Hiking Through Snow- Day 21

Yesterday we decided to drive through all of Rocky Mountain National Park (we only drove through half of it the day before).

We hiked a short hike up to a lookout. We were at 12,200 feet above sea level! It was sooo cold and sooo windy! We are not sure how cold it was but it was probably in the upper 30s, a huge difference to the 100+ weather we were in a few days ago!

The other side of the park wasn't nearly as snowy so we decided to check at the visitor center about the hiking conditions. While Matt went into the visitor center, I stayed in the car making PB&Js. Matt was gone for awhile. When he came back, he shared that the man at the visitor center was an Ohio State Alumni and a retired teacher from Columbus Ciry Schools! Matt said the guy was very friendly and they enjoyed chatting it up. The man shared that he is always excited to meet people from Ohio in the park but not as excited to meet people from the state up North. He shared that sometimes they'll ask if the park has wolverines in it. The man said that he always tells them that the park doesn't but if it did they'd shoot them! I regretted staying in the car to make PB&Js and missing the opportunity to meet this man!

The man suggested that we do a 3 mile hike to see the lakes in the park. For most of the hike we were walking on several feet of snow!

The snow made the hike harder than it should have been but it was fun to slide around in the snow and to throw a couple of snowballs at Matt when he wasn't looking!

Someone built a snowman!

The first lake was beautiful!

Lake selfie!

The second lake was also beautiful!

As well as the third lake!

We turned around before the 4th lake because we heard it was still frozen over.

On the way out of the park, a deer ran out in front of us!

And then we saw 3 elk right before exiting the park!

After leaving the park, we drove to Cheyenne, Wyoming where we had a campsite reservation. The landscape on the way there was beautiful. It was very green with a lot of farmland and rolling hills. It looked very similar to back home and I started to get a bit homesick! 

Today is a big driving day with a detour to Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore! It's crazy to think that out trip is coming to an end!

A Taste of Rocky Mountain National Park- Day 20

We made it to Colorado today!

Colorado looks drastically different than Utah! It is so clean and the temperature is drastically cooler!

We also finally caught a picture of someone biking alongside the interstate! We have seen this several times on our roadtrip and we couldn't believe it! We finally captured a picture!

After a long drive, we saw this close to the entrance of Rocky Mountain National park. It's a Moose! We got out of the car to get a picture. There was a Park Ranger close by and we heard him say that the area is overpopulated with Moose. They were introduced to the area in the 70s and without Grizzly Bears and Wolves, they are at the top of the food chain!

After getting a picture of the moose, we went into the park. We were surprised by all the snow we saw! We definitely picked the wrong time to come to the park because a lot of the hikes we can't do because of all of the snow!

I will never complain about the amount of snow Ohio receives again!

Apparently this is what they use to plow!

We learned that the road that goes through Rocky Mountain National Park is the highest elevated paved road in North America! At this sign we were at 11,796 feet!

Here's a picture of Matt by a large pile of snow, looking out at the mountains. 

The visitor center was still covered in snow! 

The snow made the mountains beautiful!

Tomorrow we are planning on trying out one of the few hikes that isn't covered with snow. Hopefully we don't freeze to death!

Mountain Biking in Moab- Day 19

Since we were in Moab, Utah (the hub of mountain biking) we decided to try a bit of mountain biking for ourselves!

We started our day yesterday by picking up our mountain bikes from the rental store! 

We drove about 20 minutes to Dead Horse State Park where there were a number of paths at various difficulties. 

There were also some spectacular views! Being road cyclists, it was difficult at first to get used to our mountain bikes. The bike bounced because of the shocks and my bike had disc brakes which about sent me flying off of my bike a couple of times! Our road bikes have very thin tires and rocks are always to be avoided! It took me awhile to realize how much the mountain bike can handle! Road cycling is a lot different than mountain biking. Road cycling is more about power and speed. Mountain biking is more about agility and quick problem solving. Once we forgot about our road bikes and realized that mountain biking is a completely different beast, we had a blast!

I loved my bike! The frame was carbon fiber and the brakes were disc. It was a beauty! 

