As we were planning this trip to Colorado from Florida last winter, we did a fairly complete look at the historical weather to better gauge when we could safely arrive both in the front range areas (Denver & Colorado Springs) as well as up in the higher elevations of the Rockies. We had made most of our reservations 6 months in advance with that timing in mind. For the past 9 days in Loveland, the average high for was expected to be in the 65 to 68 degrees range. What we got was most days were highs in the mid 80’s and almost hitting 90 degrees one day. Hot enough weather that we wish we had arrived weeks earlier.
Well apparently someone sensed our frustration with the heat and did something about it! On our travel day (a Thursday) from Boyd Lake SP in Loveland to Cherry Creek SP in Aurora - an easy 71 mile drive thru Denver - we went from a high of 88 degrees at 3 PM to 83 degrees at 7:30 PM and then plummeted to 39 degrees by midnight. A 44 degree drop in 4.5 hours is a rather impressive. Winter storm warnings were issued for the whole region and we were just grateful that our travel day was on that Thursday instead of Friday or Saturday. Friday stayed in the 40’s all day and started to approach freezing over night into Saturday. It was a rather consistent snow on Friday but given how warm things had been, most of the snow was melting as soon as it hit the ground. By Friday evening, the snow was starting to stick on the grass and cars but still was melting on the road surfaces. We woke up Saturday morning to a bit of a winter wonderland. Knowing the storm was coming, I had taken a before photo so I could later get the after photo.
What a Difference in 40 Hours! 88 Degrees to 34 Degrees
The Jeep apparently had cooled off more quickly than other surfaces and I measured 5.75 inches! I suspect that number would have doubled if we hadn’t started from such an extreme high and hadn’t hovered just above freezing for much of Friday evening and Saturday morning. I took a few more pictures since we don’t see snow nearly as frequently now that we don’t live in western NY. I can only think of a few times where we have actually had the motorhome snowed on in the past 6 years. A dusting in Fort Davis Texas, light flurries while driving to Bryce Canyon NP and a couple inches while in central Ohio in April. This snowfall beats all of them combined. My conclusion: it was okay to see snow again but I don’t feel the need to chase the cold and snow.
5.75 Inches on Hood of Jeep
Our Site at Cherry Creek on May 21
As quickly as the snow arrived, it was nearly gone by dinner time on Saturday at which point it was almost 50 degrees again. Saturday afternoon we decided to go out for a bit of a drive. I started the Jeep and it was running quite rough. The check engine light came on which is never a good sign. We drove around our campground loop to determine what the symptoms were and the check engine light started to periodically flash. We looked that up and determined that a flashing light means you should stop driving the car immediately so we pulled back into our site and tried to find a service place in the area to get the car looked at.
We called a handful of locations but they all had similar responses. Don’t drive the car or you may do more damage. The nearest place told us to tow the car in and they would look at it in 5 to 7 days! We didn’t like that answer but other places were booked out even further. Originally we thought we could just flat tow the car behind the motorhome like we normally do and get it the 8 miles or so to the service center. But when we looked at the aerial view of the place, it wasn’t clear where we could park when we got there to unhitch. We finally realized that the roadside service company we use for the motorhome covers our personal vehicle as well, we called and arranged for a tow into the shop on Monday. The saga of getting the car fixed extended out for 2 weeks time. I’ll write about it in a future blog post after the solutions are found.
Since we are without a working car for the time being, we decide to see what there is to do within Cherry Creek SP. The snow is gone but the temperatures are only in the low 50’s so it might be a brisk ride. We have been finding that this part of Colorado in the greater Denver area is very bike friendly. Lots of dedicated bike paths and bike lanes along roads as well. Where it isn’t friendly is the hills and the general elevation of the area. I suppose if we were in better cycling shape, those things wouldn’t be a big issue. For this ride, we pick up the Cherry Creek Reservoir Loop Trail right out of the campground. It’s a 6.7 mile loop around the lake. But since there are several geocaches in the park and lots of other cycling trails we likely end up doing at least double that distance. There is a nice beach area although it was empty on this cold windy day. The section of trail along the base of the dam was a bit challenging due to the wind and the feeling that one slight miscue, we would end up in the water. There is even a marina on the west side of the lake. It was nice to get out and do something after being cooped up during the storm.
