July 6th, Mount Audobon
Today we hiked Mount Audobon in the Roosevelt National Forest. The mountain is part of the Indian Peaks mountain system. Mount Audubon is approximately 13,300 feet high, but we started at approximately 11,000 feet. The trail starts off in a dense pine forest. There were visible signs of recent rock slides. When we started, the hike was pleasant and easy to hike. However, the trees started thinning pretty soon and the climbing bacame more difficult. After days of heavy hiking, my body seemed to be crumbling. The air got considerably thinner and I was having difficulty breathing. The elevation effect was catching up with me. The trail evened out a bit and alpine vegetation covered the area not under snow. The views were breathtaking, but my breathing got rugged. Pretty soon I was hyperventilating. We sent our son ahead with our friends, while Joe and I slowed our pace. Another mile of slow going and I felt much better. We picked up pace as reached the boulder strewn slope leading to the top and pretty soon caught up the rest of the group.
Clouds started swirling and strong breeze picked up as we reached the top. Despite the fear of thunderstorms, we were impacted enough by the view to stick around for a while. Going down turned out be quite easy as we hopped from boulder to boulder, covering large distances in each leap. All in all a moderate enough day. This was going to the last hike for the trip as were going to fly back to Boston the next day. So, it was with a mixed feelings of sadness and relief that we made our way back to Longmont.

July 4th, 2006 Rocky Mountain National Park
Exhausted as we were, we had somehow dragged ourselves to our friend's place in Longmont, Colorado the evening before. We were so thrilled to be puttering around in a home like environment for a change, cooking hot breakfast of our choice. Late morning, we decided to pack some lunch and head out to Rocky Mountain National Park for some auto hiking. The plan was to hit the Trail Ridge Road in the park, stop at prime spot, cajole all three kids out of the car (one of ours and two of our friends'), walk to the designated spots, ooh and aah over the scenes, capture some shots, hussle the kids back in and move on to the next spot. After 10 days of hiking, we were only too happy to play couch tourists.
Even though my son and I had visited Rocky Mountain National Park about two years ago, I had forgotten how rugged and wild those mountains are, how treacherous and narrow the road through the Park is and how prolific and unafraid the wild life is. We ventured into non-protected areas of tundra vegetation, took pictures of coquettish wood chucks, walked to the numerous vantage points and remarked over the populous presence of big-horn sheep.




Towards late afternoon, we had warmed up for a short hike, so we turned around at the Alpine Visitor Center and headed towards the Fern Lake Trailhead for a short 6 miles hike to the various alpine lakes in the area.

Joe and my son headed off with our friends and their kids for the fireworks at the neighboring golf course, while I called it an early night.

July 5th, 2006 Red Rock Amphitheatre
We made a quick trip to Red Rocks Amphitheatre located at the foothills of Rocky Mountains. The amphitheatre is truly a unique structure - an open air theatre with walls erected 250 million years ago by the gradual earth movement. The bright red sandstone monolithic columns of rock jut out on three sides cradling the stage. While the kids ran up and down the stairs, we visited with our friends. We spent a lazy day visiting the beautiful city of Boulder, and bringing the kids over to meet a violin performer at an music festival.

July 3rd, 2006 Wind Cave National Park

The early morning drive to the Wind cave National Park took us on a winding road through the Black Hills State Forest area. The road made its way through herds of bisons, elks, mule deer and towns of prairie dogs. The animals were not shy at all and made an attempt to approach us as we slowed down to capture them on the film/storage chip. Years of interaction with humans had made them almost tame, but you still never know...
Wind Caves are definitely one of the most amazing natural phenomenon I ever saw. Winds caused by changes in barometric pressure are what give Wind Cave its name. These winds have been measured at the cave's walk-in entrance at over 70 mph. They are one of the world's longest and most complex caves. There are close to 121 miles of caves concentrated in about a square mile area. So, if you were to take a string about 120 inches long and squish it all together into an inch square area, you get a fair representation of how these underground passages are just layered on top of each other, interconnecting and intersecting with each other in a tight one square mile area.
We took two of the guided Wind Cave tours (private venturing not allowed) and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The caves are overflowing with unusual formations - thin calcite fins form honeycomb like structures. This boxwork covered the ceiling, walls, absolutely all surfaces on which we were not walking. The caves are dimly lit, but on one of the tours, the guide turned off all lights and lit a single, small lamp to make us appreciate how the early explorers and adventurers explored and visited these caves.
I provided side entertainment to the members of the tour by continuing to wear my prescription sunglasses throughout this oddessey in the underworld - remember I lost my prescription glasses? They must have thought I was some crazy foreigner with strange accent, who probably doesn't understand the concept of sunglasses!