Once the elk rut is over around Rocky Mountain National Park, and the leaves have fallen from the trees, most tourists stop streaming into Estes Park, instead waiting until the following spring or summer to venture back up U.S. 36.

But just like the dark gray, tuft-eared Albert’s squirrels that call the area home, Estes Park doesn’t hibernate in the winter. It just gets a little less active.

That is why the late fall and winter months are some of my favorite times to visit for a little personal getaway – something I have done solo three or four times in recent years.

The town is a different place during the colder months – sometimes gloomy and overcast, other times brilliantly sunny, but typically quiet, even contemplative. It’s a world away from my home in Denver, but less than two h

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