Empty Beach at Cherry Creek SP
Heading Across the Dam Area
Marina
Monday morning we get the Jeep towed into the dealer. Then I take their courtesy shuttle to pick up a rental car. The interesting thing about the shuttle is they no longer have the normal van with a dedicated driver working at the facility. They simply have a corporate Lyft account. In less than 5 minutes, the car pulls up and takes me to the car rental place. The next day we do some rather random driving to the east of the campground in order to find caches in 3 more Colorado counties. Given our mission, we didn’t expect to see anything real special so we weren’t disappointed when we found nothing special except for several caches.
One other thing we wanted to do in the Denver area was take a tour of the Coors Brewery. We checked early in our stay and the first available date was several weeks out! I guess this is like some of the popular distilleries in Kentucky and we needed to plane well in advance. The good new was we will be back in the Denver area in about 4 weeks so we schedule a tour for then.
The following day we head into downtown Denver to visit the state Capitol. It’s open on weekdays and has free guided tours several times throughout the day. We arrive 20 minutes prior to a tour and get our stickers for the next group. We look around the inside of the building while we wait. We don’t visit all the capitols when we visit states, but we have done quite a few over the years. This one is a bit newer, completed in 1901. Like many it is quite ornate.
Colorado Capitol Building
Grand Staircase
Looking Up at Dome
1940's Murals
Our tour group was about a dozen people plus the tour guide. He was quite informative and gave us a good background of Colorado becoming a state and the issues encountered in the 15 years during the design and construction.
Capitol Tour Begins
Lion in Brass
After some of the background out of the way, we head into the senate chambers. We enter the balcony that overlooks the floor below. There isn’t any business going on but there are a few tech guys working on something down below. We get a lesson on how the Colorado state government works and then move down the hall to the house chambers. It’s a bit more packed with tables and chairs but there are 65 state representatives and only 35 state senators.
Senate Chambers
Senate Chambers
House Chambers
So far the things we have seen I believe can be done on your own without a tour, but where we head to next is a tour only feature. We actually get to go up into the inner dome area as well as the outside balcony that circles the dome. We had picked a day with excellent weather and not too much haze, so the views should be spectacular. We get to see the dome from several different levels as we work our way up. Sixteen round stained glass windows circle the inner dome with famous people from the early days of Colorado statehood.
Dome from Closer
Four of 16 Stained Glass
Next we get to head out onto the outer balcony. The tour guide stays around but we are free to wander for about 20 minutes. The views of the snow capped Rockies to the west were stunning. Not being all that familiar with downtown Denver, I didn’t recognize many of the buildings. I believe the stadium isn’t too far away but likely blocked by some of the other high rise buildings. One that we do know is the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. The only reason we know of this place is because it’s on our list of other things to check out during this visit downtown. Chris took off a couple minutes before me and the guide since she wasn’t looking forward to going down the staircase we had to climb to get here.
Looking West from Balcony
Basilica
Stairs Back Down
As we exit the entrance to the dome stairs, there is a decent sized museum area to explore. We are now back in the general public area so we are free to take as much time as we like. There are lots of photos with all sorts of history. The photos of the area prior to this building being built were interesting. We eventually work our way outside to look for the plaque denoting the where the “mile high” moniker comes from. When built, the 15th step on the west entrance to the building was identified as exactly 5,280 feet high in elevation and marked in 1909. Since that time, two more surveys were completed (in 1969 and 2003). Both came up with different answers (18th and 13th steps respectively) and each has its own benchmark denoting the one mile point.
Model of Capitol Building in Museum
Chris Picks the Original 15th Step
Looking Back at Capitol from Park
We next head west to check out the Denver Mint. It’s a few blocks due west of the Capitol. The Denver County Building is a rather impressive building that is along our way. We knew the mint was closed to visitors but we were hoping for a miracle and we could get in on a tour. We had toured the Kansas City Mint a few years ago and found it rather enjoyable. We had to do with just looking at the outside of the building.
Denver County Building
US Mint - Denver
Our next destination was to head over to the basilica we saw from atop the Capitol building. We took a short detour to find a geocache before working our way there. Along the way we found another beautiful church - the Trinity United Methodist Church. Built in the late 1880’s, it’s a rather striking stone building in the heart of downtown Denver. Our timing for arrival at Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception wasn’t the best, mass was being held. We sat outside in the small garden area next to the basilica and enjoyed the views.
