It's About the (RV) Journey....: Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre................

Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre in Morrison is about 5 minutes from our campground. The amphitheatre is world-renowned as "the only naturally occurring, acoustically perfect amphitheatre in the world", according to the park brochure. I can tell you this.....it is just beautiful and affords a great concert-going experience.

The amphitheatre is also used for working out! It is a workout just getting there....lots and lots of stairs. Exercisers run up and down the stairs, do pull-ups on the brick decks, walk or run across each and every row, etc. On certain days, you can buy a ticket (always sold out!) for Yoga in Red Rocks, where yoga is practiced on the wide aisles between the rows. There are also many hiking and biking trails, though honestly, it was just too hot to enjoy. For more information on the park, click here.

driving up to Red Rocks Visitor Center

awesome landscape

cool

popular biking venue too

one of the main parking lots

ready Susie?

already the views are awesome

At the top of the amphitheatre is a Visitor Center, Museum, Ship Rock Grille and souvenir shop. We checked them all out briefly, except for the Grille. We were surprised at the really nice bathrooms! Hahah!

The views from the amphitheatre were awesome. On a clear day, you can see the center of Denver. It has been very warm here though, and most days there is quite a haze. Some days even have ozone alerts. Ugh!

Visitor Center and Museum and the Ship Rock Grille

the stage, with gorgeous scenery in the background, including a view of the Denver skyline in the distance (far left in the haze)

Months ago, when we made our camping reservations for the area, we checked the concert schedule to see if we would be able to get tickets. Neither of us are too familiar with pop music, and the only name we recognized was Jerry Garcia (Jerry Garcia Symphony). We took a chance and bought tickets online months ago, hoping the weather would hold the day of the concert. Also took a chance that we would actually make it to Colorado!

While we were visiting Red Rocks during the day, we checked out our seats...Row 36, seats 61 and 62, right smack in the middle of the theater.

the views were awesome

heading down a million stairs (what goes down must come up!)

this is our row! (the dude climbing the wall is exercising!)

our seats!

a view of the stage from our seats

working hard to set up for the concert

check out the exercisers...this is a tough crowd!

another view of our seats for tonight! (I could do this walking...not running!) This is where they do yoga too, on certain days.

close up of Denver skyline....just a bit hazy, eh?

there are a lot of stairs...just check out that map

We basically did the "walking tour" of Red Rocks Amphitheatre, but we also wanted to take a hike. The Trading Post Trail was just a mile or so, weaving in and among the red rocks. There were warnings about ledges and steep drop offs, so I was a little wary about this.....but we started out anyway. In the distance, we spotted an animal that was too big to be a rabbit. On further examination of a close up, turns out it was a fawn, still freckled. Cute.

what is that in the distance?

Bambi!

the stairs are built into the rock-incognito

there are lots of stairs to get everywhere

the deck of the Trading Post (the trail starts around here somewhere)

here it is!

heading down

still going down, means we will have to go back up at some point (and then all the stairs in the theater)

Once we got out of the shade, it became really hot. The temperatures were pushing 90, and the strong sun at high altitude was a killer for me. I was concerned I would have to turn around if the ledges were too "scary", AND we had all those steps to climb back up to get back to the car. HHmmm....know your limits! Sadly, we turned around.

hmmmm......maybe we should cut our losses and turn around here

so far so good though, beaturiful but HOT hike

John Denver....at the Trading Post

I'm not sure how many steps there really were, but I can tell you that according to my fitbit, we did a total of 69 flights for the day. It was a lot...hahahha. The heat and the sun were the real killers though.

okay...now we go up there

and there

and here

We came back later that night to catch the concert! Lucky us! We had a great time at the Jerry Garcia Symphonic celebration with Warren Haynes and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra on August 1st, the anniversary of Jerry Garcia's birthday. Warren Haynes played on "Tiger", the guitar Jerry used at his last concert before his death. For a synopsis and reviews, click here. What a fun fun time we had!!

ready for more stairs Susie?

I see lots of people resting already

early concert-goers

much clearer view of Denver now

ready for a good concert Tom??

What an awesome venue!

We arrived early, when the doors opened, so we I could make it up the millions of steps by the time the concert started. There were a lot of other oldsters there too, and we had a good laugh taking turns catching our breath on the stairs. We called it the tag team. Hahahha. Anyway, all ages at this concert. Families too, with young kids. Lots of Deadheads too. No smoking is allowed, with the exception of weed. I swear the whole venue was in a cloud of sweet smoke. (Note to self: leave a little early to get out of the parking lot safely)!

such an awesome place for a concert!

seen on the Big Screen next to the stage (they knew I was here!)

really? lots of folks thought they were in private...ahhahah

what a venue!

Before long, the concert started and the crowd went wild. It seemed suddenly that all the seats were taken! The place was packed. We had fun watching the crowd too. Especially the mellow dude in front of us (who wasn't that much younger than us). I actually admired him that he could just chill out so much and really get into the music, but of course Tom reminded me that he was stoned big time.

the crowd is filling in now...the concert is about to start

the symphony is ready

full house

view from the Big Screen

Warren Haynes playing on "Tiger" (Jerry Garcia's guitar)

an eager crowd

We so thoroughly enjoyed listening to the music in this fantastic venue under the stars, with a nice breeze keeping us cool and comfortable. Another great experience on our "Journey".