Thursday, July 9 Through Colorado to Snowy Range

Thursday, July 9

53 degrees this morning as we have a leisurely breakfast and discuss our route. We originally planned a few days through Colorado, but they are having a bad forest fire. After checking Google and the Colorado Dept of Transportation, we opt to just get on I-25 and buzz through the state.  Pretty countryside as we wind our way there.  Skies are a bit hazy, but nothing terrible.  A fair amount of construction, especially around Denver, slows the "buzz" considerably.  

We get off I-25 after Fort Collins to cut over to Laramie, reaching the Wyoming border around 2:00 with scattered light rain on and off.  See a few antelope and deer along the way.                .

 The Snowy Range, west of Laramie, is one of our favorite spots and we've camped there numerous times.  We decide to try a more remote campground called Deep Creek which is in the northern part of the Medicine Bow National Forest.  A stop at the local Ranger station for any info on what's happening and they agree that it would be a good choice as "hardly anyone goes up there"  and some of the other campgrounds are full.

After 16 miles of gravel road, dusty in spots but in good condition, we arrive to find the small campground over half full!  Talk with a neighbor from Missouri who is camping with his son and grandkids.  He has a van similar to ours but laughs and says the grandkids have to stay in a tent - "they need to start at the bottom". 

Beth finds a short trail which goes through a lovely meadow complete with stream and wildflowers.

  After dinner of ham, sweet potatoes and pineapple, we go for a walk, hoping to see some critters. A few mosquitoes join us, though they seem to have a preference for Greg. Our neighbor said a moose came through the campsite this morning! 

 All we see is this strangely behaving ground squirrel/gopher (?) who flattens himself on the dirt road and stares at us, then finally moves away a short distance.  Sand Lake is a short drive away, but we opt to check it out in the morning.

No fire ban here but we pass on a fire.  It stays light for a long time and the mosquitoes keep us inside where Greg is the winner at cribbage tonight.

Wed July 8 Tolby, Ghost Ranch, Taos

 Wednesday, July 8

51 degrees this morning!  We had breakfast and then drove a short way to the Tolby Trail.  After a short time the trail splits, one going uphill , the other flat.  

 There were supposed to be some old CCC type buildings, but after walking uphill for 1/2 mile or so, we determined that they must be on "the road not taken", so gave up.  Got the blood flowing at least.

Continued through the Canyon, past the development at Eagle Lake and on a winding road to Taos and beyond. We follow the  Rio Grande for a while, where we spot people rafting.

 

As we head northwest things become more arid and rugged.   This is Georgia O'Keeffe country, where she lived and painted. 

Pretty, arid, high desert country.

First stop is the Abiquiu Inn (in town of same name) and the O'Keeffe Visitor Center.  Nice display and the Inn has an extensive sculpture garden that we enjoyed.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Tours of her house in town, a refurbished old adobe, were totally booked so we continued on to The Ghost Ranch. The Ghost Ranch, a 21,000 acre area, is home to another of O'Keeffe's homes as well as an artist retreat center, with classes, workshops, lectures, etc.  

This old cabin, just before the entrance, was used in the movie City Slickers.  You can just see a large lake behind it - one of the few bodies of water in the area.

We visited some of the buildings, including the adobe Ghost House which was built in the 1880's and once was a refuge for cattle rustlers.  Redone in the 1930's by a rancher and purchased by O'Keeffe in 1933.  Disappointed that we saw very little of O'Keeffe's work - it is at a large museum in Sante Fe.

The Agape Center is a beautiful adobe chapel.

There are also two museums on the grounds, mostly archeological(which were closed); a ranch for rescued horses, and assorted other buildings.  

This flamingo was at a gas station and country store on our way back to Taos. It DID get our attention, which I guess is the purpose. 

We headed back into Taos and visited Taos Plaza which is a traditional gathering place surrounded by shops.  Some construction going on in the  plaza, so it wasn't at its best.  There were some beautiful shops and galleries, mixed with a few "tourist souvenir" type places and restaurants.  All beautiful adobe buildings. We had been to Taos Pueblo a few years ago which is a much more interesting destination, imho.

