Mountains and Proposals
This trip to the mountains is a return to a place I belong, but also to a place that I've never been. It's the start of a lifetime of joy. As you probably know by now, I'm obsessed with Colorado. It's my favorite place in the world and it tugs on my heartstrings like almost nothing else. So, what a better way to solidify my life with the one person who does tug on my heartstrings like nothing else? It's a perfect plan and no one ever saw it coming! 
By this time, I've been dating my girlfriend Kelly for over 5 years. I met her at a dance class during my last semester of college and the rest, as they say, is history. We hit it off and have been in a serious, committed relationship since. 5 years might sound like a long time to be dating someone before tying the knot, but it felt right for us. I concocted an elaborate plan to propose to her, and I would like to say she didn't know that's what that trip was about, but she told me she doesn't like surprises. The other reason she needed to know what this trip was for was because she also wanted to propose to me! So I guess we both concocted plans. It's ingenious!
The Stake Out Mon, June 24¶
Sadly for Kelly, a lifelong commitment to me doesn't come cheap. I make 'em work for it. My plan was to set up a long-distance scavenger hunt that involved three hidden secret boxes spread around Teller County, CO. Each box had a riddle in it that contained clues on where to find the next box. The very last box was gonna contain a super extra special secret, wink wink.
I drove to Woodland Park by myself and the plan was for Kelly to join me via aeroplane later on. The week where she wasn't here was dedicated to setting up my proposal. I didn't know exactly where I wanted the hidden boxes to be, so I spent a week driving to various locations in the area.
I went off-roading, I went to various parks in the area, I looked at a lot of maps and scoped out the area like a true adventurer should. I even discovered shelf-road for the first time!
I hiked up a REALLY steep trail that terminates at this beautiful mountain stream. Oh yeah and I also came across this creepy, abandoned, certainly haunted secret tunnel.
Horsethief Trail Sat, June 29¶
Kelly flew into Colorado Springs on the 28th. We both knew that the main purpose of this goal was for us to get engaged, and even better, we were both going to propose to each other! We're kind of non-traditional like that but sometimes tradition is wrong (or maybe not wrong, but not as fun). Like, why wouldn't both parties want to put effort into officially asking their partner to live the rest of their lives with them?
Neither of us knew when or where the proposal would happen, but I did have to tell Kelly that I have to propose to her this weekend due to the timing of everything so let's not waste any time! Let's get this shindig going!
Unbeknownst to me, today was my day to be proposed to. Kelly desparately wanted to go on a hike (for what reason, I could not fathom). I decided to take Kelly on this really cool hiking trail I went on the day before that terminates in this small but pretty mountain waterfall. In fact, I actually have the exact trail data from AllTrails here:
It's a pretty steep hike for a ways but it's not too difficult. I took her to the waterfall I found and once we got there, I sat down on a tree that fell across the stream to take a rest. Kelly shouted to me "Landon, what's that in the water?" I look behind me and there's this little bottle flowing down the stream and I think to myself "what! Why is there litter?" She told me to pick it up, so I did and upon closer inspection, it was a message in a bottle! I uncorked that bad boy and tried pulling the paper out of it. During its short journey down the stream, it appeared that some water got in the bottle and made the parchment paper stick very strongly to the side of the bottle. Seriously, it was like it was glued! I couldn't get it out, so Kelly helped me and we were able to wiggle the secret message out of the bottle.
In it was a beautiful poem she wrote where she asked me to marry her, and OF COURSE I said yes! Put a ring on it!
Mueller State Park Sun, June 30¶
Alright, now it was my turn. This proposal consisted of FOUR clues, not three like I mentioned earlier. Although, the first clue wasn't really hard to find because I just gave it to her. In it were GPS coordinates for the approximate location of the next clue, which happened to be 38.8807905° Lat, -105.1733855° Lon.
This clue was hidden in one of Kelly's favorite spots from last year, the dragonfly pond at Mueller State Park. This clue led her to the next location at 38.97393° Lat, -105.17028° Lon.
Also, can we just appreciate how fashionable Kelly looks in these pictures? Something about the Columbia jacket and the sunglasses make her look like a real adventurer.
Crazy Gulch Trail Sun, June 30¶
Next on the proposal adventure was this random trail called Grazy Culch. I don't know what's so crazy about it, it's not like it was a difficult hike. In fact I actually wanted it to be easy, because the last clue was going to be a real lung-buster.
Kelly traded her Columbia jacket for a sun hat because she realized that all this hiking is a real workout.
This clue led her to the last location, the infamous and dangerous trek up to GPS coordinates 39.05835° Lat, -105.22304° Lon.
