April 22st
White River National Forest – Denver
Waypoints: White River National Forest, Aspen, Glenwood Canyon, Loveland Pass, Eisenhower Tunnel, Johnson Tunnel, Denver
Miles hiked: 2.1
Miles driven: 383.9
Break camp:  24 min
Make camp:  37 min
Camp type:  Hotel
Camp cost: $151

I woke and fed Beans.

I then headed up the unplowed forest road for a walk.

There were lots of tracks, none from humans.

There was a spot where several birds had walked to the edge of the road and taken flight, leaving prints of their feathers in the powdery snow.

We got confirmation that Beans throwing her breakfast up appeared to be from cold climate because it happened again this morning. We got her towel bagged up and packed out. We swung by Aspen to check it out and grab groceries. We then headed back up to I-70 and made a stop in Glenwood Canyon.

We stopped at a gorgeous little recreation area loaded with snowmobilers.

We had a lunch stop and wound our way up to Loveland Pass! Amazingly beautify views.

Snow boarders were setting off right from the road.

Driving down, we saw 2 tanker trucks climbing the pass & Sara remarked it was odd they would go the windy and steep way rather than the interstate. I informed her they weren’t allowed on I-70 due to the large tunnel. Sara loves tunnels and it appeared to be news to her that the detour we were taking now (and had taken in 2015) was bypassing one of the longest tunnels in the country. As we reached the bottom of the pass road, I was just saying sorry we missed the tunnel, and we can go that way next time. She turned onto the west bound ramp with a “Next time is this time.” We made our 8 mile detour to the next exit beyond the tunnel and headed back in the other direction. We cruised the rest of the way into Denver and grabbed dinner with our friend. As we unloaded our car at the hotel, we realized the pressure changes through the day had dumped the contents of our 2 gallon water vessel through the pour spout onto the floor board. We checked into a hotel for Sara to have a home base while I flew to California for a 2 night trip for a meeting. We had our eyes set on Rocky Mountain National Park after I returned.