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| Enjoying the view in the Rocky Mountain National Park, after a long climb up on Trail Ridge Road. |
Today is one of our most challenging days cycling 80 kms on highway 34, which is also known as 'Trail Ridge Road'. From our campground, we climb for 23 miles to the Visitor Centre and climb 'Milners Pass' (10,758 elevation), followed by a 23 mile descent all the way to Grand Lake.
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| Trail Ridge Road is the highest continuos highway in the USA. |
12,183’ above sea level, there was never a dull moment with breathtaking scenery.
We had plenty of time to soak it all up as there were many stops on the ascent, allowing us to minmize any altitude effects - and get our breath back!
We enjoyed a slow winding ascent through the park, making a marker for a lunch spot and had a great break at the view point. We continued up and passed another viewpoint - where I have to confess we tried to get a lift as the weather was starting to look a bit grim...we failed and had to climb anyway!
Continental Divide
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| 2 miles above sea level inside the Rocky Mountain National Park. |
We crossed the 'Continental Divide', which according to the explanation below is...
“An imaginary geographic line defined by the fact that water poured on one side of it would ultimately flow into the ocean on one side of a continent, while water poured on the other side of the line would flow into the ocean on the other side of the continent”.
It was a slow climb to the Visitor Centre and with the weather getting worse, it made it feel even harder! Once at the top, we enjoyed the long descent down surrounded by beautiful scenery all the way to the Visitors Centre.
It was a bit of a trek to the campground, but we made it with about 30 mins of sunlight and the campground had lovely hot showers!
Starting point: Rocky Mountain National Park, CO
End point: Grand Lake, CO
Total distance: 80 km
Campground: Stillwater Campground
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