Signal Butte Sun, June 30¶
Signal Butte is this prominent hill that juts out in the valley that is abutted by the foothills to the east, Pike's Peak to the south, and Hackett Mountain to the west. It's a strange formation because rises up out of nowhere from the ground and is surrounded on all sides by valley. To give you an idea of what this looks like, here are some pictures from our 2023 trip where we hiked up the hill:
Coming back to the year 2024, this is the trail I took to get to Signal Butte to drop off the secret package a few days before:
To give even more context, the path to Signal Butte is a rugged OHV trail that requires a decent (although not top-of-the-line) 4x4 off-road capable vehicle. That's where my 
SUPER COOL Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawk comes in handy. Anyway, we get to the bottom of Signal Butte and start making the arduous trek up the hill/mountain/butte thing. And what a trek it was! 
While I had already been in Colorado for a number of weeks before Kelly got here, I failed to make the calculation that Kelly will arrive only a couple days prior to this adventure and absolutely won't be acclimated to the altitude. And worse, I was asking her to hike up a very steep butte/hill thing so that I could propose to her and spend the rest of our lives together. Needless to say, she was struggling and I was worried I made a huge mistake in putting the last clue up on this hill. I was worried we were gonna have to turn around! Yikes! Nonetheless, Kelly was a trooper and she pushed through the thin air. At the top was awaiting her last clue, a ring!
At the top of this butte/hill thing, I asked Kelly to be my wife. The 5 years we had been dating at this point solidified the truth that she is the woman for me. She is an amazing partner. She is a kind, thoughtful, loving, affectionate, passionate, caring, generous soul and has always strived to be the best partner that she can be in our relationship. All of the obstacles we encountered were overcome because of her willingness to work together (and my willingness too of course, but this section is about her dammit!). In fact, all successfull relationships require that. Relationships need both parties to set aside ego, to admit mistakes, to take measurable action towards correcting wrongs, and most importantly to give all the love one can muster to the other person, because they deserve it. That's what I feel has been the story of our relationship, a story of overcoming our personal demons and together nurturing a prosperous, loving, respectful, and FUN relationship.
It's because of Kelly's fighting spirit that I have no question in my mind that she is a lifelong partner. She's cares deeply about doing the right thing and living authentically with those around her. It turns out that Kelly was so happy that she started dancing! And boy does she have some moves. 
Grand Lake Mon, July 1¶
The reason why the proposal had to be on-schedule and on-time is because we had an awesome adventure planned to the north. We made our way over to Grand Lake, CO which is on the western side of the famous Rocky Mountain National Park. The drive itself there was of course amazing:
The route took us through this area called Berthoud Pass. The pictures above are on Hwy 40 just before the pass, but sadly I couldn't take pictures of this area because it's an intense drive up an extremely steep, winding mountain road, and needless to say, I had to stay focused. Here's some street photos from Google:
Of course these pictures don't really do it justice how steep and how high it felt to be on that road. Kelly's fear of heights was kicking in again 
We arrived at our campsite which was situated about 5 minutes away from the Grand Lake Entrance Station. The reason why this is important is because Rocky Mountain National Park can get very busy. So busy in fact that the park service implemented limited timed entry permits. Folks wishing to enter have to either buy timed entry tickets a month in advance of the reservation date, or the night before. They release only a limited number each time, so you have to be on your computer the very moment that the tickets are released.
We didn't get them in advance so I had to log onto their website at 7PM and scramble to buy tickets. It was difficult because I would refresh the site and immediately select the ticket I wanted, but it kept saying "sold out". I would then try selecting tickets for the next time slot, and again, immediately sold out. I tried doing this for the 3 or 4 time slots they had available, and NONE of them could be reserved even though I was on the site at the exact moment they were released! Ugh! And it didn't help that their website seemed to be crashing from all the traffic.
This was a pretty bad experience and I hated having to fight to get these dang tickets. I understand why the NPS does this and I don't fault them for it, they are just trying to stem the onslaught of tourists like us from flooding the park. Fortunately, timed tickets are only necessary after 9am, so you're allowed to enter the park before 9am. That's what we ended up doing, and surprisingly, there was no line and it was not an issue at all. No tickets needed after all!
One REALLY interesting fact about this campground is that it sits right next to a tiny little creek. "Aw, that's not that interesting 
." No no no, this is not just any tiny little creek. This is the Colorado River! This area is not far away from the Colorado River headwaters, so at this point it's only a tiny little stream, unassuming and nondescript.
Kelly's highlights from this campsite were the duckies and chickens they had in this cage. Chickens are one of her favorite animals so she was enthralled with them.
