July 12, 2015 Back Roads of Colorado

Sunday, July 12, 2015
Back Roads Colorado

Beautiful morning light as we walk around the campsite area.

 Then we continue along N114, not sure exactly where we are going, but... the right direction!  There are many unpaved roads and our map only shows a few.  We see a sign for Dome Lake and decide to check it out.  It is a very long lake with a few fishermen at one end and ducks at the other end.  We park and make some eggs and spam for breakfast.  Haven't had SPAM in probably 50 years and I must say I remember it being a little more tasty :).

Nice reflections

 This colorful grass was growing along the lake.
We get back on Hwy 114, through the beautiful Cochetopa Canyon and Curecanti National Recreation Area.

Incredible skies

We pass the Dillon Pinnacles,

and look for BIG Cimmaron road (past Little Cimmaron road), our next dirt road adventure, heading towards Silver Jack Reservoir and camping.  This is in the Uncampahgre National Forest.

We find the national campground there and decide to stop early and explore the area.  We first go to an overlook with a view of Silver Jack Reservoir.  Then we drive to a fishing area and hike along the lake.  Beautiful wildflowers and our first Hummingbird.

Field of flowers

Humming bird in lower right.

We go back to the campground and find a site and talk with the camp hosts a bit. Many but not all campgrounds have camp hosts who answer questions, maintain bathrooms, collect fees, etc.

 There are some big rounds of wood which they tell us we can have for firewood, so Greg gets a few rounds and goes to work splitting them.

 We spend some time cleaning up, then Greg starts the grill and we make Italian Chicken and black beans.  Relax.  There are clouds moving in as it gets near sunset, and a lovely rainbow appears briefly.

These large white flowers make a pretty understory to the aspen.   Each flower is 6-8" across!

We have a visitor who enjoys the greenery around our campsite, a lovely spike buck who doesn't seem overly concerned about our presence.

We head inside as rain sprinkles arrive and the temperature falls.  Pleasant sleeping.