Trail Ridge Road, 12,183 ft elevation: check! And with that the highest paved road in the US! Loveland Pass, which I thought was the highest road, appears to be the highest pass which is regularly kept open all year... anyway, both in the pocket :)
The climb of almost 4,000 ft up started soon after leaving the campground. The views during the climb were phenomenal! High, snowy peaks all around in combination with pine forests, which higher up turned into an alpine tundra. As the highest point of the road was actually not a pass, it was not marked unfortunately. I arrived just in time at the visitors center a few miles later to take cover for a small hail storm.
After that followed a long descent where I passed Milner Pass, thereby crossing the Continental Divide for the third, but certainly not last time. Along the way I also spotted some elk, no bull with the huge antlers though. At the end of the descend there were a few miles on flat terrain left to reach the campground near Grand Lake, where I arrived early in the afternoon. The campground has a very nice view over Granby Lake, which I enjoyed during the sunny afternoon. This was the last day of my detour and from tomorrow on I will be on the Transam route again.
"Nurse, you can remove his face warmer now" - South Park
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