Today we entered Rocky Mountain National Park at the Beaver Meadows entrance just West of Estes Park, CO and traveled the Trail Ridge Road through the park and out the Grand Lake entrance. This drive is an absolute must for anyone who ever comes to Colorado to visit the Rocky Mountains. The road travels 11 miles above the treeline (11,500′) and tops out at 12,183′.
Trail Ridge Road 
Trail Ridge Road at Over 12,000′
After exiting the park at the Grand Lake entrance we drove past Grand Lake to the US Forest Service Shadow Mountain Picnic Site on the South end of Shadow Mountain Lake and ate the delicious lunch that Beth had packed. Originally we had planned to turn around and take Trail Ridge Road back through the park in the opposite direction, but my lovely navigator (who once again provided plenty of feedback regarding my driving in the riskier portions of the drive) felt she’d met her yearly quota of high elevation, narrow roads with zero shoulder and no guard rails. So we elected to complete the loop by taking US-34 on West to US-40 East and eventually I-70 East back into Denver. Unfortunately for Beth, we got the bonus plan as it turns out that US-40 makes a very major (and very scenic) climb up and over Berthoud Pass which tops out at 11,317′. Fortunately for Beth, there were guard rails throughout the pass although I still received plenty of driving instruction.
Shadow Mountain Picnic Site