Glenwood Springs to Aspen

Firmly in Colorado now, and boy has Fall hit here! The aspens are turning more and more golden with every passing minute. We decided to head up the hill to Aspen, home of the rich and famous. Before that though I had some scoping to do on the other side of the river; had seen something I had to investigate. Eventually got over there (Glenwood Springs have roadworks in all the most inconvenient places) and found this:

Was fairly excited to see an old Chicago and North Western loco at the front of the LUGO (laid up, good order) queue. These locos are all locos which are in good order, but are stored pending a rise in the economy. Also saw a few ex Southern Pacific locos there too which was good. Then it was back on the road to Aspen…

Was an ok drive, basically just highway that jumps between 35 and 65mph often with no pattern or warning. The further up the mountain we went, the fancier the houses. I was confused as to why there was a carpool lane from 6-9am in the uphill direction; maybe all the skiers like to head up their early or something?

Arrived in Aspen, found a park and sat down with our guidebooks and maps. Once again Lonely Planet proved pretty useless; my "USA; the Tough Guide" book had a whole page or two on Aspen, even named the celebrities who live here! Found the info centre, asked about ghost towns and campgrounds. They directed us towards Maroon Bells so we headed up there. Arrived at Maroon Bells and chose a campsite among the aspens. Drove up the road to Maroon Lake. (Maroon? The soil here is very really a maroon colour.)

(fresh dusting of snow on the peaks)

The lake and surrounding hills are very pretty. We're up at 9580 feet altitude here so pretty high up; walking here can be exhausting due to the thin atmosphere. Went for a walk all the same, unfortunately the regular afternoon thunderstorm was putting a damper on the colours. The mountains here were clearly fake though, there is no way anyone could get away with scenery like this!

 

 

Went back to town for dinner, went to the Hickory House, "world famous" for its ribs apparently. And understandably, they were really good ribs! Very messy, but very good. Angela was disappointed her "sandwich" was really just two bits of toast next to a salad and slab of meat. Apparently sandwiches should come assembled! Once again the name on our travel cards ("National Bank Travel") confused the waitress; it's very hard to show ID proving you're the National Bank! She asked where we were from and as soon as we NZ she instantly went up a notch and was very excited; she's off there in October so was over the moon to meet some real kiwis. About half an hour and some complimentary beers later the other patrons were getting annoyed and she had to scurry off and clear some tables, but we gave her some good recommendations on South Island travel (avoid the Chch-Timaru drive, go West!) and tipped her well. I suspect she would've been glad with no tip actually; the page of notes she scribbled down would more than make up for it.

After that back to the campsite. There were the usual bear-country warning signs, but also warnings that porcupines have been crawling under cars at night and nibbling various things! Could just imagine trying to explain that one to the rental company! Got cold for the first time that night, but dawned early and warm.