When I awoke today, I knew something was different. The air was colder, the smell of Ponderosa Pine filled the air and my head was throbbing a little. Our site was at 8000 feet above sea level. It was not so level but beautiful. We are at a level known as the Montane. This is where ash trees and Ponderosa Pines grow to be 150 feet tall and there is definitely a difference between the lush shaded faces of the mountains and the more arid sun drenched faces. I stopped a volunteer ranger and chatted with him for a while. He was not a Christian but very nice. I told him about our adventure and gave him my testimony. He lived here during the summer with his wife and during the winters went back near San Diego where his children and grand children lived. He was a family man who had his grand daughter for several weeks out of the summer. He is in his 70’s and loved the Rocky Mountains. My mind was wandering and I was thinking that this would be a great retirement job.
I went back into the motorhome and we all ate breakfast and packed up the motorhome so we could drive the long route to the Alpine Visitor Center at 11,700 feet. It is the highest road in the USA and is well above the Tundra which I will talk about later. On our way to the Alpine visitor center, we will go up 4000 feet of elevation in Bailey’s Blessing. Along the way we will see vistas that blow the mind! Pondersosa Pines. Immediately we began to climb and soon reached the Subalpine region (9000 to 11000 feet above sea level). This region is known as the snowest forest on earth because it gets all the wind blown snow from the tundra. It tends to be cool and wet most of the year. The trees look more windblown and they are smaller and more sparse. They do not grow tall and straight but more crooked.
After seeing beautiful vistas, we climbed higher. Into the tundra or Alpine Tundra. Here the change in landscape is very noticeable. Snow lasts here all year round and the temperature does not get above freezing for 8 months out of the year. There are 72 named peaks above 12,000 feet and 54 above 14,000 feet. Mt Elbert being the highest at 14,433 feet. These are known as the “Fouteeners”. You can become part of this elite club when you climb all 54. By now, we all are feeling the effects of the high altitude. We were not sick but to climb 100 feet caused us all to breath hard and suck air like never before. It was a weird feeling because their no way to feel better but to go to a lower elevation. There are signs that tell visitors to acclimate first if staying for a while in the tundra. Here it’s a world of rock, granite rock, some of the hardest in the world as well as snow. We of course thought it was very cool, no pun intended, to see snow in July.
In fact I was determined to get out and slide on the snow as well as start a snowball fight. We were not the only ones thinking like this. My family thought I was crazy. We hiked up to the snow then we all walked onto the snow. It seemed colder than usual and very icy. Ethan Isaiah and I walked to the top of the snow hill and formed a train to slide down. It was wet, cold and FAST! I could not stop and we ended up on the rocks. Ouch! We each made snow balls and pelted each other. I made a second and kept it as a souvenir. So did the kids. We left the snow and continued to climb.
We made it to the highest point one can drive in North America. It is at a point prior to reaching the Alpine visitor center at an elevation of 12,183 feet. I took a picture from its point. It’s a one of a kind photo in that you must make the trip to get it.
We continued on to the visitor center, bought our memorabilia, had lunch. We then hiked to the ighest point we could. It is 2.3 miles above sea level. Each step was tough. We climb 300 to 400 feet to the geological marker. 12,0005 feet above sea level. You could tell the air had less oxygen than we are used to. We were as close to the heavens as humanly possible and still be standing on the earth. Wow!
After making the climb, we observed the beautiful scenery 360 degrees around us. This for sure is a whole different world. Once again our God and Lord has treated us to a different view of his mighty creative ability. I am in awe of our God. We left the Alpine area and headed down…and down…and down. I hate going down, smoking brakes, low gear, road rage because I am too slow. But the beauty around us made it all worth it.
We had some time left in our day after returning to our site so we left for Bear Lake to view Alberta Falls. Upon driving there we noticed that the park would not allow motorhomes there…and the enforced it, so on the way back we went to Sprague Lake. We arrived and parked in 2 car spaces. Some horseback riders walked by. We left to see the lake. 
We saw people fishing and decided to give it a try. I did not have any trout lures or flys but had the itch to cast a few. My wife and I decided to walk around the lake when we heard some commotion coming from the bridge. Four ladies were having a fun time. I approached them and struck up a conversation. Of all places they were from NYCity. I asked then why they were all in skirts. They answered because they were Jewish. I spoke a biblical phrase in Hebrew and they all began to smile and wondered why a non-Jew would speak Hebrew. I shared with them about the love of Jesus and how I was saved in 1982 and how we have one of the best biblical Hebrew teachers in our church and that a book was published on it. They were amazed. I told them I would pray for them and that they too needed to know personally Jesus Christ. After that my spirit was quickened and we returned to the motorhome. We left Sprague Lake and returned to our campsite where we stayed one more night. We did, however, switch sites to a more level one. Shortly after we retired for the night.
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