0:00

When it comes to big time national parks, it

0:02

really doesn't get much more iconic than Rocky

0:04

Mountain National Park in Colorado. I

0:06

mean, really, these mountains are literally

0:08

featured on Corps light cans, so that's

0:11

legit. Yeah. This park really

0:13

is just larger than life and overwhelming in

0:15

the best way, with some of the mightiest mountains

0:17

in the country. So it's no wonder why Rocky

0:20

Mountain is not only one of the most visited

0:22

national parks in America with more than

0:24

four million annual visitors, but also

0:27

a symbol of the National Park Service in

0:29

and of itself. That's true when

0:31

people think of American mountains, these are

0:33

the types of mountains that come to mind. They're

0:36

craggy, perpetually snowy, jagged,

0:38

and filled with epic wildlife. They're basically

0:40

the Himalayas of North America. In addition

0:43

to the mountains themselves, this amazing

0:45

Colorado park also features many

0:47

other incredible sites, from some of the

0:49

most pristine lakes and rivers to

0:51

hotels both haunted and dreaming.

0:54

After all, this is the kind of place that inspired

0:56

Steping King to write The Shining and any

0:59

park influence enough to inspire Stephen King

1:01

and course light is sure to be memorable,

1:03

to say the least. Hi,

1:07

I'm Matt and I'm Brad. This is park Landia

1:09

production of I Heart Radio. We sold

1:11

our loft in Chicago, moved into an r

1:14

V, and now we're talking in the country full time

1:16

with our dog Finn. Exploring America's national

1:18

parks in today's episode

1:21

is a big one. It's about Rocky Mountain National

1:23

Park in northern Colorado, northwest

1:25

of Denver. It's

1:27

hard to know where to begin with this park

1:30

because Rocky Mountain is just so

1:32

monumental, so we brought on

1:34

a bit of help for this episode, as our friend

1:36

Elena Kirson will be our very first

1:38

guest ever. We'll bring around later though

1:40

in the episode to talk about her time with Matt

1:42

in the park when they first visited together.

1:45

But in the meantime, let's start with a little bit of background

1:47

on this quintessential park. Yeah.

1:49

I'm so excited. It's really gonna be a fun

1:51

episode, not only because of the shining references,

1:54

which we're sure to flood you with, but because

1:56

we'll have our first guest, who is

1:58

a dear friend of ours, and it'll be so

2:01

much fun to have her on and talk

2:03

about this amazing park. We need,

2:05

we really needed to do Rocky Mountain justice.

2:07

So we're bringing in the Bay Guns.

2:11

I love it. So let's first talk about the geography

2:13

and the history of this region. UM Rocking

2:16

the Mountain National Park UM actually

2:18

protects a portion of the mile

2:22

Rocky Mountain Range, which actually

2:25

runs all the way from New Mexico to

2:27

British Columbia. Now that's big.

2:30

It's big, So they couldn't make that whole

2:32

thing in National Park. That would be a lot, But

2:35

the portion of Rocky Mountain is still huge

2:38

and pivotal. So this

2:41

range is often nicknamed things like

2:43

the backbone of North America, which

2:45

makes sense since it's so integral

2:47

to the entire continent and

2:50

massive mountains like these do kind of resemble

2:52

a gigantic spine, I guess. Even though that

2:54

image is a little grisly, it

2:57

really does work, especially since the Mountain

2:59

Range serves as an important water source for

3:01

such a large portion of the continent.

3:04

Yeah. I feel like a lot of people probably look at

3:06

the Rockies they just see earth and rocks

3:08

and such, which makes sense. But water

3:11

is really everything here, and it's all because

3:13

of the snow, which is present in some capacity

3:15

year round thanks to the high elevations.

3:17

It's either completely entrenched in it or

3:20

just towards the very top snow

3:22

amount is constantly flowing down off the slopes

3:25

and into alpine lakes and rivers,

3:27

eventually sprunning out to all three oceans

3:29

that North America touches. Getting

3:32

there. Yeah, when we visited together, it was in

3:34

June, so the weather was mostly sunny and warm,

3:36

but there was still plenty of snow up top

3:39

and the high elevation peaks um like

3:41

trol Ridge Road was open for the season,

3:44

but there were still some serious sections

3:46

with like huge piles of snow. Yeah,

3:48

and snow can still happen even in here. And I remember

3:51

like we were visiting friends in the

3:53

Denver area, like the week prior,

3:55

and this was like early June, and we had heard

3:57

that Trood Road was closed

4:00

again because of snow, and I'm like, what, it's

4:02

June. What this is going to mess

4:04

up our plan. But by the time we

4:06

were there, it was all fine, and any

4:09

place where there was snow was paved. And

4:12

while we're on the road, we stopped at the Alpine Visitor

4:14

Center along the way, and you actually

4:16

took a photo of me standing next to one of these

4:19

walls of snow which was literally

4:22

taller than I was, like almost choice

4:24

as high as me. And granted this is all kind of pushed

4:26

over, so it wasn't just like naturally that

4:28

high, but there's a lot of snow up

4:30

there. And even crazier was it was

4:32

warm and I was in short So it

4:35

was a wild time and the

4:37

best of times. Our work trip worked out

4:39

like perfect in terms of season and weather

4:41

because like the Trail Ridge Road was

4:44

completely open um

4:46

and it which is one of the most highest um

4:49

elevation paved roads in the country

4:52

and it's only open for a few months of the year due

4:55

to the like how high, Yeah,

4:57

exactly. So it's a

4:59

four forty eight mile stretch of

5:01

US Highway thirty four that connects the

5:04

Estes Park side of the park where

5:06

we were staying, with the Grand Lake

5:08

side of the park on the west, which is totally

5:10

worth visiting and absolutely beautiful and

5:13

compared to Estas Park especially, it's much

5:15

more underrated. Yeah, it really is

5:17

underrated. Um, we went over

5:19

there. It was just stunning, but it's just harder

5:22

to get to and so that's a

5:24

good things, a little more isolated a bad thing.

5:26

But yeah, um, I really

5:28

feel like Trail Ridge Road is right up there

5:30

with the Skyline Drive at Shannandoah.

5:33

Um It's one of the most epic scenic

5:35

drives in the entire country. Um.

5:37

The views and the experiences are

5:40

really unlike anything ever

5:42

experience. I completely agree. I think Trail Ridge Road

5:44

is like the Skyline Drive of the West, and

5:46

both of them are just really really incredible

5:49

experiences and kind of bucket list

5:51

scenic drives. I think you should absolutely do it. And

5:54

just like Skyline Drive and our

5:56

Shanandoah episode from season one,

5:59

I think they should both be levels on Mario

6:01

Kart. Like I said, Skyli and Drive should

6:04

be like, you know, the Rainbow Road of Shenandoah,

6:07

And I think child Ridge Road could also be a special

6:09

level because apparently I'm just constantly thinking of

6:11

ideas for National Park the Mario games,

6:13

and I feel like I'm onto something that'd be

6:15

so much fun, really though, because

6:18

I really think that. I mean, last night

6:20

we were playing and you literally

6:22

got so mad when I

6:24

threw a green shell if that hit you, and

6:26

then immediately right after you got hit by this red shelf

6:28

which also came from me. In the

6:31

first match, you were going to win and

6:33

then I like sneaked by you literally

6:36

at the line, and you wanted to basically

6:38

throw the game out the window. First of all, I handled

6:40

myself very well. I was calm,

6:42

I didn't I didn't over react. I

6:45

just put the controller away. That's not

6:47

true. Yeah, and we

6:49

we don't have to get over the competitive here, Okay, Okay,

6:51

I know you're gonna be mad because I always

6:53

beat you at Mario cart so we should probably

6:56

think of something like less competitive, maybe

6:58

like a little puzzle like all

7:00

sure, But knowing me, i'd also stell some how

7:02

managed to turn that puzzle into a competition and

7:04

get flustered and upset when I inevitably

7:07

finished my puzzle last or something. Because

7:09

the unfortunate thing about me is

7:13

I'm cursed with this unfortunate

7:15

combo of being overly competitive, very

7:17

very much like crippingly competitive.

7:20

Well not also like being

7:22

very good at competitive things. So it's

7:25

a serious lose lose for me, Like no

7:27

matter what activity I try,

7:29

I wind up being like upset.

7:32

And I'm very good at competitive things,

7:34

and I'm very competitive. Just ask my cousin

7:36

Mike. He knows, he knows how to push

7:39

all the buttons to make me completely flipped,

7:41

like I make you flip in Mario Kart. I kind of enjoy

7:43

that. I'd like to like witness

7:45

that because I'm tired. I'm tired of being

7:47

the only one who loses everything. I mean

7:50

even at our own wedding, Like I stormed out because

7:52

we were playing a game and I got so frustrated with him.

