Rocky Mountain National Park

The pictures below tell one story of our visit to Rocky Mountain National Park. They show us smiling, having fun, enjoying the views of the tall peaks that pervade the park. And all this is certainly accurate. The views throughout the park were majestic and I would love to spend more time in the park hiking. We could easily camp there for a whole summer and not run out of new hikes to do and mountains to summit. Definitely a great park…. except.

Well, the except here is pretty big. A great park except for the elevation.  As we were setting up our tent at an elevation of 9,500 feet, we were both quite nauseous with terrible headaches. I found Kyle learning against a tree, looking like he was going to pass out. His excuse, “It looked like the tree needed a little help standing up.” And he was not the only one to feel the effects. We drove up to the top of the peaks for the view and attempted a hike. After about 5 minutes I turned and said, “we have got to go down, I’m walking like I’m drunk!”

Now, I do not this say these things about Rocky Mountain National Park to disparage the area. It really is beautiful. I say it mainly to provide an excuse and a cover for myself. I feel like you, dear reader, should have at least a reasonable explanation for why we went to one of the best hiking spots in the U.S. and did very little hiking. The explanation and the excuse: altitude sickness.  Perhaps next time we visit the park, we’ll have a better story for you.