Animatronic Elk
Long's Peak pulling into the park.
Morraine Park meadow - wow...
Bear Lake - leaving on the first hike
Is that the mountain from Close Encounters?
Bear Lake Panoramic B&W
Blair Witch - heading to Upper Mill Creek. This is crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy...
Couldn't I sue for no handrails?
1st night, Upper Mill Creek - bears, please go to your lake...
My tent rips - let's hope not literally...
Areos' Spaceship
2nd day - heading up to Flattop Mountain.
Altitude sucks...
GPS makes us feel not so lost... MacGyver would be proud...
14,000 ft. X-mas trees
Shot #2,657,946 of Long's Peak.
B&W makes everything “cool”
Pausing for a breather - if there were actually good air
Just like Chicago
[caption intentionally left out for dramatic effect]
look at me zoom, mom.
getting up there - near the tundra
just above treeline - about 11,500 ft. Oh, this is a tree struck by lightning.
Angry tree, lightning tree, Long's Peak
Emerald Lake (i think...) Note to self, don't like heights.
Author in Nike Camo shirt, please hurry, don't like heights.
Wow - we're high - cool clouds.
Rounding other side - onward to Flattop Mountain!
Reminder - make B&W - appear professional
rock, trees, sky
some peak above Emerald Lake
Areos and the moon
Cool shot if I do say so myself
Love the colors - can we turn around now?
The Glacier Gorge - some ass took the last backcountry reservation from us
It's really getting high
2nd peak at Emerald Lake. Steeper, higher, windier. Great.
The author is a major height wuss. Taking this picture nearly killed me.
Higher, Steeper, Scarier = Happy Areos
Way above treeline on the other side of Flattop
Cool curving clouds, is that rain back there?
Areos pausing to note massive cool cloud. Reminder - get off peak before 2ish to avoid “most dangerous lightning peak.” Thanks Ranger dick.
Nearing 12,000 ft. Getting very tired.
Up top - it is flat! Son of a B...
It's really sweet up here
2 freaks on their way to Hallet's Peak from Flattop Mountain. Maybe next year...
Maybe I can take pictures
On top of Mars
Hallet's Peak on the Right. GPS Dork on the left.
Way up near the peak of Flattop. See the little people on the left?
Wide shot coming down from Flattop peak.
Horse stable on Flat top. Reminder, 12,300 ft. Time to descend.
60 year old German couple up there. Author feels inadequate.
Here comes the rain. Descend, descend!
Back at Morraine Park, a “six point” Elk as I learned.
30 yards from amazing Elk. That's close enough...
Exhausted. Morraine Park Campground. Camp spot near 2 babies under 3. Ugh...
Areos snapping some evening pix
Beautiful Colorado sunset
Our campgroup - pretty sweet.
More sunset - fooling with camera to try and create high contrast. success...
Our homes
Our fireplace and kitchen
Sippin' Propel in front of the fire. 11 miles, 7000ft of up and down today. Not bad...
The shittiest Toyota Corolla rental ever. Make sure to check for a windshield wiper bar when you rent...
Estes Cone. Wonder why?
3rd day - “let's just drive around today.” (major soreness.)
Noses in mirror are way bigger than they appear.
50 miles to Grand Lake. Trail Ridge Road over the highest road in the US.
Areos over Deer Valley Mountain (or something like that...)
North side of the park. Prepare for 50 shots of mountains.
1st turnoff - have a seat
Little rain headed our way
Really pretty scenic viewpoint
If only Illinois had atleast a hill
11,000 ft. again. This time in a car.
Mt. Ida is in here somewhere. Almost hiked there on the 3rd day.
Next time, travel to flat land hiking spot...
Looks like salad
Areos up in the corner - reading the signs
Grand Lake - first night
the river from our cabin
3rd night - we hiked 7 more miles, screw this... let's stay at the lodge.
Sweet lodge door - I thought Frassle Basseldorf of Mordor would open the door
I have a wood panel fetish. I loved our room.
This place rules
Grand Lake from our room
Slept with the windows open - rushing river 50ft below.
My sweet bunk
Almost no one here (thank god, community bathrooms.)
The lodge fireplace and library
This place was super cozy - yes, i said super.
Grand Lake on Tuesday morning
Back over the top of the world on Trail Ridge Road. These guys were headed off on a big hike...
Take the shots now, back to Chicago in 4 hours.
parked waiting for construction. why am I always along the 'cliff side' of the car?
Construction Nutbags on the top of the world
