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Rockies and Red Rocks

September - October 2023
Targeting Colorado, Utah, & New Mexico. A road trip camping in the back of our Dodge minivan. Starting off thinking this will be a 6 week trip, we will see how it goes. Read more
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  • Rockies and Red Rocks
    1
    Day 10

    Pikes Peak or bust

    September 14, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 50 °F

    We had a leisurely start to the day highlighted by a shower (no showers the 3 nights in Rocky mountain NP. We then headed into Manitou Falls for a walk around town before our ride on the cog train to Pikes peak. Great scenery and views on the way up .... most of the way. When we got to the top it was snowing, so very limited visibility from there. While on top, we tried the famous pikes peak donuts, which were OK. We returned after about 45 minutes on the peak. The today trip was about 3 hours.

    After the cog ride we went to a western dinner/show at the Flying W Ranch. The ranch has been doing shows since 1953 and was recommended by a friend who was here 25 years ago. The ranch burnt to the ground ( along with over 200 houses) from a forest fire in 2012. They rebuilt and opened again in 2020. First we walked around the ranch where they had some hands on activities for kids and seeing the farm animals. Then we were entertained by native American dancers. Dinner was a chuckwagon meal of brisket, sausage, beans, baked potatoes, applesauce, bread and spice cake served in a tin plate. It was delicious. The final entertainment was a group of 5 guys with string instruments who sang western songs in 4 and 5 part harmonies. They were very good musicians!
    It was a good day!    Read more

  • Rockies and Red Rocks
    Day 11

    Manitou Incline / Manitou Springs

    September 15, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 50 °F

    Yesterday, we saw the Manitou Incline and decided to give it a shot before leaving town. We walked about 1.25 miles from town to get warmed up. We then started up the former incline bed, with the very irregular shaped railroad ties as steps.

    There are 2768 steps that take you up over 2000 feet in elevation in less than a mile, taking you from 6500 ft to 8500 ft elevation. Part of what makes this difficult for us low-landers is the elevation. While we weren't speedy, we completed it in roughly 90 minutes. Our son, Jason, had done it this spring in less than half the time it took us.

    After completing the summit, we returned via a 3 mile downhill trail.

    https://www.pikes-peak.com/manitou-incline-hike…

    Oh, and this hike was done in the rain in 50 deg weather. The weather was actually a plus, kept is cool. We found a Laundromat to dry our clothes while we had a beer and food at the Manitou brewery.

    We then started our drive to Lathrop State Park, with a stop at the crafty canary brewery (it was raining). Tomorrow we will visit Great Sand dunes MP.    Read more

  • Rockies and Red Rocks
    Day 12

    Great Sand Dunes

    September 16, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 59 °F

    We started off with Eileen cooking breakfast. After that, we hopped on the car for the 80 minute drive to Great Sand Dunes NP. Along the way we stopped at Spindrift Sand Boards to pick up boards to use as sleds, no standing up for us.

    As you approach the park, the view is amazing. At the base of the mountains, there are miles of sand dunes, with the highest being about 750 ft. It doesn't look like it could be real.

    Once in the park, we hiked through the sand to the dunes. We didn't do that well on our first couple attempts, in part by not picking sand that was really dry. We kept turning and flipping. A couple guys told us that for them, the key was to not keep hands on handles, but keeping them outside sled to steer. After that, we picked a fairly steep, long run and had success. We made 4 runs on this (you have to hike back up so it takes a while). Videos are attached, make sure you have volume turned up.

    When we got to the car, we spent 15 minutes getting most of the sand off of us, including eyes, nose, and ears.

    After leaving the park, we stopped at Zapata Falls at the recommendation of Amy, the woman who rented us sand boards. It was a .5 mile hike at 9000 ft. To see the falls, you had to hike up and across the stream at the top. Pretty cool, with the hike.

    After that, we returned the boards and spent 20 minutes talking with Amy. She has big plans to expand to multiple locations and to manufacturer hemp sand boards. She and her husband and 4 dogs live in a tiny house (under 200 SQ ft) off grid.

