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.

Saturday, July 11
Rocky Mountain High

Saturday, July 11, 2015

We wake early and decide to drive on, as early morning is good both for spotting wildlife and taking photos with great lighting.

We stop briefly at a landmark called The Bishop’s Palace which is somebody’s whimsical idea of a castle. 

We decide to take a dirt road, #386, off 165 because it looks interesting.  It meanders along with a stream on one side and rocks on the other.  We see several signs of beaver, nice aspen groves, and a few boondocking spots (2 occupied, 1 empty).  

Back to the main highway, we see several flocks of wild turkeys.  This group had quite a few youngsters!  

We also spot a couple of deer along the way.  We are soon out of the mountains and traveling in a wide valley.  Lots of ranches and cattle and quite a variety of wildflowers.

 We pull over to have breakfast and plot our route in a little town called Westcliff which is having a Bluegrass Festival and is quite busy.  We find the Forest Service office there and a friendly ranger suggests some good boondocking (dispersed camping) spots along our planned route, more or less.

We travel alongside the Arkansas River for a while.  It is popular with rafters and we see a few preparing to ride.   We are thinking that water would be awfully chilly!  It was 49 degrees when we awoke this morning and has now climbed into the low 60’s.

At one stop, I walk along the river for a bit looking for photo ops.  I see what I think is a mink, beautiful dark brown fur, scurrying across some rocks and disappearing before I can even raise the camera.

We come to the town of Salida, where we get gas and stop at an Arts Festival going on in a park there.  Lots of painters, photographers, jewelers and other artists.  This lady made 3-dimensional animal art with fibers - unusual!  Next, we head back into the mountains, crossing Ponchas Pass at 9000’+ and 55 degrees.

We eventually found N414 Forest Road, a nicely graded dirt road, and followed it for about 10 miles to Luder Campground, part of Rio Grande National Forest. It is a small, primitive campground which has only 5 sites.  3 of them have adjacent enclosures for horses.  There is only one other family there, with four beautiful horses grazing away.  We decide to stop here for the day/night.  Greg scavenges for wood and cuts and splits some, then we have some sandwiches and head off for a walk.

Lots of chipmunks and squirrels, and one bright blue bird – perhaps an indigo bunting?  Or mountain blue bird?  The other sites fill up during the afternoon, but they are pleasantly spaced so we have no near neighbors.  Greg gets the fire going and we have a brief rain shower so eat dinner inside.  Then back outside, listening to birds call and the wind shushing through the tree tops.  Many aspen and tall pines.

I blog for the day, we have some wine and call it an early night.  No cell service again and we will need to find wi-fi soon to post and catch up on emails.   Stars again are gorgeous and plentiful!

Friday,  July 10, 2015

Amarillo to Colorado

 Had a wicked thunderstorm with winds that shook the van during the night, but skies were clearing and it was a delightful 64 degrees at 7:00AM in Amarillo.

We found a local McDonald’s for a quick breakfast sandwich and coffee

and continued north on 287 through the high plains of the Texas Panhandle. Still standing water, but less as we travel northward.

Very green but not as much standing water as before. Beginning to see antelope, like this big fella.
Blue skies, 70's.

Going through Dumas to Dalhart we discover the “sorghum belt”.   Had to google it to find out what it looks like and what it is good for.  The plants resemble corn, but get a head on them that produces the grain.  The grain is used for flour and other edibles, and the stalks are dried and bundled for cattle food.  At least we think this is what we learned.  There are hundreds of storage silos dotting the plains.

Dalhart’s other claim to fame is cattle.  A large billboard as you enter town says “Dalhart:  It’s like England, where money is measured in pounds” with a picture of a hefty steer.

We reach the New Mexico border about 10:15 -  746 miles and we are finally out of Texas.  We also make the change to Mountain Time.

We are just going through the northeast corner of NM, and at first it looks pretty much like the high plains of Texas.  But then we begin to see more geological formations and hills.  We pass an extinct volcanoe at Capulin,  Folsom Prison (Johnny Cash),  and various highschools with mascots like: The Fighting Cyclones, The Yellowjackets (feel the sting!),  and Golden Wolves.

We hit I-25 and not long afterwards we enter Colorado over the Raton Pass.  After we get over the pass, The Rockies are to our left, the prairies to the right.  We continue on to the Welcome Center at Trinidad.  Pleasant, helpful folks there!  We pick up a road map and some literature on national parks, etc.  and make a few inquiry calls to the BLM/Forest Service.  We decide to head to the San Isabel National Forest and find a boondock spot there.

