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Trail Ridge Road, Continental Divide, Colorado

Day 3, 4th of July
The family drove up to the town of Estes Park, where we window shopped at all the tourists spots.

Pic from Trail Ridge Road In the afternoon, we all hopped into vans again and drove up Trail Ridge Road. The dirt road we took on our way up was pretty impressive. The road went right to the edge of the mountain, and in many places you could look straight down thousands of feet! Pic from Trail Ridge Road
On the main road and at the visitor's center we saw several herds of elk. And a single mule deer was grazing by the side of the road.


Sign at the Continental Divide at Milner Pass Back in the vans again, we went up to the Continental Divide at Milner Pass.

The sign reads: The "Great Divide" separates drainage to the Atlantic from drainage to the Pacific. It traverses America from Alaska almost to Cape Horn.
Atlantic Ocean Drainage. Cache La Poudre Creek drains into the Platte River, which flows to the Missiouri, then to the Mississippi, thus reaching the Gulf of Mexico (part of the Atlantic Ocean).
Pacific Ocean Drainage. Beaver Creek drains into the Colorado River which then flows through Grand Canyon National Park and on to the Gulf of California (a part of the Pacific Ocean).


Back at Estes Park Town, we walked through the Stanley Hotel. This is the hotel that Stephen King based his book The Shining on. Then we went down to Estes Lake in the middle of the town. There we ate a great picnic supper and then watched fireworks. Very fun! Pretty cool, too, how the explosions echoed off the mountains which completely surround the town.



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