Day 2, 22 days across the USA

What is there to see in Colorado and Kansas?

Today was another driving day! The drive away from Eagle is very picture worthy; so green and lush with the river often visible. We did have a bathroom emergency half an hour after we left the hotel, so we stopped at Edward’s rest stop. I found a dirt trail behind the bathrooms that walks along the Eagle River.

Wow! I’m not used to gorgeous rest stop locations.

We continued on for an hour and a half towards St Mary’s Glacier. The roads in Colorado are an adventure of there own with deep ruts and chunks of the road missing. We survived. I’m sure the area is a snow boarders dream in the winter. Vail ski resort looks phenomenal and biking the bike path through the Canyon made it onto my bucket list. This route also takes you by Dillon reservoir which looks like an amazing place to kayak. There’s an area to zip line and raft further down the canyon as well. I loved the long tunnels through the mountains and watching the tall trees fly by.

I just can’t get enough of these mountainous, watery drives through Colorado.

St. Mary’s Glacier

Take exit 238 and go under the overpass to turn right on Fall River Road. You will take this winding but paved mountain road for about 9 miles. There will be a big sign on the right hand side of the road.

There is a parking lot on the left side of the road shortly after the sign. There are toilets at this location, next to a pay station. Just fill out a slip, put your copy in your car, and drop their copy with the money into the pay station. It’s only $5 to park here and the hike was worth every bit. The trailhead is just a short walk up the road and has a huge sign.

We counted four forks in the road on this hike. Here are the turns we took; left, left, right, left. Basically, take whatever path leads up and don’t go onto any private property. This appears to be a very traversed hike, so you’ll probably end up following the crowd. There are a lot of small and large rocks on the path, so take care to watch your step!

Waterfall

If you take a right at the second fork in the road, you will find a waterfall around the bend!

The Lake

It’s about a mile hike to the lake, which is an awesome view. Then we really enjoyed walking around the water and admiring the trees and mountains.

You can also head up the snow. I would only recommend this if you have excellent shoes. We put our microspikes on over our Chacos, and up we went. There are tons of styles of microspikes out there and are best used when you slip them over hiking boots or tennis shoes. Having them over Chacos was uncomfortable, but did provide more grip.

The views from the snow are magnificent and everything was so green with the overcast skies. We spent a good amount of time exploring the snow and the top of the mountain.

There were so many wild flowers and textured rocks everywhere I looked!

On the hike back, I saw a few people taking up snowboards….never would I ever! But I was impressed. About that time, the skies started drizzling. We got back to the car and it started pouring; rain with a little ice this time. Fun fun.

We drove back the way we came and continued on interstate 70 to Denver. After changing a few highways and driving through construction in Denver, we were back on the 70. That lead us east to our hotel in Colby Kansas, and also by a couple random places too.

Wonder View Tower

We stopped by the World’s Wonder View Tower in Genoa Colorado. You’re not able to go in anymore, but I liked being there and learing about the history later. It was built in the 1920s and is 65 feet tall. Apparently you can see six states from the top!

World’s Largest Easel

Also along the 70 is the world’s largest easel. It’s in Goodland Kansas and is 80 feet tall. We were happy to hop off the interstate to admire it and take a quick picture.

We drove the remaining half an hour to Colby Kansas and stayed at Sleep Inn and Suites. The room was nice and cozy and close to the interstate. Total driving time today was around 7 hours. Not too bad!