July 8 - 9: Estes Park - camping at Hermit Park Open Space

From Golden Gate State Park, we headed north up the Peak to Peak Scenic Highway to Estes Park on the east side of Rocky Mountain National Park. We were reserved at Hermit Park Open Space where we were meeting up with friends / next door neighbors we had met in Moab in mid-June - Brett and Olivia. So glad we could meet up with them! We had a great time hiking, sharing dinners, going to concerts and the rodeo, etc. more of which to come as I catch up the blog.

A note on Hermit Park: it was quite expensive at $26 / night with no hookups and a long drive on a steep gravel switchback road to get to the campsites (no warning - by the way - on their website or reservation system - about this little climb to the campsites which some RVers would have refused to drive!). However, it was a very nice place to stay since the campsites were fairly spread out and private, surrounded by wilderness.

After getting situated on our first night, the next day we set out with Brett and Olivia to check out the "easier" hike to Homestead Meadows which on the Hermit Park map just shows the 1 mile to get to the national forest where the trails begin...we hiked about 7 miles which was just a warm up for Brett and Olivia, but a good workout for me and Gary!

Brett setting up to get a picture of the four of us, which we'll have to get from their facebook!
                                                                                        
                                                                                                         Ahhh, finally found the hot tub......

After the hike, we all went to town and checked out the Estes Park Visitor Center, where Gary wanted to take a ride down the shute of water under the bridge...thank goodness he eventually reconsidered....that water was moving very fast!

Brett and Olivia at the visitor center:

Also, while we were at the market, had a good view of the Stanley Hotel (Stephen King's inspiration for The Shining)...

That night, Gary and I were treated by Brett and Olivia to a great meal called a "Tin Foil Dinner" - we each put together our own selections of vegetables, seasonings, along with ground beef, wrapped up in several layers of tin foil, and cook them on the camp fire. It was fantastic and my new favorite meal! Yum!

While at Hermit Park, we did not see much wildlife except for bunnies and squirrels in the campground, though Brett and Olivia saw a Pine Marten capturing a rabbit in their campsite...