7:54

But it's just me being an over dramatic like remember

7:57

that. Um, yeah, that's probably

7:59

when you ran way to go to like top golf

8:02

and uh on the day of our wedding when we

8:04

were supposed to be setting up. That was the morning. Yeah,

8:06

I wasn't just like m I a from the ceremony.

8:11

No, it's fine, but um, at

8:13

least we can both agree that Rocky Mountains

8:15

is this amazing place to drive in hike,

8:17

especially in the summer. Yeah, totally,

8:20

And like you said, this was the perfect time

8:22

of year to visit. Our drive along

8:24

Trail Ridge Road was the most incredible experience.

8:26

Absolutely loved it. So the

8:29

road was finished and opened in saving

8:32

tons of driving time for visitors looking to see

8:34

both sides of Rocky Mountain National Park because

8:37

when Trailwood Road is typically

8:39

closed mid October through late May,

8:41

and during this time it's

8:43

inaccessible and it takes you a

8:45

long time to get around.

8:48

Yeah, and if you're able to visit during the summer,

8:50

the road really captures the essence of the

8:52

park because it travels through

8:54

different ecosystems and environments

8:57

and a relatively like short span of time.

8:59

Yeah, absolutely so, from both sides

9:01

of the park. No matter how you're starting on Trail Ridge

9:03

Road, it begins by meandering

9:06

up through aspen trees and Ponderosa

9:08

pine forest, where you're likely

9:10

to see some major wildlife

9:12

like moose and elk, both of which we saw, and

9:15

we actually saw a lot of them.

9:17

And once the road exceeds the eleven thousand

9:19

foot elevation line, that's when the tree

9:21

line disappears, and then suddenly you're driving

9:23

through a landscape of alpine tundra,

9:25

a train that encompasses about one third of the

9:28

entire park. Yeah, up here, things are

9:30

very barren and snowy and

9:32

windy, and it really feels like you're

9:34

in the like ceiling of America.

9:36

That's beautiful and perfectly accurate.

9:38

I've never felt higher which is really

9:41

saying something because we're in Colorado, if you

9:43

know what I mean. But

9:48

I just because what you didn't

9:50

want to say marijuana. I mean, if

9:53

if you want to fill in that gap, go for it. Uh.

9:57

Trails. We we stopped about

9:59

halfway the US the Trail Road road to hike

10:01

the Tundra Community's trail. Uh.

10:04

It's about a one mile round trip, not

10:06

really hard, but it's probably the first

10:09

Arctic tundra hike we've done, which, yeah,

10:12

if you kind of mile the hike, Yeah,

10:14

this was pretty pretty easy, especially

10:17

considering how high

10:19

up we were and windy and cold and

10:21

kind of hostile. Otherwise, I've never

10:24

hiked in any environment like this before, and

10:26

that's that was exciting, because

10:28

like I've done a lot of hiking, done a lot of hiking

10:30

Colorado even and this was new

10:32

and up here it's incredibly

10:34

weird and wild. And we saw this beautiful

10:37

quote in a sign along the trail, credited

10:39

to this woman and swinger from

10:41

her book Land Above the Trees, and it

10:43

read, the Alpine tundra is a land

10:46

of contrast and incredible intensity,

10:48

where the sky is the size of forever and

10:50

the flowers the size of a millisecond.

10:53

That's damn. That's really

10:55

good. Yeah, and it's perfect

10:58

because like the tundra totally is

11:00

harsh and unforgiving, but also serene

11:03

and peaceful. I would completely agree with that,

11:05

probably also because it looks devoid of life up

11:07

here, with the only noise that we heard

11:09

coming from the wind, like the howling. There was a lot

11:11

of wind a turn of it. The

11:13

trail is paved and pretty easy, but once like

11:15

we scrambled up a few rocks to get to the very

11:18

top of the trail, the gust felt

11:20

super strong. I mean I was like

11:22

afraid er hats were gonna fly off. Yeah, I was afraid

11:24

I was going to fly off a lot, a lot of my hat. Like

11:27

at that point, who cares. I was like, this is

11:29

kind of like going back to Guadalupe

11:32

Mountains when you felt like you're gonna fly off, because

11:34

if it if it's the same, then

11:37

it really wasn't. I

11:39

think the big difference is at Guadalupe

11:42

Mountains National Park, like the trail

11:44

was literally on the side of a cliff and I'm like, okay,

11:46

that's a possibility. I could, you know, get blown down

11:48

into the ravine. Yeah, this definitely didn't have that

11:50

here, weren't close to any edge. I'm just letting

11:53

you justify it so that way people know the difference

11:55

when they go experience of these places for themselves.

11:58

Yes, but up here I loved

12:00

it too. I think it was, in spite of the wind, totally

12:02

worth it for the views such you have

12:04

these like sweeping, endless panoramas

12:07

of tall snowy peaks and deep valleys

12:09

on pretty much all sides of you. I

12:11

kind of wanted to like recreate that scene

12:13

from Titanic where Leonardo di Caprio

12:16

yelled that he's on top of the world, even though when

12:18

you think about it, he was at sea level so

12:21

very much not the top of the world. That would

12:23

make sense up here, like that line would be

12:25

perfectly fitting on this trail in alpine

12:28

tundra. I think he was more talking

12:30

emotionally in the top of the world, but also

12:32

no, like he was like a vagabond,

12:35

which is like, you know, that's wander

12:38

last I get it. But like he some may

12:40

say he's nomadic. I guess yeah, speaking

12:42

nomadic, you know, there's actually these times when we

12:44

have to leave our nomadic lifestyle behind

12:47

and grab that rental car, which I'm glad we were able

12:49

to get back to UM so that way we

12:51

could like make it through the park UM,

12:54

because the r V would have been too big for

12:56

a lot of points in Rocket Mountain National

12:58

Park UM and you know the

13:00

higher like elevation and the higher

13:02

altitude UM. Yes, and

13:04

the wind yes, because that's not fine, all right,

13:07

We usually not plenty of time has been driving

13:10

on just normal highways where there's a lot

13:12

of wind, and it's tough to do that in r V.

13:14

So I can't imagine doing that up here,

13:17

driving through alpine tuntra with

13:19

all that howling wind and just how winding

13:21

the roads were too for like forty eight miles.

13:23

So yeah, no, it's just yeah, I'm glad that

13:26

we didn't have to really deal with that headache.

13:29

I'm just like we were continued

13:31

on to the Grand Lake UM

13:34

section, or the western side of the park,

13:36

which is by far the least visited

13:39

side of Rocky Mountain because

13:41

in the off season months when the Trail Ridge road

13:43

is closed, it could take up to three hours

13:46

to drive from one side to the other.

13:48

But for us and only took like an

13:51

hour or so. Yeah, and that was with

13:54

you know, we're taking our time that.

13:56

We also did some extra stops though

13:58

along the way, like this time to trail, and then

14:00

another portion that we visited was

14:02

the Halsworth Historic Site, which

14:04

was another one mile round trip trail, much

14:07

easier because it's lower elevation and your back

14:09

and like trees and no real snow

14:12

or anything like that. Definitely no wind, and

14:14

it was an easy gravel trail that crosses the

14:16

Colorado River and then leads to an old dude

14:18

ranch, which I absolutely

14:20

love saying out loud. I don't know if I've

14:22

ever been to a dude ranch, but here

14:25

we we went to one. Yeah, it

14:27

was a totally unplanned stop, but because

14:29

neither of us had even heard of this area.

14:32

But it was really cool to explore the

14:34

secnsist of several old cabins built

14:37

by the Howards family. Um, and

14:39

I probably just slaughtered her name. But we're

14:41

just gonna move on with that. We're gonna keep on going.

14:43

Um because they used it as a ranch

14:46

from nineteen nineteen to nineteen

14:48

seventy four. UM,

14:50

so it's really not even that long ago.

14:53

Yeah, really not. In nineteen seventy five, the

14:55

site was transferred to the National Park Service

14:57

and then wrapped into the rest of Rocky Mountain

14:59

Nah in the park, and it was also

15:02

listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

15:06

This place was cool. I'm really

15:08

delighted that we did this and discovered

15:10

it. I had never even heard about this, so

15:12

it was a good little side

15:14

trip. I loved it. Yeah, a little cozy retreat

15:17

into the woods by

15:19

the river. Yeah, it was

15:21

this absolute hidden gym, a little

15:23

slice of heaven with cabins

15:26

like the Rose Cabin, Mama cabin

15:29

Um. This was long before WiFi was

15:31

a thing, so the solitude and remoteness of these

15:33

cabins was really just perfect.

15:36

Yeah. I think in small doses, like if

15:38

they were like active gas cabins today

15:41

and we stayed here, I think we'd both probably have millennial

15:43

meltdown. We've been there before, so I

15:45

just know it. They're fun to visit, though, Like we like how

15:48

we did it, just kind of in and

15:50

out in peruse, especially since when we passed

15:52

through, they were National Park Service employees

15:54

doing these old home studying

15:56

demonstrations like baking biscuits

15:58

and like exhibiting town srodermy and stuff

16:00

like that. I was really interested in the biscuits. I was like

16:03

hovering around being like is this just for

16:05

show? Are you actually serving these? Yeah?