Trinity United Methodist Church
Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception
After mass was over we headed inside to see what this church looked like. Built in 1912, it’s not quite as old as the church I grew up attending in Ohio which is about 40 years older. But this one was still pretty special. There were a fair number of people in the church so I didn’t take as many photos as I wanted to, but these will still give you a sense of the place.
Inside Basilica
Lots of Stained Glass
Main Altar
The next day we head to Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge Park. It’s about 8 crow miles northeast of downtown Denver and only a 15 mile drive from our campground. The refuge is a 16,000 acre site with a long name because of its long history. Prior to 1942, the land was used by farmers and ranchers, but after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Army transformed the land into a chemical weapons manufacturing facility. After World War II, part of the facility was used for agricultural chemical production. The facility ramped up during the Cold War and during the Korean and Vietnam Wars and also produced rocket fuel for the early space missions. In the 1970’s, the facility also also was used to safely destroy stockpiles of Mustard gas and Sarin. Sounds like a dangerous place. But by the 1980’s, the area began an extensive environmental cleanup effort and by 2010 it was turned over to US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Refuge Entrance Frames Visitor Center
We head to the visitor center first to get a feel for the place and determine what we might want to do during our visit. The volunteer greeted us and before we could even ask a question, he informed us that the herd of bison were near the fence line just behind the center and we might want to check them out first in case they don’t stay there long. We walk back to give them a look. There were nearly 100 of them maybe 300 yards from the walking path. There are two fences between us and them so there isn’t the same sense of awe like we had in Custer State Park where they got right next to our car as they walked past us. It was still neat to see them. There were quite a few young in the herd.
Snow Capped Rockies
Video Link Above
While we were standing and watching them, we noticed two helicopters flying in circles just a mile or so to the south. We were talking with a couple from Texas that were visiting relatives in the area. Turns out the person they were visiting works at nearby Northfield High School and the place was under lockdown. This was just two days after the terrible shooting of children and teachers at Robb Elementary in Uvalde Texas so everyone had a heightened sense of concern. We found out later that two students had brought a paint ball gun on to campus.
Back into the visitor center, we checked out the numerous displays. It was kind of fascinating to learn about the history of the arsenal. Given the vastness of the high desert east of Denver, I was a bit surprised that a facility like this would have been built so close to downtown. They had one of the control panels from the 1970’s when the place was used to destroy nearly one million gallons of Sarin nerve agent!
Housebroken Bison in Visitor Center
Control Panel for Chemical Weapon Destruction
There is an 11 mile wildlife drive that goes around the refuge. About 8 miles of it is a one way road but portions of the drive on the south side are two way so it’s possible to see some of the sights without driving the complete loop. There is also a 1/2 hour audio tour that is broken into sections so you can learn about the place as you go from one marker to the next. We first stop near Lake Ladora and Lake Mary for a bit of a hike. It was a warm day and there is practically no shade along the 1.8 mile loop around Lake Ladora. Much of the trail is gravel path in good shape. There was a fair amount of bird activity on and around the water. The best part of the hike was actually the distance view of the Rockies.
View from North End of Lake Ladora
Lake and Rockies
Just a Weed, But a Pretty One
Bridge Across Marshy Area
Geese and Egrets
Heron Looking for Meal
We continue on the drive and stop at Lower Derby Lake. It was possible to see how large the lake has been, but it was nearly empty and from the looks of vegetation growth, it’s been this way for some time. We did a slight detour down a rough gravel road with the thoughts of walking the 1.3 mile Bluestem Loop Trail. But by the time we got there, it didn’t look all that interesting so we backtrack to the main drive and enter the one way section.
Nearly Dried up Lower Derby Lake
There are some great distance views and just a few remnants of the refuge’s past. The audio tour told us about the bunker and it’s one foot thick glass windows for observing explosions in safety. There were a few bison far in the field that gave a photo op of them and the Rockies. As we hit the 9 mile mark, there were a dozen or more deer laying in the shade of a few trees right next to the road. They didn’t seem concerned when I stopped to get some photos.
Old Demolitions Bunker
Bison with Million Dollar View
Eyeing Us Over
Nap Time in the Shade
As the road reverts back to two way traffic, we head up to a place called Rattlesnake Hill. From the parking area, there is a 1/3 mile trail up to the top of the hill. It isn’t a very high spot, but so much of the surrounding refuge is relatively flat, it’s enough of a climb to get some good views. In all, we enjoyed our stop here today. We likely spent 4 hours in total.
