Colorado Day Two and Three - Hiking, Hiking and more Hiking

Sunday, our first full day in Colorado, we left early in the morning for Rocky Mountain State Park. We decided to do some light hiking (no mountains) so we did a 6 -7 mile loop from the Bear Lake Trail head. The trail head starts around 9000 feet and the highest part is a little over 10,000. This might not be that bad if you weren't staying at sea level the day before. With in the first five minute my chest was tightening up and I felt a shortness of breath. Luckily after a few minutes later the altitude sickness symptoms disappeared and I felt pretty good. Here's a picture of me in front of Emerald Lake with the Rockies in the background.



Monday morning we left at dawn to climb Flattop Mtn. The trail starts at the Bear Lake trail head and climbs 2,800 feet in about 4.5 miles. My biggest fear going into the hike was that we still hadn't fully acclimatized. The first 3 miles went fairly well, then came the big surprise. At around 11,000 feet we left the treeline and the winds picked up. With temperature in the 30's and very high winds made the uphill climb even more difficult. The top of the mountains were covered in snow and ice which was intimidating because Carol and I don't usually climb mountains. Nevertheless we made it in around four hours. Here's a pic from the summit.