16:08

And it was actually cool because we actually like learned

16:10

that little fun fact um that

16:13

the Colorado River actually just starts a few

16:15

miles north and flows right through

16:17

the park before making its way all the way down

16:19

through Utah, Arizona, Mexico.

16:22

So like learning about like these amazing

16:25

biscuits and where the Colorado

16:27

River starts both highlights. Yeah,

16:29

I would agree with that. So the Colorado

16:31

River starts at La Poudre Pass

16:34

Lake, which is not that far north.

16:36

Like you said, it was starting to kind of trickle

16:38

through. It's a pretty it was like a stream

16:41

at this point when we crossed it. So

16:43

in a way, if you think about it, the Rocky Mountains

16:45

are responsible for like Grand Candy

16:47

National Park, among other things, which

16:49

is wild to think about. That

16:52

is crazy though, like a whole

16:54

Grand Canyon is just a whole another thing, like

16:57

like how it was built and formed, and

17:01

I really want to get into that. But

17:03

but you know, we continued the rest of the way,

17:05

um down to the end of Trail Ridge Road to

17:07

the Grand Canyon Lake side of the park. Uh,

17:10

And it was so beautiful and peaceful, there were plenty

17:12

of people here, but not nearly

17:15

as much as the estes Um

17:17

park side, but that was refreshing.

17:19

And the first thing we did was we stopped to get lunch

17:22

at this place called Grand Lake Lodge, which

17:24

is this gorgeous, gorgeous property overlooking

17:26

Grand Lake in the namesake town

17:29

below. And the lodge has been open,

17:32

so this is iconic and historic in

17:34

its own right. And again another surprise,

17:36

because I had never even heard of it before, and

17:39

I'm so glad we discovered it. And I'm so glad

17:41

that we were hungry at the time and

17:43

that our cravings and appetites were perfectly

17:45

aligned, because this is one of the best meals

17:47

I think we've ever had at a national park.

17:50

And I would go back into heartbeat.

17:54

The restaurant inside of the lodge that we

17:56

ate at was called the Hunting in House Tavern,

17:59

and it was so it so yeah.

18:01

It was this huge, like rustic restaurant with

18:03

like great locally sourced food, local

18:05

craft beers and craft cocktails, um

18:08

like buffalo meatballs, subs and

18:11

Colorado lamb sandwiches and steak

18:13

frieds made from

18:16

beef from a local farm, a very

18:18

local and they also had a delicious falafelo

18:20

wrap, to which I love flawfel,

18:23

and it's one of those things that I see it on the menu, I have to

18:25

order it, even if it in the context

18:27

here it does seem kind of strange, like to have flaffel

18:31

at this like Colorado, you know, local centric

18:33

restaurant. But it was really really good

18:35

and great hiking fuel to night,

18:38

like hardy and nutritious. Yeah,

18:41

because after lunch we parked um

18:43

at the East Inlet trailhead by

18:45

Grand Lake and we definitely needed that

18:47

that fuel, and

18:49

then we hiked to Adam Falls. Um.

18:52

That part was easy and short and the falls are

18:54

all like raging and loud, with lots

18:56

of incredible photo opportunities, some serious

19:00

white water as some of those falls. Yeah,

19:02

that waterfall section was pretty

19:05

pretty crazy crowded too. It

19:07

was popular, filled with a lot of people, I

19:09

think in large part because it's so close to the

19:12

trailheads so it's easy to get to and

19:14

tons of people just like shimming around

19:16

on rocks getting different bantage

19:18

points of the waterfall, which highly recommend.

19:21

Loved it. So after Adams

19:23

Falls, we hiked further along the trail

19:26

pass two more rivers and waterfalls

19:28

and the bright green colors of pine

19:31

forest to just lots of vivid

19:33

colors out here this time of year. It's

19:35

crazy because like this river that we're

19:37

hiking along starts with such a loud, fast

19:40

moving waterfall, which is like slamming

19:42

through these series of boulders, but

19:44

then immediately, like shortly after, as

19:47

we're walking along, it immediately gets quiet

19:49

and still and like it

19:51

feels like a whole another waterway entirely,

19:54

these ponds and like streams

19:56

and little inlets in the midst of wimming mountains

19:58

in the background. I'll just picture

20:01

perfect. Yeah, the hikes over on this side of

20:03

the park are also lets steep and stenuous

20:05

um and those on the east side by s Park,

20:08

So it's great for families and anyone looking from

20:10

more leisurely experience. Yes,

20:13

I'm so glad we're able to visit the Grand Lake area

20:15

and that we did this and the road leading

20:17

there was open. And when we come back, we'll

20:19

talk more about history, other hikes, regions

20:22

and seasons here at Rocky Mountain National Park.

20:42

Hi, I'm Matt and I'm Brad. This is park

20:44

Landia, and today we're talking about Rocky

20:47

Mountain National Park in Colorado history.

20:57

And now that we've given you a really good taste of this iconic

21:00

national park, we're going to back it up and provide

21:02

some more background on this historic region. Yeah,

21:04

so long before we were hiking here

21:06

and eating falafel here, you Indians

21:09

hunted elk in the Grand Lake area some six

21:11

thousand years ago, and on the east side,

21:14

Arapaho and Cheyenne Indians lived

21:16

on the plains portion of Colorado, frequently

21:18

hunting in the Estes Park area. Native

21:21

Americans actually lived here until the late seventeen

21:24

hundreds, and the populations on

21:26

either side of the mountains never even

21:29

saw one another because the mountains

21:31

were such like too rugged and too steep

21:33

to cross, so tribes

21:35

stay put. Plus there

21:37

was just like plenty of food and water where

21:39

they were, and there was no need to like risk

21:42

hiking over these mountains. Yeah,

21:44

exactly. So after the Louisiana

21:47

purchase, these native peoples were sadly

21:49

pushed out to reservations and new residents

21:51

started to move into the area and develop this part

21:53

of Colorado. And this is when places

21:56

like Denver and Boulder took shape as

21:58

boon towns for hopeful miners

22:00

and prospectors now even the town

22:02

of Estes Park, which gets his name

22:04

from Joel Estes, who gave up looking for gold

22:07

and began a business with his son by hunting

22:09

meat and supplying it to businesses in

22:11

Denver Um. He built cabins

22:13

in the eighteen sixties, and so the

22:15

origins of the present day Estes Park

22:17

were essentially built on meat. Yeah,

22:20

honestly, that's pretty brilliant and

22:23

like what an innovator at the time, especially

22:25

because there's a ton of elcan deer here. So

22:28

the meat market is like, it

22:31

has so much potential and he capitalized

22:33

on it. And so after

22:35

stuff like this, the reason began to

22:37

take shape as a national park thanks to this hiker

22:40

and conservationist named Enos

22:42

Mills, who fell in love

22:44

with the area in the late eighteen hundreds and began

22:46

writing articles about protecting it from further

22:48

development and commercialization. Yeah,

22:51

he actually became a lecturer for National Park

22:53

Service in nineteen o seven under present

22:55

Theodore Roosevelt. Our boy.

22:58

He was able to catch the attention and of

23:00

important organizations like the Colorado

23:02

Mountains Club in the Denver Chamber of Commerce,

23:05

which definitely helped his cause

23:07

to protect the land. Yeah, and it wind

23:09

up being a sort of happily ever after situation

23:12

because when Rocky Mountain National Park

23:14

was established in nineteen fifteen, making

23:16

it the ninth the national park in the country,

23:19

and even though the entire Rocky Mountain Range stretches

23:21

for thousands of miles, the park only

23:23

contains two sixty five thousand

23:26

acres of those, including some of the most

23:28

iconic peaks in the range, like Long's

23:30

Peak, the highest in the park at fourteen

23:33

thousand two feet whopping.

23:36

All in all, this park is a hikers dream.