Matt wasn't as enthused with his bike but he loved mountain biking!

Mountain biking selfie!

We mountain bike for five hours and we did the hardest route there. The bike shop lady was impressed with us!

We felt like beasts! 

After returning our bikes we hiked two hours to the "Delicate Arch" at Arches National Park. It was a pretty strenuous hike but totally worth it!

An Arches selfie!

After our long day of biking and hiking, we decided to go to dinner in town since the food in Moab is pretty inexpensive! We went to a Mexican restaurant which was a great find! It was half indoors and half out.

The food was incredible! We both got enchiladas. Matt was the only one brave  enough to eat the jalapeño. Judging by the sweat on his face and the two glasses of water he downed, I'm guessing it was pretty spicy!

After dinner we went back to our campsite we showered and passed out. It was an exhausting day! Today we are escaping the heat and heading to Rocky Mountain National Park! What are some must sees there?

A Taste of Arches National Park- Day 18

Yesterday we woke up early and packed up our campsite to head to Arches National Park. I forgot to mention how cool it was at Bryce Canyon (around 75 degrees). It was a nice break from the heat of Zion and while we were excited to go to Arches National Park, we were not excited to enter back into 90 degree weather (and hotter!). 

The closer we got to Arches, the more beautiful the terrain became. When we got to Moab (the city right outside of Arches National Park) we decided to find a campsite to stay at. Since we were past Memorial Day weeked we assumed we wouldn't have an issue finding a place to stay. We were wrong. We tried about 5 different places until we found a campgroud with an open tent site. 

After finding a place to stay, we decided to explore Arches National Park. We took about 2 hours to drive through the park and snap some pictures. While it was very beautiful, it looked rather similar to Monument Valley where we visited a couple of weeks ago.

We snapped a picture of Balanced Rock!

And we captured a picture of some Arches!

While similar to Monument Valley, it was still uniquely beautiful! 

After checking out Arches National Park, we decided to go to Moab Brewery for a bite to eat. It was waaayyy too hot to cook! I did a bit of research and all the reviews said that the restaurant was great and wasn't "touristy" at all. We love trying places that seem more geared to locals so we decided to try the place out! The reviews were a lie! It was very "touristy!" There were kayaks, bikes, and other outdoorsy items hanging everywhere and on every object was an advertisement as to where you could rent it! It was by far the most "touristy" place I have ever been to!

Our food was good though, so we can't complain too much. 

After our dinner we walked around the town of Moab and checked out all of the little shops. It was a very cute, little town!

After walking off our dinner, we drove back to our campsite to catch some sleep before our next long day of biking and hiking. We were blessed with a beautiful sunset on the way back!

Hiking at Bryce Canyon- Day 17

Yesterday we decided to explore Bryce Canyon by doing a 4.3 mile hike, connecting the Peek-a-boo Trail and the Navajo Trail.

We hiked down these switchbacks, walking through the maze of Hudos. 

We hiked through this fun tunnel!

The Hudos were huge and had a way of making us feel so small!

We were amazed by the size and shape. The Hudos were so different than anything we had ever seen and while it was beautiful it was also eerie in a way.

The squirrels here were tiny and so cute! Clearly they have been fed by humans because they were very friendly, pausing to pose for a photo shoot!

At the end the hike we were rewarded by seeing "Thor's Hammer"

It was a fun, beautiful hike but we were very tired afterwards from all the hiking we have been doing and the high elevation we were at (about 8,000 feet).

After our hike, we went to this small store to get ingredients to make tacos!

We then went back to our campsite and sat in the hot tub for a bit to relax our muscles. It was wonderful! We then spent a good part of the afternoon reading the books we brought that we haven't had time to read.  After reading and relaxing by the pool we went back to make our tacos. They were delicious. After dinner we made s'mores. Matt had the idea to add peanut butter to them. I'm not sure why I have never thought of doing so before, it was delicious and might be the most dangerous thing we have done this whole trip! Peanut butter will now be an essential ingredient for our s'mores! 

Today we are off to Arhes National Park! We will get there mid afternoon today and have all day tomorrow at the park. If you have suggestions as to what we should see and do, please share!