    Next stop was the Crafty Canary brewery (2nd day) for dinner and beer. The food was great.

    We tried to find a shower in the campground but no luck with that, a problem for tomorrow.    Read more

  • Rockies and Red Rocks
    Day 13

    Great Sand Dunes to Gunnison

    September 17, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 64 °F

    Happy anniversary to us. We left our campsite and headed towards the Black Canyon of Gunnison. Our friend, Amy from Sanddrifts Board Rental, told us about the Great Sand Recreation Center. It has swimming, basketball, camping and other things. But it has what is called the Greenhouse, which is a real greenhouse where they used to grow tomatoes and other vegetables. The rules for producing and selling became too intense that they quit. The greenhouse then got turned into a 21+ hot tub area with four tubs ranging from 98° to 112°. The tubs are fed from hot springs. There are a lot of plants still in the greenhouse giving it a very peaceful look. We tried out all four tubs and the sauna. There is also a bar and food which we partook. It was a wonderful way to spend a few hours. Sometimes the most interesting stops come from talking to other people. We then got back on the road and traveled to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison where we are camping in the park campground.Read more

  • Rockies and Red Rocks
    Day 14

    Black Canyon of the Gunnison

    September 18, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 59 °F

    While a lot of national parks get over 3 million visits a year, Black Canyon of the Gunnison usually gets around 300,000. An often overlooked park, it has very different and beautiful scenery. The canyon is the longest and deepest canyon in the west . At one point, the two sides are only about 45 feet apart. It is very narrow but deep and impressive. We hiked the Small Oak Trail which went just below the edge of the canyon. Going any lower required a permit and climbing skills. A lot of young'uns will hike to the bottom and climb back up. The trail is lined with oak trees, but given the small amount of water and sun, they grow slowly. A small tree could be over 80 years old. Other than chippies, a snake, and a lot of birds, we didn't see any other wildlife. After the hike we drove the rim and stopped at some of the look out points. There was a little rain in the air. We were staying in the park campground and had a very nice, private site. We went back to the campground, built a fire, and had Jeff's favorite camping meal, mashed potatoes and Dinty Moore Stew . Once the clouds cleared, the sky was filled with stars once again. During the night we heard a pack of some kind of animals - maybe wolves or coyotes, not sure - getting a prey.Read more

  • Rockies and Red Rocks
    Day 15

    Black Canyon to Arches

    September 19, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 82 °F

    Fairly uneventful day. After getting packed up at Black Canyon, we made a couple stops in Montrose, including replenishing our food supply.

    We took the scenic route 128 from I70 down toward Moab. We ended up with a campsite at the BLM Hall Canyon campground. It has 11 sites, right on the Colorado River. It is about a 15 minute drive from Arches Park and Moab.

    We venture into Moab and stopped at the Moab brewery followed by desert and coffee at Bonjour bakery.

    After we crawled into the van the wind kicked up. It was the first night in a while we had the hatch and windows open, much warmer here. A camper across the way had a tent on top of their van. The winds sent them into the van.

    We plan on spending 3 nights in this site.    Read more

  • Rockies and Red Rocks
    11
    Day 16

    Arches National Park

    September 20, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 66 °F

    Our campground, Hal canyon, was about a 15 minutes drive to the park entrance.

    After a stop at the visitors center, we headed to the Devil's Garden hike. This 8 mile hike presented some incredible scenery and by taking the "primitive" route on the way back, it added a little extra challenge to it. The furthest point on the hunt was a rock formation called Dark Angel. Check out the picture and help me figure out which was the real dark angel.

    We did stop at various viewpoints including Delicate Arch.

    The day was completed by a stop at Proper Brewing for a burger and beer.    Read more

  • Rockies and Red Rocks
    Day 17

    Canyonlands National Park

    September 21, 2023 in the United States ⋅ 🌬 72 °F

    Canyonlands is really spread out with the unique sections. We headed to the closest part of the park, known as Island in the Sky. It took us about 50 minutes to reach the entrance, where we encountered a short line of cars to get in.