23:39

It's got more than three miles

23:41

of trails to explore, from easy and

23:44

relaxing to terrifyingly

23:46

hard. Yeah, Like, didn't you actually like

23:49

try and do one of those Long Peaks trails

23:51

while we were there? Yeah? I did. I'm not sure what

23:53

I was thinking, because in retrospect, that's

23:55

crazy that I was thinking I could

23:57

do that, But as we all know, that is

24:00

part of the course. For me, I'm out of

24:02

my mind. It's um sixteen

24:04

miles round trip with four thousand feet of

24:06

elevation game and it's marked as

24:08

extremely strenuous with an

24:11

exclamation point included, like that's what they

24:13

have in the trail market and stuff, so you

24:16

know they're serious. Can we call

24:18

you the neurotic nomadic nomad

24:21

or something? Yeah, I think that would

24:23

be good. The neurotic nomad. Yeah,

24:26

I'm fine with that. But unfortunately, if you're on well

24:28

being, the trails, like towards the top was still

24:30

too snowy and icy, so you couldn't do the whole thing. Yeah,

24:33

so it kind of saved me for myself, because lord

24:35

now I would have tried. I did

24:38

wind up parking at the Long Speak trailhead

24:40

though, on the southeastern side of the park and doing

24:43

the Chasm Lake Trail instead, which

24:45

was absolutely beautiful and a much better

24:47

alternative for me. I think it leads

24:49

through these tranquil pine forests and up across these

24:51

rugged boulder fields before certainly around

24:53

this shimmering alpine lake along

24:56

this steep, snowy slope. It was actually

24:58

like towards the end it wind up be so steep and snowy

25:01

that I didn't finish the whole trail

25:03

because I didn't have like snow spikes

25:05

in my shoes and I was super

25:08

hardly prepared. I don't have like proper hiking

25:11

stuff for for that type of terrain or

25:13

weather especially, so I didn't

25:15

want to slip and slyly all the way down the mountain. Yeah,

25:18

we really got to get you better hiking shoes, especially

25:20

for those like snowy conditions like this. Yeah,

25:22

and this was summer too, so that's really

25:24

saying something. And you can imagine how grolling

25:28

and impossibly I see things probably getting

25:30

the winter, I don't even I

25:32

don't think I could get more than like half

25:34

a mile in. Isn't that when you actually

25:36

visit the park for the first time with Elena? Yeah,

25:39

it was right on the cusp of winter.

25:42

It was mid November,

25:44

so in Rocky Mountain terms, that is full

25:46

blown winter. Yes, So you know what we

25:48

should do. I think we should bring on Elena to talk

25:50

more about her time here with you and what

25:53

it's like visiting Rocky Mountain National

25:56

Park in the off season. So

25:58

our friend of Lana Kirson is one

26:00

of our best friends from Chicago. We've

26:03

known her for several years now, fortunate

26:05

enough to meet and run in the same social

26:08

circles. And also

26:10

she's just so much fun to either go

26:12

bar hopping with in Chicago or go

26:15

on national park adventures and our

26:18

hop or National Park Up National

26:20

Park. Yeah, I've been fortunate enough

26:22

to have been to a few National parks with a Wayne

26:24

at this point. She is one of my favorite

26:27

travel buddies and she's

26:30

just always like down for any

26:32

type of adventure, which I always appreciate. Makes

26:34

it very easy to plan. And

26:37

we both are kind of on the same level

26:39

too. We like to high I can explore

26:42

and really immerse ourselves and

26:45

then when it's all done, go to like a brewery

26:47

or something so and it's really a beautiful thing.

26:49

And we wanted to bring on some of our friends

26:51

and instead of just getting with the

26:54

professionals behind national parks,

26:56

are these people who have been inspired? We want

26:58

to talk about more of the normalcy

27:01

of traveling to national parks and what kind

27:04

of bond that can bring um

27:06

with your friends. Yeah, and she's perfect too

27:08

to provide a perspective because like, unlike

27:11

us, these you know, nomadic people

27:13

who are traveling in an RV in and out of national

27:16

parks. She's someone who she

27:18

lives in Chicago still and she has a

27:20

full time job. But it just kind of goes to show

27:23

how accessible national parks

27:25

are for pretty much

27:27

like anyone, no matter like where you're from, what

27:29

you're doing, what your lifestyle

27:31

is like, and so forth. Just you know, requires

27:34

some planning. But as long as you're down

27:37

with it and ready to do it, it

27:39

can you know, you can make memories together. And that's

27:41

exactly what I've done with Elena. And we're

27:44

excited to stroll down memory

27:46

Lane a little bit. And since it was Rocky

27:48

Mountain in November, memory Lane was very

27:51

snowy. It was a snowy lane. Elena,

28:01

why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself? Sure?

28:04

Hi, Hi everyone. My name is Elena

28:07

Kerson, um from Chicago. That's

28:09

how I know Brad and Matt. We've

28:11

known each other for I don't even know how long we've going each

28:13

other. Feels like forever. Maybe

28:15

a good five years more

28:18

definitely like we're talking about

28:20

seven, eight years, maybe

28:22

a whole decade. Nice

28:26

um. But yeah, I'm out here

28:28

in Chicago. Um, I'm a tax

28:30

manager, so I don't really you

28:32

know, I'm kind of in the office kind of

28:35

person. So this is, uh, this

28:37

is really cool for me to come and talk

28:39

to you guys about Rocky Mountain National Park. Yeah,

28:42

that was such a cool trip to um

28:45

here about Matt was telling me about this um

28:48

this trip to Rocky Mountains for a couple

28:50

of years before I even got the chance to go to Rocky Mountain

28:52

National Park. So I was living vicariously through

28:55

you, and I know that Matt has

28:57

so many things that he wants to talk

28:59

about and with you.

29:02

Yeah, Well, first I kind of want

29:04

to give a little bit of background, because you

29:06

and I, Elena, have a really fun

29:09

and awesome like kind of relationship with national

29:11

parks. Like we started, Rocky

29:14

Mountain was not our first park we went to together, and

29:16

I think the start of that I remember

29:18

vividly, like sitting down with you at a coffee shop

29:20

in Chicago and like planning out

29:23

uh, potential national parks vacation.

29:26

The trip turned out wonderfully. We went to

29:28

Big Bend National Park in Texas, and

29:31

that really stuck with all of us who were on that

29:33

trip, and then like

29:36

in the following years, just that interest

29:38

continue to grow. And then I think that

29:40

contributed in a big way to leading us

29:42

to Rocky Mountain National Park and

29:45

why you and I wanted to prioritize

29:47

going there together and

29:50

I'm so glad we did. It was so much Yeah,

29:54

the first trip was very

29:56

well planned, but as I recall, with this

29:59

Colorado Unver trip, I just sort of tagged.

30:02

So that was just kind

30:04

of me being like, hey, can I join you, Matt. That

30:07

was and I'm so glad. You

30:10

know, happy accidents, they're the best. Yeah,

30:12

that's all of these trips. I

30:14

remember them with such fondness, like it's it's

30:17

such a nice way to bond with your

30:19

friends too, because it's it's different than

30:21

just traveling to a city. You know, you could experience

30:23

something together. Um. And I think

30:26

the Big Ben trip really solidifying

30:28

that bond because we still talk about it to this Oh

30:31

my gosh, we still have that group text going like

30:33

from that trip text

30:36

will never die, will never

30:38

die. Yeah, that's beautiful.

30:41

So I think our five year reunions coming up

30:44

it seriously. So this

30:46

Colorado trip I remember for the

30:49

first like chunk of it. I was out on like a work

30:51

trip to visit Denver. This is my, I

30:53

think, my first time in Denver, and I

30:56

was like I had some appointments and meetings and whatnot

30:59

in the city primarily, but

31:01

I also had a ton of free time and I have like I had

31:03

extra days to do whatever.

31:06

So it wounded up being like the perfect

31:09

opportunity to have

31:11

like travel with you and kind of bounce

31:13

around this new environment together. And the

31:16

Rocky Mountain opportunity was hard to

31:18

pass up. So that

31:22

was big. And one kind

31:24

of shocker for me was I didn't

31:26

realize how like non mountainous

31:29

Denver was. I always envisioned it as like in the mountains,

31:32

like in the Rocky Guns, and it was

31:34

it's not. Yeah, it's like pretty

31:37

flat and you have to drive like two hours to get

31:39

to just east of the range.

31:42

Apparently no one. No one told me, yeah,

31:45

you have to drive to the mountains, yes,

31:48

like quite a way. So

31:52

let me let's like talk about our for

31:54

our experience that driving day and from

31:56

Denver to Rocky Mountain, because it

31:59

was like such a

32:01

gorgeous drive. I remember the road

32:04

that takes you right into the park, into

32:06

Estes Park and then to the National

32:08

Park. You were like in a canyon

32:11

following this like Windy River, and

32:13

things are getting snowier and rockier

32:16

fittingly and craggier, and

32:19

so it was really nice to leave like the city behind

32:22

for a day and like unplug and

32:24

then immerse ourselves in this like

32:27

space, which was really incredible

32:30

and it kind of absorbs you in it pretty quickly.

32:33

Yeah, the drive there was was beautiful, and

32:35

I feel like, not knowing what to expect, it's

32:37

even better because it just sort of unfolds

32:39

right in front of you. But yeah, I remember that

32:41

day being beautiful. I think we we

32:44

definitely looked out in terms of the weather

32:46

and whatnot, even though I think we were very much

32:48

under dressed. I think we yes, we

32:52

were, and we did not know at

32:54

least I did not have like proper snow

32:57

footwear for for that day

32:59

at all. I would I did not bring my snow

33:01

boots, not at all, because

33:03

I assumed to be like Denver. Again,

33:06

like silly mate, Like I thought the weather

33:08

or the you know, snow,

33:11

it would be the same as Denver, which was pretty minimal

33:13

in the city. But again they have like street

33:15

plows and people constantly doing that and that's

33:17

not the case in the wilderness.

