Day 5 of 2022 Colorado Trip, Red Rocks Park

Fifth day of our 2022 Colorado trip. We would be leaving Breckenridge for Longmont, a base for venturing into Rocky Mountain National Park for the next two days. Along the way, we would visit Red Rocks Park.

Red Rocks Amphitheatre

For the next two days in Rocky Mountain National Park, our plan was to take the exciting Keyhole Route to Longs Peak on one of them, and do a loop hike of a few alpine lakes from Bear Lake on the other. Up till this morning, weather forecast indicated similar chances of precipitation for these two days, about 20%, so we put the Longs Peak Hike on Friday, September 2, trying to avoid potential crowds during the Labor Day weekend.
Thus for today, we didn’t have much planned, apart from making the drive from Breckenridge to Longmont, which Google estimated would take 2 hours without traffic. This worked into our plan perfectly as we needed to make a pre-dawn departure for Long’s Peak the following day.

So just before 9am, we left the Airbnb house outside Breckenridge and headed north. Four days ago while we passed Sapphire Point Overlook, its parking lot was full. So today, we made a small detour and visited it on the eastern side of Dillon Reservoir.

Sapphire Point

This is an overlook on a small hill above Dillon Reservoir. We visited in the morning so the mountains to the west were looking gorgeously serene in the sun.
From its parking lot, we took the 1km loop trail circumventing a small hill, appreciating the views at a few overlooks along it.

Click here to display photos from Sapphire Point.

Tenmile Range Mountains across Dillon Reservoir
Feeling serene.

Peaks
Tenmile Peak (left) and Peak 1 (right).

Villages before Tenmile Range Mountains
The ski resort of Breckenridge visible in the background.

Mountains beyond the Town of Frisco
I70 found a gap heading into these mountains.

Mountains of Eagle Nest Wilderness

Red Peak (4004m) in the background left. Despite its name, I thought its slopes were actually colored in pink, and that’s lovely.

Buffalo Mountain
The backup option for our first acclimatization hike, where we hiked Grizzly Peak instead.

After leaving Sapphire Point, we made a stop at Georgetown Loop Overlook along Interstate 70. There Colorado Central Railroad circled in loops heading up the mountain, connecting the mining town of Silver Plume in the late 19th century.

Click here to display photos from Georgetown Loop Overlook.

Valley

Valley

Rail Cars in Trees

After a lunch and some supply shopping along the way, we reached Red Rocks Park just after noon.

Red Rocks Park

Located on the western outskirts of Denver, the park was known for its rock formations, where reddish Fountain Formation rosed above the more ancient Precambrian rocks. Inside the park was Red Rocks Amphitheatre, an open-air amphitheatre built between two rocks that were known for hosting notable concerts.

The park offered free parking outside concert hours. We managed to find a spot next to the amphitheatre.

Click here to display photos of Red Rocks Amphitheatre.

Red Rocks Amphitheatre

Red Rocks Amphitheatre

Red Rocks Amphitheatre

Red Rocks Amphitheatre

Creation Rock

A notable feature of the amphitheatre was that it’s bordered by two giant rocks on an incline, as if the spot was picked by nature. Some bands were on stage testing the loudspeaker by looping some rock music, and many visitors just sat around appearing to enjoy themselves. It almost felt like a picnic site if not for the many tourists posing for Instagram photos, me included.

Red Rock Amphitheater

Behind the amphitheater was its visitor center that also dubbed as Colorado Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Since I wasn’t into Rock and Roll I skipped that.

Apart from the amphitheater, the park also offered many hiking trails among its multitudes of red rocks (of Fountain Formation). My friend and I tried going on a short hike.

Click here to display photos of the slideshow

Red Rock

Red Rock

Red Rock

Red Rock

Red Rock

Distant Downtown Denver

Distant Rocks

Distant Rocks

Unfortunately, the park was at lower elevation than where we’d been the previous few days and it’s the middle of the day, so it’s uncomfortably hot. In addition, I wasn’t dressed even for a moderate hike so I was soon tired and we headed back to the car.

After leaving Red Rocks Park, we headed for the town of Longmont where we would spend the next three nights. After settling down in the hotel, we went to bed early, knowing we had to leave the hotel around 2am for tomorrow’s quest on summitting Longs Peak.

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