hugely excited. Here was the land of the movies I grew up watching and the novels I used to read.

Luckily my sisters husband, Azaan is an active outdoor person himself. He loves going on hikes and doing adventure activities. The weekend I was going there, he had planned, a river rafting trip near the town of Glenwood Springs which was around 150 miles away. Other members of this rafting trip were his friends, Ujjwala, her husband, Manish,, Rohini and Daivik.

We started off from Denver around 8 am.We passed through some beautiful scenery and I was glued to the windows as this was my first road journey in USA. We reached the rafting spot at around 11 pm and since the starting time was 1 pm we still had a couple of hours to kill. So we decided to have lunch in the small but quiet cafe there.Soon it was time and after the registration process we headed over to the gathering point where we were to be given some instructions. After a brief talk which included heavy doses of humor we grabbed our gear. This included a safety vest, some smelly shoes and for those of us who were wearing specs, a strap to hold the specs onto our faces. From here we were shepherded into a school bus which was waiting for us. It was a bright sunny day and inside the bus it felt like an oven. Some windows were stuck and wouldn't open and everybody was drenched in sweat within  minutes. The bus started and this bought some respite with the air blowing on our faces.

We reached the starting point at around 12 30 pm. There was only one last thing to do now and that was each team had to carry their raft with them towards the river. We did this and were in position. Soon, the rafts were dragged into the river, people jumped on them and on they went on their way. Our turn came and we did the same. We were off in the Colorado River now. I already had done river rafting once before. That was in Rishikesh in India some 5 years back. Similar to that one, this was also a grade 2&3 rapids rafting. I was looking forward to how different/similar rafting here would be.

At first, we drifted into the current in a gradual pace. As for the seating, Ujjwala and Manish sat at the front, in the second row sat Daivik and Rohini and behind them was me. Bringing up the rear was my sister and her husband Azaan. Our guide, the good natured Mike sat the back steering the raft.  He gave us some simple instructions. When he shouts 'row' we were to row and with shouts of 'stop' we were to stop rowing. Also if he said 'Right' then the those of us who were on the right side were to row and the left would sit still. And when he shouted 'left' only those on the left side were to row. We practiced this for a few times till we got the drift.

After some time we could see the change in the state of the water. It became more turbulent and we were getting excited now. Soon enough our guide instructed us to strengthen our grip with our feet and start rowing with our hands. In a minute our raft collided with a huge wave. The front of the raft went up a huge angle, stayed there for a split second and then fell into the retreating water. There was a spray of water on our faces and bodies as we tried to hold ourselves in place. This first encounter was mighty thrilling and bought out shouts of joy and excitement. We ran into many more rapids like these now and then.

At one point the guide stopped the raft at a section of the river where the water was calm and told us to jump in the water if we wanted to. I was waiting for this part the whole time and without further prodding I jumped along with Daivik. As I hit the water, the momentum carried my whole body a meter inside the waters and then I popped up, breaking the surface. Initially I struggled to catch my breath but I soon recovered. I floated around in the water and took videos with my action cam. But I did not let go of the grab rope holding it with one hand and taking videos with the other. Soon others joined too. Rohini and Ujjwala also jumped into the water on the other side of the raft. All got in the water except Azaan. He helped everyone with getting back on the boat.

To make matters more interesting our guide suggested we take turns in sitting on the tube itself on the front. They had tied a rope with a knot from the D Ring at the front. We were to hold on to this rope and enjoy the heaving of the raft from the prime seat available on the raft. First to go was me. I perched atop the tube there and as instructed grabbed hold of the rope and sat there. The first collision with the waves bought a huge scream of joy from me as it felt exhilarating. You feel as if you are flying in the air. Truly, the feeling of the raft striking the waves and shivering with the impact is something that has be experienced. Pumps up your adrenaline!

We all took turns sitting at the front. Sheereen also had her turn and she enjoyed it a lot. It felt good seeing my sister with me on this trip. We used to go on trips with our dad when we were kids and as so happens in life as we grew up the frequency of trips slowed down until it stopped completely. And now back together on a trip made me happy.

We passed a number of sections of rapids of different intensities. Some were mild some wild. The only thing I found a bit annoying was that the whole rafting trip was a bit too long with long periods of calm water in between the rapids. This was getting a bit boring but our guide tried his best to fill in these phases by telling stories of local legends and also his own experiences. The only story that stuck in my mind was that of a woman of 19th century who used to climb one of the cliffs overlooking the river. In that day and age a woman doing something like that was super inspiring.

Soon we reached the end, where again we had to get off the raft and carry it upwards towards a waiting vehicle. We all then got inside the bus mighty happy with the rafting experience. We were taken back to the original starting point where we returned all the equipment and changed into dry clothing. By 5pm we were soon on our way back. That ended my first adventure trip in the United States of America all thanks to Azaan and my sister!

In Brief :
Activity - River Rafting
River - Colorado
Location - Glenwood Springs
Distance from Denver - Around 150 Miles.
Rafting Agency - Defiance River Rafting
Class of Rapids - Class 2&3
Duration - 3 hours. From 1 pm to 4 pm.