Yes, that is correct. We traveled 250 miles on 5.15 gallons of fuel. This averages a whopping 48.54 miles per gallon. This is not a mistake; it was checked and double checked because Aleksey and I were in complete awe of my Hyundai Accents accomplishment.
This is a good time to share the fuel efficiency that the car has achieved. The following numbers are a list of the miles per gallon we calculated after every fill up:
33.26, 38.47 (WOW), 32.16, 34.0, 35.0, 30.8, 33.25, 28.57 ( =( although still great), 34.51, 31.85, 35.12, 34.66, 32.27, and finally 48.54 (Double WOW; no, TRIPLE WOW). We even achieved 33mpg climbing and descending the Rockies.
This park is absolutely stunning. Neither words nor photos will evoke its grandeur, beauty and awesomeness, but I will do my best.
We awoke in the morning, warm and cozy in our sleeping bags, close to the national park. Aleksey bought some breakfast and we both made me a salad in turns. The salad was a cubed avocado, cubed apple and pear, goji berry salad topped with lemon juice dressing – YUMMY. We drove into the visitor center to get a map and a plan of what we could see of such a large park in such a short amount of time. To our benefit, the road system in this park is fantastic. One two lane road runs from one side of the national park, up through the mountains to an elevation of 12,183 ft (3,713 meters), and all the way back down trough to the other side. Off of this road, both hiking trails and roads for cars section off.
Our plan: Drive to Deer Mountain Trail and hike the 6 miles to the summit, which stands at over 10,000 feet above sea level. Next we would drive along the beautiful and windy road along the snow peaked Rocky Mountains, stopping frequently to gaze into the vast expanses offered to us at every 15 mile per hour hairpin turn.
We stuck to our plan precisely, but to our surprise, were offered so much more than expected in return. Our hike to the summit of Deer Mountain was a pleasurable one. It was Aleksey’s first summit hike and the highest one I have ever been to. It is a sustained 3 mile uphill climb that winds in zigzags up a steep hill. The views from the summit were phenomenal: of deep valleys and the impressively large Long’s Peak, standing at 14,259 ft (4,346 meters). While sitting on Deer Mountain we were initially unaware of the little, curious, and very hungry animals surveying us from under rocks mere feet from Aleksey and myself. Small chipmunks, accustomed to being fed by hordes of tourists, were interested whether we would do the same. We did not feed them, but we got some great pictures and videos. The walk down followed the same path we took up.
After the hike we jumped in the car and began our drive along the scenic black top road. It wound through hoards of white pine, pitch pine, white birch and… Other stuff =) (my knowledge base ends after those). Soon we rose past the sub-alpine region into the snow covered alpine region (above 11,400 feet of elevation) dominated by low-growing shrubs. We stopped to watch an Elk grazing and then continued on to over 12,000 feet. We stopped to observe some clouds on a nearby mountain top only to realize that those clouds were moving toward us! We sat in our car while thick white clouds spewing rain engulfed our car. It was an incredible experience.
It was now time to leave the park. As we were driving to leave, not expecting any more unique sites, we drove upon a herd of Elk grazing in an open field nearby a stream, with a backdrop of the snowcapped Rocky’s. Not only was this an incredible site in of itself, BUT the Elk were no more than 15 feet from the car. With a final picture, we got in the car and left Rocky Mountain National Park.
Before arriving in Denver, we drove through Colorado Springs and stopped by to have lunch at a beautiful location called “Garden of the Gods” (pictures below).
Denver and Boulder: Not much to say about either place.We slept very well, thanks again to Inna.We woke up around 8:30, in part (or all) due to the crying baby next door.Aleksey jumped on the computer to figure out some of his finances while I went to 7/11 to buy the most expensive apple, orange, and 2 bananas ever.We walked around Denver, a nice city, albeit a huge amount of homeless people.We took very few pictures mainly because Aleksey’s camera broke in while walking the streets in Denver.We believe that sand from the great sand dunes was the culprit.Aleksey still plans on opening it up and trying to fix it; I think that’s a good idea.
We left Denver and arrived in Boulder 30 minutes later.It is a college town, with a very college feel; A LOT of people ride their bikes in this town.I treated Aleksey to some Vietnamese Pho soup: he liked it.We stopped by a buddy’s house to say “hello” and then walked Pearl Street Mall, a few blocks of restaurants, art shops and street performers.After this, we went produce shopping, finished our left over Pho soup for dinner and drove over to Rocky Mountain National Park.