We continue a little north of town to Columbine Campground in Carson National Forest for the evening.  Pretty basic with faucets for water and pit toilets but nicely wooded with rocky mountains across the way.  Many noisy stellar jays.  Even though the evening is cool, there are no campfires, as there have been fire bans everywhere.  Of the 28 campsites only a few empty ones.

We break out the cribbage board and the luck goes Beth's way tonight.

TO CANADA AND BACK: TX,NM,CO,WY,MT, ID, WA JULY 6-24, 2026

 Monday, July 6

Despite the heat, or maybe because of it, we've decided to head north for a bit.  Heat has been oppressive all over the country on and off.  In Houston, it will be "on" until late September.

This is a trip with lots of driving and day one is just that.  From home to Amarillo, over 500 miles through familiar Texas terrain - wind turbines, ranches, some hardy wildflowers and a few oil jack pumps.  Towns like Willis, Wichita Falls, Fort Worth, Childress, Waxahatchie, and finally Amarillo.

Tuesday, July 7

Onward, past the Cadillac Ranch, Big Texan Steak House (free 72 oz steak if you can eat it all). Turning northwest, we enter New Mexico around 9AM and take smaller roads. The mostly flat terrain gets a few hills and the scrubby grassland terrain turns from mesquite to cactus and then back to mesquite and, finally, as we reach the cooler area, juniper. We are headed for a familiar campground called Tolby in Cimarron Canyon State Park.

We saw a few antelope in the more arid area as we went through Kiowa National Grasslands. 

 It takes acres and acres to raise cattle in this terrain and cattle fences don't deter most deer and antelope.  Mostly all of the land we pass is fenced, which reminds Beth of an old ballad she learned in Girl Scouts which goes "I'm going to leave old Texas now; ain't got no use for the long horn cow.  They've plowed and fenced my cattle range, and the people there are all so strange." 

 Fence poles range from kind-of-straight trimmed branches to wooden posts to metal poles, all with the requisite barbed wire.  We rumble over cattle guards now and then - metal rods spaced so that cattle won't cross them to escape their fenced areas by road.  Can imagine open ranges long ago with lots of buffalo.

Many of the roads are flanked by telephone poles, which make convenient perches for birds and we see many hawks searching for their next meal.  This is a swainson's hawk (which I know only cause Merlin, my bird app, told me).

Signs of civilization now and then, like this old 1908 church with adjacent water tower and some rock outcroppings.  Another  small-town water tower.  As you can imagine, water is a very important topic here!

The telephone poles bring to mind an old Glen Campbell song called Wichita Lineman as we think of all these wires in wide open country that need installation and service.

 

We pass by Philmont Scout Ranch and find Cimarron Canyon State Park.  Tolby Campground, one of several in the state park, is inviting, with shade trees and a beautiful stream where there are a few fisherman looking for trout.  

Greg talks with one guy who is just doing "catch and release" and admire his technique, whipping his pole and casting again and again into the deeper pools of the stream. He says he's caught 8 so far.

  Beth wonders around and finds quite a few birds in the area.... this is a fly catcher

and this a beautiful bluebird. 

 There are also robins, which always seem to want to be photographed, including this one showing off his hunting prowess. 

 Quite a few hummingbirds in the area and they keep coming to Beth to check out her red shirt.  Finally, Beth puts the shirt on a post in hopes of getting a photo of them.  Several come to check it out but they are speedy little buggers and this is the only shot she gets.

Lots of pretty wildflowers as well! You can see why Beth loves this campground.

We chat with a neighbor, Les, who is from Raton (at the border of NM and CO) and just getting away for a few days.  Share some cherries and talk about fires and wildlife.  He tells us about a nearby trail, which we decide to try tomorrow morning.

Beth runs into a guy from Seattle when walking.  He was visiting in OK and is making his way home.  They discuss hummers, as she is still in red and attracting them.  He says they have a lot in Seattle too and he is looking forward to cooler weather.

Greg comments on the beauty of the contrast of evergreens and blue sky and we try a few "Where the trees meet the sky" pictures from where we are at the bottom of the canyon. Pictures just can't capture it.

We do a cold dinner of tuna sandwiches, carrots and chips for dinner and as we finish the clouds have moved in and we get a bit of rain. The breeze feels good and moves the clouds on so the rain doesn't last long.

Beautiful 60 degree evening, nice breezes.