33:20

So good to Yeah.

33:22

And the and the elevation change always, oh

33:25

yeah, big elevation change. Yeah,

33:27

yeah, I remember very vividly.

33:30

Yes, so the spur of the moment

33:32

trip left you unprepared. Basically,

33:35

I'm in

33:38

the best way possible, like we we didn't you know, we

33:40

didn't get caught in like a snowstorm

33:42

or anything, but just maybe we're just like a little colder

33:44

than we should just if we if

33:47

we packed appropriately, that's perfect though.

33:49

Yeah I can handle that. So our

33:52

first stop was at the Beaver Meadows

33:54

Visitor Center, which is um like

33:56

the main visitor center near Estes Park, the

33:59

kind of heart or the gateway

34:01

to Rocky Mountain National Park on the most visited

34:03

side, and excellent

34:05

visitors center. The thing I remember most about

34:07

this visitor center and that I love the most was I

34:10

think this is where you got your first

34:12

or is this where you bought your passport but your

34:14

national park passport book? I

34:16

think so yeah, yeah, so I which

34:19

is sad because then I didn't get the

34:21

big bend one. So that's more reason

34:23

to go back. Yeah. Um, but yeah

34:25

that was like this little book

34:28

travels with me everywhere now, so yeah, this is

34:30

the start of the passport book.

34:32

I love that because I feel I mean, I've

34:34

talked about how obsessed I am with my

34:37

passport book, and I feel like whichever

34:39

park you bought it at, whichever visitor center, just

34:41

kind of holds extra meaning, extra special

34:43

meaning, and I love that. I

34:46

love that there's this connection with Rocky Mountain

34:48

in particular because this is where you got your

34:50

book, and I remember you got your first stamp, and

34:52

we're both just so elated

34:54

about it. Yeah, that's good,

34:57

the first one. And I get those little

34:59

stick gurs because I feel like that, Yeah,

35:02

well that totally adds. Yeah, on

35:05

top of that for sure, for sure.

35:08

So from the from

35:11

the visitor center, we kind of wand our

35:13

way into the park and the

35:15

first thing we did was this little,

35:18

this pretty short trail around an

35:20

area called Sprague Lake, which

35:23

was about half a mile round

35:25

trip, and it's this loop and

35:28

I loved it because it was just

35:30

like pretty quiet. I don't remember other

35:32

people or many other people being there, and

35:36

it was our first physical activity

35:38

we did in the park, so it was nice to get

35:41

out into this world and see the mountains blooming in the

35:43

distance and all the snow and ice. Was

35:46

just really serene. That lake

35:48

was beautiful. I think we

35:51

may have been the only ones there for for a

35:53

little bit. Yeah, but it felt

35:55

like we had the whole place to ourselves. It did. I

35:58

know. That's the best part. It

36:01

wasn't chanting, it wasn't chanting. I

36:03

was looking at some pictures of it, so I it's

36:06

uh, it was. It was a very it wasn't

36:08

a large lake right like, it was like you could

36:10

see from one end to the other. Yeah, And it was like all

36:12

covered in snow and the whole path was covered in

36:14

snow um and we just

36:17

made our way around it. It was really beautiful

36:19

and chanting is a really good way to describe

36:22

Rocky Mountain National Park as a whole, but

36:24

especially in front of the lake. Oh I stop.

36:28

I agree, And that also I

36:30

think this highlights why it's

36:32

so so like awesome to visit a park

36:35

like this in the off season. Like had

36:37

we done this in like July or August,

36:40

I can only assume like Sprock Lake would be swarming

36:42

with people and the parking the

36:44

trailhead would be like mobbed or inaccessible

36:47

because Rocky Mountain gets so many visitors. And

36:50

it was nice to do this like mid

36:52

November, where sure things

36:54

are cold, things are snowy, but like it's not unreasonable

36:57

by any means, and it's not torturous and it's

37:00

worth it just to have like these little calm

37:02

moments of like peace and serenity

37:06

in nature. And that's I think

37:08

that's my favorite way to like experience places

37:10

like this, when you know you're not having to elbow

37:12

people out of the way. Yeah.

37:14

I whenever I go, I try to plan

37:17

a during off peak times because

37:19

it's really nice to have a space to yourself,

37:21

because you really feel like you're out in nature. Um,

37:24

I mean not that you know, having other people around is like

37:27

a horrible thing, it's kind of nice as well. It's comforting

37:30

if you haven't seen someone for a while to to

37:32

see a friendly human face. Um.

37:35

But yeah, that was it really is. It

37:37

was like a magical little lake. It was. It

37:39

was really beautiful. I think it would have been a lot different had

37:41

we gone in the summer. In the spring, I

37:43

prefer that. I kind of prefer that we saw that

37:46

the snow. There's no version of that lake. Yeah,

37:50

yeah, right, for sure for sure. So

37:53

from here, the main like highlight

37:55

thing that we did that day was we drove. So

37:57

we got back onto this main road,

38:00

are Lake Road and then drove pretty

38:02

much down to the end of it to this really

38:04

popular trailhead called Bare Lake Trailhead,

38:07

which, again in the summer I'm sure is just

38:10

insanity. But because

38:12

even then, like it was cold and snowy, but like

38:14

there's still a good amount of cars

38:16

in that parking lot, I remember, and

38:19

we wanted to do one of the There was like

38:21

a series of trails that branch off

38:23

of this, and from what we

38:25

read, they seemed like they were some of the most popular

38:28

like trails in the park. So they

38:31

just sounded really great, and they all led to like different lakes,

38:34

all had like really lovely names, Like we did the

38:36

Dream Lake trail, which I

38:38

mean that sounds how can you not go

38:42

with the trail like that? And this

38:45

one was a bit longer than

38:47

Sprog Lake. It was about two miles round

38:49

trips, like one mile up to the Dream Lake

38:52

itself and then we like looped

38:54

around the lake and then came back down like

38:57

about another mile, And I

39:00

this one was pretty epic. This

39:02

is when things were starting to get like pretty

39:05

cold. My feet were getting wet. But

39:07

in spite of all that, I'm like, this is again

39:10

like enchanting and you're like in

39:12

the forest. I don't think I was

39:14

prepared for the like the elevation change

39:16

and the climb, because I think we were very much

39:18

fooled by that first little hike we did around

39:21

on the lake. Yeah, because it was flat,

39:24

you didn't have to don't you don't have to struggle.

39:26

No, that's true to work. Yeah,

39:28

that one was like really comfortable and level and

39:32

open too. It was you know, so there was like

39:34

more sunlight that kind of mitigated

39:36

the chill. But this

39:38

one was pretty immersive

39:41

because we were in like

39:43

like in the woods. There was a ton of ore trees

39:46

pretty much from the very beginning, and the whole thing, I

39:49

think, if I recalled correctly, the whole the whole path

39:51

was pretty much covered in snow. So you're just sort of like trying

39:54

to make your way up these hills. Some of them were

39:56

much steeper than others

39:59

um and difficult to climb. And

40:01

I remember feeling like that you were in

40:03

the mountains because the elevation change, and you could feel

40:05

like it was a lot more difficult to walk. Absolutely

40:09

as we were making a way to the

40:11

Dream Lakes, right, Yeah, I could definitely feel

40:13

it, and not just like in terms of like my feet were getting

40:15

wet, but like my note, I remember my nose

40:18

was kind of sore because of the elevation change,

40:20

and then my lips were super chaps I was like guzzling

40:23

water and also like tearing through chapstick,

40:25

Like it was kind of this

40:28

fall body experience, which

40:30

it was a full body Yeah, I was

40:32

like, oh, I haven't trained for this, kind of not

40:36

physically fit enough to be here. No, it wasn't

40:38

that bad, But I think it was just kind of like the whole thing was just

40:40

discovering this park, Like, um,

40:42

I had no expectations for what we would encounter

40:45

at all, which I again needed that

40:48

much better, both

40:50

of the beginning of both of your journeys into national

40:52

parks and just really exploring them, um,

40:55

you know, as adults for the first time, and and

40:58

so there's just a lot of a

41:00

lot of pieces that you don't know until you experience

41:02

it. And then once you've experienced it, you know you've

41:05

changed the way you travel, right, Oh

41:07

totally, yeah, absolutely very much.

41:09

So after this, uh, this first trip

41:13

there, Elena, what but are a couple of things that you

41:15

would bring water? Yeah,

41:19

A hat. Um, I

41:22

don't just stress appropriately, I think I think,

41:24

well, I guess it depends on the time of year, but just keep

41:26

in mind that even if you're coming from Denver and it's

41:29

and it's sunny, and warm, and you maybe have like

41:31

a light jacket on that you may need a couple more layers

41:33

coming into the park. Um and

41:36

maybe not the gym shoes with the slippery

41:38

bottoms, like something with a little crap, because

41:41

like if you end up doing those hikes, like the elevation

41:43

change, like it's it's pretty significant.

