My trip to Denver had its difficult moments. I decided not to stop at Arches so I could make it to the Roaring Fork in Glenwood Springs so I could fish. By the time I got my license (which took almost an hour) and by the time I finally got to the campground I was staying at, it was already pretty later. I couldn’t find the trail down to the river (it was actually the bike path) but I finally got directions and made it there. The river was pretty big (I had to fish from the side) and I got one small fish to hit a big yellow stonefly (but I didn’t hook it). I was exhausted and was going to go to Chili’s for dessert but I decided to walk through downtown Glenwood Springs and that was fun. It is a touristy place and after you cross the Colorado (which seemed very low) and see the Colorado Hotel (circa 1893) you seen the hot springs, a huge pool about the size of a football field. I stopped for a non-alcoholic beer at one of the taverns and the place seemed pretty hopping.
My night was a disaster because along with the altitude (which causes real problems with my sleep), the party diagonally across from me kept playing music until past midnight and then wouldn’t turn it off but did turn it down. I finally had to move to a different place and I was fully exhausted.
Since I had driven so far the day before I only had about 160 miles to Denver, so I drove slowly and stopped twice to fish. Both spots looked great but the first one gave me no hits and the second gave me one fish after a lot of hard fishing with grasshoppers, nymphs and finally a Royal Wulff.
The visit to Denver went well, having a nice sushi lunch at a restaurant just off the 16th Street Mall, then walking along 16th for eight blocks. There were buskers and a street festival with performances and it was quite pleasant. I knew I need to ride my bike (which I hadn’t done in two days) so I found the Cherry Creek bike path and rode for 45 minutes on it. The creek was very low but there were plenty of cyclists and part of the path is only for cyclists (peds are on the other side). Biking was a very good idea. On the drive up to Fort Collins I found a golf course right off the highway and played there, shooting a very hard fought 49 with a great final 5 on a long par 4 after a mediocre tee shot that just bounced over a hazard.
I was certainly tired and my stomach was killing me with all the exercise, so I went to dinner at Bisetti’s a decent enough Italian restaurant downtown on College, and then walked a little before having an ice cream sundae for dessert.
This morning I did work on my outline and then drove out to sign up for the kayak trip. That worked fine and I will be done by 4 so I should be able to drive for perhaps 4 hours this evening.