Rocky Mountain National Park Tues, July 2¶
Our first day in the park was spent driving up the long road up Milner pass to the top of the mountain. We stopped at the visitor center for a meal and visited with the local marmot population. You can see in the picture where Kelly is pointing that there is a little furry marmot scoping out the landscape below.
Coming down the other side of the mountain towards Estes Park on the east side is an incredible drive down a well-maintained paved road called Trail Ridge Road. We didn't travel all the way to Estes Park because the primary goal of the day was just to enjoy the mountain and be out in nature. When we got to the bottom, we had two choices; we could either take the same paved road back up (boring) or go up the narrow dirt road called Old Fall River Rd. You know me, I love an adventure (and I have an off-roading SUV) so I convinced Kelly to let us go up the dirt road!
Estes Park Wed, July 3¶
The next day was our Estes Park day. The plan was for us to visit as many attractions as we could in the town. I wanted to surprise Kelly so I booked us tickets on this thing called a "mountain coaster" which is essentially this small coaster that's in, well... the mountains :sweat_smile. On the way to the mountain coaster, Kelly saw this horseback riding company and she desperately wanted to go for a ride. So that's exactly what we did!
Horseback Riding¶
Many don't know this about me but I was actually a pretty prolific horseback rider when I was a kid. I used to participate in horsemanship competitions, things like dressage, cross country jumping, and regular jumping. I haven't ridden a horse regularly in a long time but it actually felt very familiar to me, despite being in a western saddle.
The Stanley Hotel¶
Next on the agenda was for us to visit the infamous Stanley Hotel. For those who don't know, the Stanley Hotel is what inspired Stephen King to write his horror novel The Shining. Another commonly mistaken fact about the hotel is that the movie The Shining was not actually filmed at this hotel. The film rather used exterior shots of the Timberline Lodge in Oregon and a soundstage for its interior shots.
Bear Lake¶
Bear Lake is a section of the park that, surprisingly, is even more difficult to get to than the park itself. Remember how I mentioned that Rocky Mountain National Park requires a timed entry permit? Well to enter the Bear Lake corridor, you need not only the Rocky Mountain timed entry permit, but you also need a separate Bear Lake timed entry permit. And guess what, those are even more difficult to obtain. And also guess what, we weren't able to obtain it! Thankfully as before, you could enter the corridor after a certain time period, so we planned (somewhat spontaneously) to visit the lake after the last timed entry permit.
The lake itself was no doubt incredibly beautiful, however there was a lot of traffic to get into the parking lot next to the lake itself. We sat in line for quite a while, waiting for a spot in the parking lot. Even more frustratingly, the parking lot was barely even full. The only reason the long line existed is because people insisted on getting a spot as close to the lake as possible, so they blocked this huge line of cars, who couldn't go around them, simply because they... didn't want to walk? Like what are you even doing at a national park if you don't want to walk? Ugh.
As far as mountain lakes go, I would say it was marginally worth the trouble. Well that's not true, it wasn't worth the trouble. It was definitely cool, but the crowd of people and the bumper-to-bumper traffic was really off-putting, so I probably won't be visiting again.
Tarryall Friday, July 5¶
It was time to start making our way back towards the Colorado Springs area, so we stopped for a night in the Tarryall area. More specifically, the Pike-San Isabel National Forest. We drove for a long time down this forest road called Matukat Rd. After driving (very slowly) for about an hour along this road, we found an incredible designated camping spot that overlooked Hackett and Cedar Mountains.
I get to claim something at this camping spot that almost no one can say: I saved Kelly from a bear! (or at least, I like to say so) While I was sitting down by the campfire, Kelly walked along the forest road looking at some birds through her binoculars. For whatever reason, I decided to turn around in my chair to see where she had gone, and I happened to notice a black bear running down the mountain exactly towards her! I yelled at her that there was a bear coming towards her. The bear heard me yelling and briefly paused to look at me as if to say "wtf was that noise". She ran back to the camper while I scrambled to get the bear spray. We watched the bear continue down the mountain and run across the road. It never really stopped running, which feels impressive to me, but it clearly had somewhere important to be and god dammit it wasn't going to be late. It never got closer to us and kind of just minded its own business. We watched it run off into the distance until we couldn't see it anymore.
For those who don't know, black bears are the only type of bear commonly found in Colorado and don't typically pose a threat to humans. They're much more skiddish and docile than grizzly bears. Most of the locals consider them to be large racoons. In fact, even with baby cubs, black bear mothers aren't typically aggressive towards humans and prefer to flee instead of fight in almost all situations. Regardless, it's kind of jarring to see my newly minted fiancee nearly have a direct encounter with this huge animal. And to think that the only reason they didn't cross direct paths with each other is because I just happened to turn around at the exact moment I could see it. Crazy!