We wind into the mountains and are pointed to the Beulah Cut-Off dirt road, where we find a pullout that looks good. 

 We park and do some hiking on old (closed) service roads. Lots of aspen, evergreens and wildflowers, (as well as an area that was once a makeshift shooting range).

  As we walk along, kicking pinecones,  we can hear a jet (probably heading to Denver) overhead and I can’t help thinking of the book I just finished in which a young refugee is walking through the jungle of Cambodia, listening to bombers overhead, and accidentally kicks a grenade.

We gather rocks to make a fire-ring for later tonight and Greg scavenges for some wood.  At 5:00, the temperature is around 70, sunny and bright – perfect!  No cell coverage.  Another car arrives, with three young men (21-ish) from Fort Worth, TX.  They are moving to Colorado and have job interviews on Monday.  They are cordial and polite and introduce themselves with a handshake.  They go off to set up a tent. We find out they have never camped before, so Greg helps them get a fire going so they can roast hot dogs! They are out of sight and we don’t hear a peep.  We feast on pulled pork sandwiches, carrots and a cupcake.

I download pictures and blog while Greg reads – his current book is The Wright Brothers.  I forgot to pack my ipad, but fortunately have a couple of books with me,  and am currently reading John Vernon’s  The Last Canyon about the first exploration of the Grand Canyon area.

I wake sometime during the night and take a look at the sky.  It is gorgeous!  Filled with sparkling stars.  I don’t want to wake Greg so I try a few hand held shots, with marginal success.  Tomorrow I will have the tripod and things handy when we go to bed and try again if the sky is clear!

July 9, 2015 TX, COLORADO, WYOMING, MONTANA, DAKOTAS...

July 9, 2015  On the Road Again: Leaving Texas

We finished packing a few things this morning and pulled out at 7:45AM, with Amarillo, TX today’s destination at 550+ miles. 

Traffic getting out of Houston made us doubly happy to be leaving that behind, and the 78 degree temps made us triple-ly happy to also leave that behind.  But first we have to get out of Texas….

Waved to Sam Houston as we passed Huntsville, headed north into hazy skies.  We think it is the “African Dust” which has been carried to our part of the world, and it became more pronounced as we got nearer Dallas.  We bypassed Dallas, going through Fort Worth instead and then heading northwest, through Witchita Falls, Chilicothe and Quanah.  We are roughly following the route of the cattle drives across northern Texas.  There are also many Native American sites.

Listened to “Amarillo by Morning” by George Strait as we took in the jack-up rigs, ranches, cotton and other fields, many wind turbines, cacti, etc.  Many small towns with 500 or fewer people.

It has been obvious that Texas has been getting lots of rain.  Appreciated by many ranchers and farmers who have had several years of drought. 

  Further along, we crossed the Prairie Dog branch of the Red River and lots of standing water in fields and pastures for many miles.  Maybe a little too much rain for some! Hard to tell where the river bed is.

We have seen many trains along this route, often paralleling  the road.  The Burlington Northern & Santa Fe seems quite busy!

We arrived at Amarillo and took a slight detour to see The Cadillac Ranch, which we’d heard of ….  Someone’s idea of art, and it changes daily as many folks stop and add graffiti of their own. 

Tracked down a welcoming Walmart and enjoyed cold Jamaican chicken that Greg did on the grill last night at home and potato salad.  Temperatures reached the high nineties at their peak today, but it cooled off pleasantly.

The big damper today was an email from sister-in-law Sue.  Tom has been having back issues since about a week before the wedding(late June).  Thought he pulled something lifting his bike but it hasn’t been improving.  He went to the doc on Tuesday and was told it was nothing that a few weeks of Physical Theraphy wouldn’t take care of.  But the pain continued to get worse and finally drove them to the ER.  They did an MRI and diagnosed lymphoma – this is in Laramie, WY, where they were supposed to do a bike ride soon.   We offered to come and drive with them back to AZ (thinking Tom might be more comfortable in the Trek) but they declined.  They are headed back to AZ tomorrow and Sue is already making arrangements to be seen at the University of AZ Hospital as soon as possible.  So we will wait for details as to what exactly is wrong and what can be done. Please pray for both of them as it will probably be a difficult road ahead.