41:45

So like you end up piking, and you don't want to be like on

41:48

your hands and knees cry. I

41:50

mean, I guess you can. It's not a bad

41:52

way to go. So but yeah, I would

41:54

say just dress appropriately and and bring water

41:57

and put on sunscreen because the sun, yes,

42:00

he's out there. Yeah, and chopstick. I guess

42:02

Matt gets it's cold and wintry that

42:04

there's no sun and that is just not the truth.

42:08

The snow that reflects the sun onto

42:10

you, which like amplifies it. Remember

42:12

likesing like crazy, Like I needed

42:14

prescription sunglasses because the

42:17

sun was like not only hitting you directly, but

42:19

it's also like reflecting off of this like really

42:21

bright white snow and ice. So

42:23

I'm just like blindly

42:26

wandering forward in my like slippery sneakers

42:28

through the forest. It

42:31

was I was trying to like like make sure mad

42:33

doesn't follow them out in the internre right, or

42:35

like wander onto dream leg and like crashed

42:37

to the ice or something. It all out

42:40

straight onto the lake. So like should

42:42

I stopped him? No, he looks fine, he looks fine.

42:44

I'm fine. I did because I remember I actually did

42:47

buy because again I wasn't prepared with

42:49

enough layers. But from the visitor center, I did get one

42:51

of those like buffs, which

42:53

kind of you can configure as you please. So

42:55

I used it as like a makeshift scarf and like

42:58

wrapped it tightly around my neck. Yeah,

43:01

yeah, I remember that. Now that works.

43:03

Good thinking. Good thinking. Uh.

43:06

There's so many ways that like national

43:08

parks inspire people or

43:11

change their mindsets. Like from

43:13

when you first went to a national park until now,

43:16

what are what are some of the changes that you see

43:18

when you go to national parks Like um, like

43:21

we we've been talking about like how it like creates

43:23

less anxiety for us, um or

43:25

it just clears our mind. What's to do

43:27

for you? Um?

43:30

Yeah, it's definitely. It's it's a good like

43:32

a head clearing kind of um

43:35

moment, you know when you're there, um,

43:38

just being in the city all the time and working,

43:40

you know, sitting in front of a computer for me, you

43:42

know, sitting all the time. I think I

43:44

really love being out there and being

43:47

in walking and hiking, um

43:49

discovering you know, like we'll get the little books

43:51

with like what are the trees, what's the foliage,

43:54

you know, like all these different um kind

43:57

of history of the parks and just learning

43:59

about it. I think there's there's a greater appreciation

44:02

for all these places. And the more, the

44:04

more times you go, the more you appreciate being out

44:06

there. So like now when we plan vacations,

44:08

it's usually like we have to have at least

44:11

one vacation during the year where we go to a

44:13

national park. Yes, it

44:16

helps me on wine and and you know, from the

44:18

stress and stuff, and it's you know, it's different

44:20

being out in nature and the fact that you don't

44:22

have cell phone reception is actually

44:24

beautiful. I very much enjoyed, like be prepared

44:27

for it, but um, I

44:29

like not being connected for a little

44:31

bit. Absolutely, It's it's one of the best feelings

44:33

ever. And I love the feeling the struggle of like having

44:35

what shoes or being prepared

44:38

and going getting through it and learning from it because

44:40

like those experiences are what like just

44:43

really just you push yourself outside of your

44:45

comfort zone in a way and you've learned

44:47

from that. And it's like, I know it sounds silly,

44:49

but like learning how to be prepared there

44:52

helps me learn how to be prepared more in the business

44:54

world, and it makes me think of things

44:57

differently when I get back, so because you've

44:59

just been able to shut out. So that's personally for me. But

45:01

I just love those, um those instances

45:04

where you kind of just get that

45:06

three sixty experience or like, I've got to

45:08

experience this, and what am I bringing back

45:10

from this trip besides peace? Because

45:13

yeah. And then and there's moments where you like

45:15

accomplish something like you get to the end of a trail

45:17

or it's like you know, um and it's at the top

45:19

of a mountain or something, and you feel super accomplished

45:22

for for doing something like that, um,

45:24

you know, on top of like the views and the amazing

45:27

um the challenge of it all. So I also

45:30

like that part of it, just kind of pushing yourself

45:32

a little harder every time and finding a trail

45:34

that you normally wouldn't pick, um,

45:37

just to get out there and to to experience

45:39

something different. Oh yeah, so true.

45:42

Yeah, I love it too. And there's also an element

45:44

that I find with especially

45:47

an experience like this, like a wintry Rocky Mountain

45:49

National Park, is it's

45:51

somewhat humbling to be

45:54

reminded like, oh I have there's still

45:56

so much to learn and discover, not

45:58

only just in terms like ecology

46:00

and wildlife and whatever, but like with

46:03

within myself, like oh, like

46:05

I I'm woefully underdressed

46:07

for this, Like I do

46:10

not have a full grasp on this National

46:12

park or any national park. And it's nice and

46:14

it feels good to kind of be humbled

46:17

by that in these like really epic places

46:20

that remind you in not

46:22

so subtle ways that like, yes, you're

46:24

you're just you know, a little

46:27

human being like here to explore and drink

46:29

it in and have this experience

46:31

and grow from it. And sometimes

46:34

that's wetter and icier than

46:36

I would ideally like, but it's

46:38

I walk away feeling much better for

46:40

it, And then it also makes for much better memories, you know, to

46:43

like a park like this during

46:45

the time of year like that are

46:48

just some of my favorite moments because they're so

46:51

special and so kind of individualistic.

46:54

You know I like that too. Yeah,

46:57

humbling is a good word. You. I always feel humbled

46:59

whenever when I when I visit

47:01

a national park, just because they're always so much bigger

47:03

than you when you think they are, even when

47:05

you know how right, that's

47:08

very true. It's hard to comprehend enchanting

47:10

and humbling. Those are those are the key

47:13

takeaways. Perfect. Hi,

47:38

I'm Matt and I'm Brad. This is park Landia

47:40

and today we're talking about Rocky Mountain National Park

47:43

in Colorado. Food. Alright,

47:45

so we really got to talk about Estes Park more.

47:47

Um, the town where we were staying just for

47:49

a few days, the town that meat

47:52

built because Mr O.

47:54

G. S I

47:56

started butchering deer

47:58

and selling it to local restaurants and whatever. Yeah,

48:00

it's definitely a cool and popular

48:02

place, and cool by meaning cold.

48:06

But in June this

48:08

place is just really bustling and busy. Um,

48:10

so be sure to make sure that

48:13

there's campgrounds, you know, you want to

48:15

reserve way in advance, um,

48:17

for hotel reservations anything

48:20

like that. Um. We were lucky

48:22

and like got last min out reservations.

48:25

But the good thing about our lifestyle is like we

48:27

can quickly change things. But

48:30

if you're planning a trip, you want to make sure you

48:32

have reservations because it's too risky, too

48:34

risky, and I'm not at all comfortable

48:36

with that type of risk, which is kind of ironic

48:39

because like my hiking lifestyle,

48:41

apparently, I throw that out the window and I just

48:44

put my life at risk on these treacherous trails

48:46

apparently. But this type

48:49

of risk is what scares me, Like not having a potential

48:51

urvace body. I freak out. He

48:54

does. But I'm glad it all worked out

48:56

and we were able to spend some time here because it's really

48:58

really lovely and lively.

49:01

Um in the summer, it was perfect.

49:03

We were there at the perfect time, and s

49:05

S Park is like really where it's at. Of

49:08

the more than four million annual visitors to Rocky

49:10

Mountain National Park, most people at least

49:12

come through here, if not stay here, and it

49:14

shows with so many touristy shops and

49:16

restaurants, and especially a

49:18

booming fudge shops scene and

49:20

ice cream shop scene. Like this is a very sweet

49:23

booming You mean there's like twenty two

49:27

blocks. Yeah, it's crazy. There's

49:29

so many fudge shops. Um, that's this park.

49:31

May have been built by meat, but it's definitely got

49:33

a sweet tooth. Though I know there's a lot

49:35

a lot here. I don't know how they all stay in business. It's

49:38

kind of astonishing to me. But you

49:40

and I just wound up getting some ice cream from one

49:42

of the you know, thirty ice cream shops

49:44

here and strolling around the cute streets,

49:47

and it was really nice, like an early

49:49

summer evening. And then you wound

49:51

up dropping years in the ground and the stroll

49:54

was over. At least I got a few good links

49:56

out of it, Yeah, you did, and

49:58

you know it was great.