    The diversity of landscape in just this section of the park is incredible. Our first hike was on Lathrop trail go the canyon rim. The first leg was through a grassy, sandy desert area. We transitioned to a rocky area with beautiful formations before getting to the rim of the canyon.

    Our second stop was at Mesa Arch. This was a relatively crowded half mile hike to a very cool arch. Seemed wrong to me that someone was able to pull into a handicapped parking spot (with permit) and then walk 1/2 mile over rocky, uneven terrain that included some elevation.

    The third hike was at Mesa Butte. There were two parts to the hike. The first took you to a granary storage area built into a cliff , supposedly over 1000 years ago. Most of the bricks were still in place. From there we climbed the Butte. Lots of scrambling and climbing up smooth rock. It was fun, the wind was strong, and the views were incredible. It was a great way to wrap up the day in the park

    Dinner was pizza, unfortunately they did not serve beer.    Read more

  • Rockies and Red Rocks
    Day 18

    Arches part 2

    September 22, 2023 in the United States ⋅ 🌬 79 °F

    Today, after a leisurely morning, we left our very nice BLM campsite and went back to Arches NP. We hiked the Delicate Arch trail. We had seen this arch from a viewing point but today we got up close and personal. It was a popular trail and at times we felt like a line of ants climbing up rocks, but the end sight was worth it. After a few pictures we headed back. One of the cool things that happens here is that someone will always offer to take a picture of both of us. In return we have done the same. It is a special kind of understanding among NP travelers.

    Our second hike took us to three more arches. We saw Sand Arch, Broken Arch and Tapestry Arch. It was a 3 mile loop trail that also took us through the camp sites. It was a pretty easy hike but very pretty and mostly quiet. We walked through a lot of sand all of which had come from the weathering of the sandstone rock all around us.

    Tonight we are staying in an airbnb. After 17 nights in the van, tonight we will sleep in a bed, get a good hot shower, and do laundry. There also is a pool and hot tub for our use. Living in luxury! Actually, we have 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.

    While in the hot tub, we had a nice conversation with a young couple from rural Wisconsin on their honeymoon. He is 19, she is 20. Also talked to a couple about our age from Missouri.    Read more

  • Rockies and Red Rocks
    1
    Day 19

    Capital Reef day 1

    September 23, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 61 °F

    We had a leisurely morning at our Airbnb then packed up all fresh and clean. It was about 3 hours to Capital Reef NP. We went to the visitor center and found that we were in the Fruita area. This area is an area where all of the mountains focus together in that area and the water runs there making the area very fertile and where crops grow easily. It looks very weird after being surrounded by nothing but rock and not seeing much grow at all. An Indian group lived here and had set up an gravity irrigation system. This was followed by 10 Mormon families. They planted a lot of orchards and grew about a dozen different fruits along with some vegetables. They had a school and managed to live here for about 30 years. Eventually they all sold their property to the N P service with the last house being sold in 1969. The orchards are now owned and managed by the NP service and they open certain orchards to the public. If you eat the fruit there it doesn't cost anything. If you take it with you you are to use the honor system and pay $2.00 a pound. We got two apples and two peaches for our pound. Next to orchard was a very nice picnic area.

    We did a 4 mile hike (879 ft elevation chg) near there where we played on the rocks and explored some small canyons. Next we drove the scenic road.

    For dinner, we headed into town where we ate at the Rim Rock Restaurant. Jeff had a plate with bison sausage, grouse and trout. Eileen had ribs. Eileen ordered an Irish coffee which was delivered as a cup of black coffee, a shot of Jack Daniels, and several creamers.

     Next stop was the Singletree Campground. It is in the Dixie National Forest. Lots of pine trees in the area although the campsites were fairly open.    Read more

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