On our fourth day in Colorado, we decided to take a little break from the non-stop hiking and take a drive up to Beaver Meadows Resort Ranch in Red Feather Lakes,CO for some snow tubing fun! It took us around 2.5 hours to get there from Estes Park. The drive was uneventful, but the last few miles were a little challenging due to ice and snow covering winding, hilly, unpaved roads. The check-in process was easy, but we were glad to have gotten there early in the day because this place gets very busy. We paid for a 2 hour pass, listened to a safety and orientation speech, walked up to the bottom of the hill, and grabbed a tube. The tubing hill is well-managed with up to 12 possible runs ranging from simple, straight "beginner" runs, to crazy winding runs with high jumps. They even had a side-by-side run if you wanted to race a companion! The tubes were all doubles, but you had the choice to ride it alone or with a partner. We started on the "beginner" side, but after about 30 minutes we started checking out the more adventurous side of the hill. The one run that became our favorite started with a vertical drop, followed by an 'S' curve and a pass through a tunnel with a small jump at the end for braking purposes. We were doing pretty well with avoiding crashes, but the one crash we did have was pretty epic. Our tube somehow got caught up on the outer side of a curve which threw my partner face first into a pile of snow, and I got launched into the air, flying over his body (I was lighter, so I rode in the back). I held onto the tube, tucked all my limbs in, and rolled with the impact upon landing, so nobody got hurt, but definitely not something we will ever forget! This adventure was 100% worth the drive from Estes Park!
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| We made it! Let the snow tubing commence! |
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| Snow tubing hill - beginner area to the left of the lift and advanced runs to the right. |
After our two hours of fun had run out, we headed back out to the main road. Since we were about 15 min away from the Wyoming state line at this point, we decided to head north a bit to say that we had been to Wyoming. We also managed to log one bird sighting for Wyoming - a Common Raven - that was seen just over the state line! On the way back into Colorado I happened to see some movement on a roadside hill and immediately pulled over. The movement turned out to be our first ever Antelope!
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| The mountains look a little different up here in far northern central Colorado |
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| Looking into Wyoming from Colorado |
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| Proof we made it to Wyoming |
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| ...and back to Colorado |
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| ANTELOPE!!!! (Photo taken with a smartphone through binoculars) |
By the time we got back to Estes Park it was dark, so we grabbed some dinner and then drove back into Rocky Mountain National Park in hopes of seeing some dark skies and lots of stars. Unfortunately the high winds and clouds, along with a very intense moon had other plans.
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