50:01

Otherwise, and ice cream in a cone is

50:04

another risk I'm not comfortable with, and I think this is

50:06

proof of that. For this very reason, I

50:08

always get like worried that

50:10

I'm going to spill it like that, or that

50:12

I need to make it really fast otherwise it'll melt

50:14

all over me. It's like a race against the clock. You

50:17

definitely overthink things when it comes to ice

50:19

cream, yes, and underthink things

50:21

when it comes to my physical capabilities.

50:23

I guess I I admit both of

50:25

those things. Yes, And right

50:27

there in town um Invests. I

50:30

really love the farmer's market, which

50:32

We're gonna have our friend Tim Burton on here

50:35

coming up um on the next

50:37

episode, and of

50:39

Burton's Mapwood Farm and

50:42

he sells his pure and barrel aged

50:44

maple syrups there, and I just really really

50:47

love it and I can get behind it. Um. It's

50:50

something that I love working on Tim with and

50:52

you know, helping him out throughout the road

50:55

in our travels at different events. Um.

50:57

He's a really great guy. So I'm really excited

50:59

to talk about that in the next

51:02

episode. But what

51:04

else do we really love about estes Park

51:07

Um? I think we both know the answer to that. It's the

51:09

Stanley Hotel and it's

51:12

time to talk about the Shining Hotel.

51:14

Ak. It's everything that I've

51:17

ever dreamed of or had nightmares about. I guess

51:20

it's his beautiful, vintage looking colonial

51:23

like revival style hotel

51:26

up on the hill overlooking the heart of Estes

51:28

Um. It served as an inspiration

51:30

for Stephen King's Overlook Hotel in the book.

51:33

Yeah, and it makes sense. The

51:35

Stanley Hotel first opened in nineteen nine,

51:38

so it's about it's been around a very long

51:40

time, and when Stephen King stayed here

51:42

in I can totally

51:44

see up being isolated and getting

51:47

kind of cabin fever in the winter, since

51:49

ses Park was much less developed

51:52

at the time and not nearly as much of a year

51:54

round destination like it is today. Yeah,

51:56

he and his wife stayed here at the end of the

51:59

season, right before or the hotel closed

52:01

for the winter, so it's probably like early

52:03

quiet and empty. And the roomy stayed

52:05

in, Room to seventeen is

52:08

still the most requested room

52:10

at the Stanley Hotel, Yes it is, and

52:12

even though that notorious room in the movie is changed

52:14

to thirty seven, so that guess wouldn't

52:16

be too terrified to stay there, you know, that's

52:19

that's a fun fact, but silly

52:21

then because there are tons of people out there

52:23

who seek that stuff out. And not

52:26

only is it not a deterrent, like people

52:28

aren't gonna be too scared of it, but it's become like a little

52:31

tourist attraction in its own right, And

52:34

it's just it shows the hotel fully embracing

52:36

it by doing stuff like that, and they

52:39

host these haunted tours as well, which we

52:41

need to do it. We didn't do that, but we

52:43

definitely have to go back to That's just park

52:46

Grand Lake more

52:48

timing Grand Lake, and it would be really cool to

52:50

stay at the Stanley Hotel. Yes.

52:55

Um. In addition to the

52:58

insbracing for the Shining though, there's like ports

53:00

of like paranormal activity here and

53:02

the hotel has been feature on shows like Ghost Tensers.

53:05

So stay here if you did.

53:07

Yeah, I'm actually not sure I could

53:09

do that. Parallel stuff really creased

53:12

me out. I could do like this the shining

53:14

like inspiration like that's that's one thing,

53:17

but parallel activity if it's

53:19

anything like the movie which really messed me

53:21

up, like really did

53:23

Um, I don't know if I could I could do that. I

53:25

think it's we'd probably better off just coming to the Stanley

53:28

Hotel for cocktails, which we

53:30

did and they it's

53:33

a fun way to do it. The only thing that will haunt you there

53:35

is potentially a hangover That

53:37

would be so worth it though, because

53:39

the bar there is fantastic. Uh.

53:43

We came two different times when we were

53:45

instas Park right, Yes, we did. We liked

53:47

it so much that became I don't know if it's two nights

53:49

in a row, but we definitely came twice.

53:52

Yeah, And the drinks are like totally legit and the

53:54

vibe is like totally cozy and like

53:57

school. I mean, I think I got a fray. Did

53:59

you really want to say that that's

54:01

inspired me to like get it more? Yeah,

54:05

oh no, but it was View Correy. It

54:07

was. That's right, because yeah that's

54:09

clever. Now, yeah, I

54:12

don't remember that, but it's good. I'm lying.

54:15

The Rocky Mountain View is what they

54:17

called it, and it was spelled v I e

54:20

u X, like it's

54:22

just about it. So yeah, the Rocky Mountain View is

54:24

the cocktail nice. So

54:27

the main restaurant here at the Stanley is called Cascades,

54:30

but we just visited the Whiskey Bar, which is

54:32

attached and has a lot of small

54:34

plates off of that same menu. And

54:37

then the drinks are like the front

54:39

and center. They most mostly focus on the

54:41

super kind of boozy whiskey

54:43

based drinks obviously, and I

54:46

love that they have something in addition to your clever

54:48

thing. They have a drink here called red

54:50

Rum Punch, because of course they do. They're

54:52

just totally embracing the shining. It's

54:54

made with rum plus from Bois

54:57

BlackBerry liquor, lime pineapple,

54:59

a gave and it sounds

55:02

it sounds great. It's like a fun, boozy

55:05

like fruity punch. Yeah, they are. It's

55:07

I mean, it's just it's really amazing. They

55:09

have amazing old fashions in Manhattan's

55:11

Uman.

55:14

Yeah, I think my favorite. Remember the drink I had

55:16

both times was this like basically Banana

55:19

Manhattan top Top Banana

55:22

top Top Banana of Manhattan.

55:24

It is essentially classic

55:27

Manhattan, which is like one of my go to drinks, but

55:29

this one had the addition of banana LaCour

55:31

and tomorrow so smooth, like

55:34

got it all sweet like banana things could be. They

55:37

can veer into like chloinge

55:40

and territory, and they taste like the what's

55:42

that like banana runts, you know where it's just like

55:44

bright yellow. It doesn't like taste like banana,

55:47

just tastes like the color yellow. Yeah, oh

55:49

man, you know what the good thing is? If

55:52

you are not satisfied

55:54

by great cocktails and you're still

55:57

like kind of creeped out by the shining

55:59

and peril normal activity stuff, it

56:02

will be helpful to know that Dumb and Dummer was

56:04

also filmed here. Yeah, that was a nice

56:06

surprise, especially a much like

56:08

appreciated dose of lovity. And I

56:11

had no idea I didn't know that was filmed here. But

56:14

and that's saying something because Dumb and Dumber

56:16

used to be like one of my favorite movies. We're probably still

56:18

is, Like I love that movie. It's been a while

56:20

since we've watched it. It's time, it's

56:22

time, And like because this is that I

56:25

remember the scene, like the setting perfectly. This

56:27

is like where Jim Carey and Jeff Daniels go to this

56:30

lavish gala that's like way way

56:32

about their pay grade, and they're dressed

56:35

like Neon cartoons basically, like one's

56:37

in like a bright orange tuxedo, the other one it's like

56:39

getting like a light blue Remember,

56:43

such a good scene. They stand out like until

56:45

they like well, you

56:47

know, basically killing. They kill an owl with

56:50

a champagne cork. Is that right there? Like

56:52

pop a ball of champagne and then kill this like rare

56:54

owl. Yeah, classic classic

56:57

Dumb and Dummer. That sounds like I feel

56:59

like maybe what I would never First

57:01

of all, I would never purpose, but

57:03

like on accident, we would accidentally do that. Like

57:06

of course I don't

57:08

have the best of lex sometimes sure, I

57:10

mean, fortunately we haven't done something that egregious

57:13

yet. But luckily was just in the movie,

57:15

right right, my

57:23

favorite. So there's a lot to

57:25

impact with Rocky Mountain National Park.

57:27

Yeah, lots of options with this one, big

57:30

park, big experiences. What is

57:32

your favorite thing about

57:34

Rocky Mountain National Park? Well,

57:37

I would say I

57:39

would say the trail Ridge Road in general, but more

57:41

specifically, I really left that trail. We did

57:44

kind of at the top of it, the Tundra Communities trail,

57:46

the one that's only like a mile, right, Yeah, that's

57:49

really good time. I liked it because

57:52

it was a completely new experience

57:54

for both of us to hike in an environment

57:56

like that alpine tundra and the

57:59

weather. Aside in the wind, the weather was perfect

58:01

hiking weather. The views were just phenomenal

58:04

like nothing else I think either of us

58:06

have ever seen. And it really

58:09

felt like you were up perched on the

58:11

ceiling of the continent, which is like

58:15

hard to describe to feel that high

58:18

up and overlooking so

58:20

much. I remember when we got there,

58:22

we actually made a little video and I

58:24

think I screamed, did you we made it to the

58:27

Rocky Mountain? Oh? Yeah? And

58:29

you had to scream because the wind like

58:32

it was like um that affect

58:35

while I was screaming because the wind was so

58:37

heavy. It was It's really good. I remember I was

58:40

like in the back front of that video, like crawling

58:42

on the rocks, like on

58:45

all fours, trying to just keep

58:47

myself together. Yeah, and like lower my center of

58:49

gravity because it was intense

58:52

but also clearly super memorable

58:54

and amazing. So I think that was probably my favorite

58:56

part. What about you my

58:59

favorite part? Gosh,

59:02

this one was really difficult because there's just so much

59:04

history there um so

59:08

much culture, and I

59:11

mean I loved Estes Park.

