Day 23 #LagunaNashvilleLoop

Estes Park. Horse riding and hiking

The Index of all 30 posts from day 1 of our #TeslaRoadTripUSA is HERE.

Went for a ride through Estes Park with cowboy Q and this most splendid horse, Jeannie.

Estes Park was formerly home to the Arapaho Native Americans who lived there in the summertime and called the valley "the Circle." In the 1850s Arapaho recollections included a battle with Apaches in the 1850s, and fights with Utes who came to the area to hunt bighorn sheep, so all three of those tribes used the valley's resources.

There are many Elk here. One average sized Elk provides 100 lbs of meat.

Whites probably came into the Estes Park valley before the 1850s as trappers, but did not stay long. The town is named after Missouri native Joel Estes, who founded the community in 1859. Gradually more came. The 4th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl, a young Anglo-Irish peer arrived in late December 1872 under the guidance of Texas Jack Omohundro.

He subsequently made numerous visits and decided to take over the valley for his own pr…