59:14

I love the Stanley Hotel, but I'd

59:16

have to say it was going

59:18

into the cabins and seeing like the taxidermy

59:20

and they like fresh made

59:22

biscuits, and like the

59:25

culture behind right before

59:28

it became a National park, the Dude

59:30

Ranch, the Dude Ranch. Yeah,

59:33

because it was just it was a really pretty walk

59:36

and it was fun. It was cozy, Like I

59:38

feel like I could like hang out there for a day and

59:40

just have a great time. Um, because

59:43

I really like to relax and opposite

59:46

of you where you like to like climb to the top

59:48

of the highest mountains you can find. And so

59:52

I think it's just personality style. I would

59:54

really love to just relax and stay

59:56

there for a day, but I don't think you really can. I

59:59

mean you can, but you

1:00:01

would be like that's a waste of a whole day. It

1:00:03

would be nice too if they turned it there

1:00:06

was some sort of B ANDB option where they apply you

1:00:08

with biscuits in the morning and just chill

1:00:10

out and like the Rose Cabin, one of the cabins you can

1:00:12

walk through and you see like just

1:00:15

this preserved space of what it was

1:00:17

like there originally, and it looks really

1:00:20

nice and homie. I think would be a lovely

1:00:22

place. Maybe with some

1:00:24

more modern amenities like WiFi

1:00:27

or whatever that it would be nice because I don't

1:00:29

want to just like sit in silence for twenty

1:00:31

four hours or whatever. I would love them. But you

1:00:35

know what's actually um really good. Like

1:00:37

the trails that we did, we didn't need hiking

1:00:39

equipment, but there's a lot of trails

1:00:42

that you do, and like that one you did, you

1:00:44

needed the hiking stuff. So like a couple

1:00:46

of things that you could bring are definitely

1:00:49

like hiking sticks that

1:00:51

would be very helpful here, Like um, the

1:00:54

shoe, Yeah,

1:00:56

have like snow spikes your

1:00:59

shoes because I've hiked in those um

1:01:02

in New England. My dad has something so when I've

1:01:04

gone on hikest with him, I've warned them and they're amazing.

1:01:06

They make a huge difference and I really

1:01:08

could have used something like that here when I did the Chasm

1:01:11

Lake Trail. There's some that you can even

1:01:13

do like cost country skiing on in

1:01:16

the winter. Not when we were there, but so,

1:01:19

like, there's definitely a lot of hiking options.

1:01:21

So when you're planning your trip, make

1:01:23

sure to think about when you're

1:01:26

going, what trails they're going to

1:01:28

be, and what specific

1:01:30

equipment you need for hiking, because there's

1:01:33

a lot of hiking that's available

1:01:35

here and it's a I would

1:01:37

say it's probably one of the most diverse hiking

1:01:40

marks that I've been too, because

1:01:42

of this ability of snow cross

1:01:45

county skiing, like kind of bouldering,

1:01:47

there's actual like rock

1:01:49

climbing. I mean, there's just about everything in Rocky

1:01:52

Mountain National Park there. Yeah, there really is.

1:01:54

It sounds cliche, but this is one of those

1:01:56

places where there truly is something for everyone,

1:01:59

every age ability,

1:02:02

interest level. You know, whatever

1:02:04

you're looking for, it's bound to have it. Whatever

1:02:06

type of view you want hiking trail,

1:02:09

all of it. It's incredible place

1:02:11

and it's very very

1:02:14

fun too to explore. Whether it's on your

1:02:16

own or with a partner or a family

1:02:18

or a large group, it's fantastic. And

1:02:20

then got you can hang out as park after and just

1:02:22

have the best time getting ice cream

1:02:25

and fudge. Another great thing

1:02:27

you could bring those when you're doing these hikes

1:02:29

if you're going to be a little bit more hardcore

1:02:31

to bring, like there's cans of oxygen, different

1:02:33

things like that, or camel backs. So

1:02:35

we have a ton of water because if

1:02:38

you're going on a sixteen mile trail, it's not like

1:02:40

one bottle of water is going to get you. You're

1:02:42

gonna need a camel back. You're gonna need snacks

1:02:45

and trail mix and things like that.

1:02:47

Um, we didn't have enough

1:02:49

time to like fully unpack and like

1:02:52

repack and do something like that big, but

1:02:55

I think it would be fun to go back in the winter and

1:02:57

do that absolutely because it's

1:03:00

such a great time. Yeah. And then

1:03:02

another point is when

1:03:05

we were there and throughout summer

1:03:07

in June, July, August into September two, it

1:03:09

can be a madhouse. The parking

1:03:11

lots fill up very early and some of

1:03:14

them are rather small. So

1:03:17

it's advised that you get your day starter

1:03:19

early because you don't want to like plane your day

1:03:21

and have this trail in mind that you

1:03:23

want to do and then drive all the way they are to find

1:03:25

that there's no space whatsoever. And yeah,

1:03:28

I saw that happened to a lot of people.

1:03:30

Fortunately that was not the

1:03:32

issue with us. We had a rental car

1:03:34

that was compact and small enough

1:03:36

that we could get into a lot more spaces

1:03:39

than the RV. But but in the winter, you don't want to

1:03:41

have a compact car. You're gonna want to have something

1:03:43

that's four wheel drive. You're gonna want to make sure

1:03:45

you have like snow chains. There's definitely

1:03:47

different things that you have to pack for when you're coming

1:03:50

to Rocky Mountain National Park, depending

1:03:52

on the season. Yeah, so for us,

1:03:54

all summer compact car is

1:03:56

perfect. Winter, don't

1:03:58

even dream about coming into will drive. Yeah

1:04:01

no, really, What do you think is something

1:04:03

else that we would bring? Um, layers,

1:04:06

of course, right, we'd have to

1:04:08

bring layers. And again even in

1:04:10

the summer, we had layers. We

1:04:12

had like a T shirt, sweatshirt

1:04:15

and a jacket, so that way we could

1:04:17

shred or go depending

1:04:19

on our elevation, because that one thousand feet

1:04:21

of elevation difference makes a difference.

1:04:24

Yes, it really does. And when

1:04:26

we the trail wood Road, I was wearing shorts

1:04:29

and then initially like a T

1:04:31

shirt when we're in the

1:04:33

Stas Park area, then again in Grand Lake.

1:04:35

But while we're up there doing the Tunsra Communities

1:04:38

trail, I had to put a jacket on, you

1:04:40

know, right, but jacket that is my winners.

1:04:43

Don't cut it themselves, Beyonce jacket

1:04:45

of course, the Bruins jacket. Oh that's

1:04:47

right, not a Bruin storm kidding.

1:04:50

But yeah, So it's good to have stuff like that and it's

1:04:52

light enough where you can easily carry

1:04:54

it along and then throw

1:04:56

it on if you if you need a tied around

1:04:58

your waist if it's getting too warm whatever.

1:05:01

So that's advised. Yeah.

1:05:04

So between layers and snow choose

1:05:06

and snow chains and all these different

1:05:08

things, there's so many things that you need to

1:05:10

bring when you

1:05:13

decide how you want to visit, how

1:05:15

you want to find your park, how you want to discover

1:05:18

it. What you need to do is you need to think

1:05:20

about the research behind when

1:05:23

how and why yeah,

1:05:27

but really, Rocky Mountain is right up

1:05:29

there as one of the most iconic national parks

1:05:31

in the country, and it's an absolute

1:05:33

Mussie for anyone into hiking,

1:05:36

especially Guess anyone into hiking, and

1:05:38

also anyone into horror novels

1:05:40

Corse Light and Fudge apparently too.

1:05:44

You've been listening to park Landia, a show about national

1:05:47

parks park Landi's the production of My Heart

1:05:49

Radio, created by Matt Carouac, Brad

1:05:52

Carouac and Christopher has the otis produced

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and edited by Mike John's. Our executive producer

1:05:57

is Christopher has the otis our researcher. It's

1:05:59

Jescelyn shield A special things goes out

1:06:01

to Gabrielle Collins, Crystal Waters and

1:06:03

the rest of the Parklandia crew and Hey listeners.

1:06:06

If you're enjoying the show, leave us a review on Apple

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