Category Archives: Colorado

Beginning our journey north

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Meeting friends at Salida, CO

My next stop was Salida, CO where I will meet up with John and Linda and caravan up to Baker City, OR for a rally there and then begin our Canada adventure.  I had a bit of trouble finding the place John had designated to camp and eventually meet, but a couple of calls to John straightened me out.  It is the Arkansas River Recreation Area and runs all along the Arkansas River.  Here is my no hook-up site.

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I was watching out across the river and spotted this car driving near the railroad tracks.  I thought it a bit odd since it’s trunk was open and it had a Dominoes pizza delivery sign on top of it.  There was a guy walking along the tracks guiding the way and several people in the trunk dangling their legs out the back just enjoying the ride. Maybe he was delivering pizza to the railroad. HA!

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Here is a pic of the sunset that night.

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John and Linda meet up

The next day John and Linda came down and they treated me to a great pizza at Amico’s in town.  That pizza is soooo delicious.

Then we took off and our destination was a winery at Palisade, CO.  We had to go over the Monarch Pass.  It was 7 miles going up and 9 miles going down.  Very slow going both ways.  I took this pic at the summit which was 11,300 feet.

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It was pretty smooth sailing once we got over the pass.  We stopped at the American Legion Memorial Park in Gunnison, CO for lunch and to let the dogs run.  It was a beautiful day.

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Final stop

Our last stop of the day was at the St. Kathryn’s Winery in Palisade, CO just outside of Grand Junction.  It was a beautiful winery and after the long day some wine tasting was in order.  They had some really great wines.

Then we pulled up our chairs and had wine and cheese.  Thanks Harvest Host for finding us this great spot to spend the night.

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Long day…

It was a long day but it was good.  Tuesday we will have even a longer day driving, but then it will be some short days after that.  Our goal will be to reach another winery outside of Santaquin, UT.

A beautiful day in the Sangre De Cristo Mountains

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Snow flurries

Woke up this morning to more snow flurries.  It did collect on the ground for a little while but then warmed up and melted.  However it did snow most of the day.

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I got my Wave 3 out of storage and fired it up and it is keeping the rig at just the right temperature.  It didn’t take Chica long to figure out the warmest spot.

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Short 4WD run

After it stopped snowing and things were starting to dry out I took a trip down to the Visitor’s Center.  Nice views from there and really informative Rangers.  By the way I forgot to mention that the mountains that I am backed up to are the Sangre De Cristo Mountains.

After looking around in the Visitor’s Center I decided to go for a ride.  There is a 4WD road that heads up into the mountains although most of it is closed until later in the Spring.  So off I went.  Here is the spot where I turned around.  A sign said to deflate tires to 20 lbs because of soft sand.  Unfortunately I did not have my tire inflator with me so this was the end of the trail for me.

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On my return trip I spotted some mule deer off the side of the road.  I got out and took these pics.  They did not seem to be bothered by me at all.

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This one was only about 15 feet away when I took this shot.

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I got this pic of the sunset last night.  Really beautiful.

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Great day…

Today I awoke to lots of sunshine.  I just had to go for a hike my last full day here.  I chose the Zapata Falls.  They are a few miles outside of the park and about 4 miles up a washboard gravel road.  This is a pic after driving about 1/2 up.

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Zapata Falls

Once at the top there is a hike of 1/2 mile which isn’t too bad except there was an elevation gain of 400′.  Up, up and away.

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This was a pic of the mountains about 1/2 way up the trail.

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Finally I reached the falls except there was no real falls at this time.  The snowpack has not melted enough I guess.  This is a pic of the river.

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The falls would be coming down in this area.  There was still snow and ice here.

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Down the hill and back to camp

Then it was down the hill.  What beautiful scenery!

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Looks like it might rain…

This is a pic heading into the campsite about 5 miles from here.  Looks like it may rain.  Once I got back it sprinkled a bit, but that was it.

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It was a great day!

Great Sand Dunes National Park

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Add Colorado to my “Visited States”

I left Taos and the weather was perfect.  A great day for driving.  It was only 134 miles but if you asked Chica she would tell you it was 1,000.  She hasn’t quite got used to the movement of her new home.  Hang in there bumkins!

Our destination was Great Sand Dunes National Park.  The scenery heading up there was fantastic.

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I can add Colorado to my map of states that I have RV’d in.  By the way I have made a small map of all those states on the right sidebar just below the Site Meter.

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It didn’t cost me anything to get into the park.  Just show my Geezer Pass.  Plus the camping was 1/2 price for no hook-up sites. I am camped in the Pinyon Flats campground and found a nice site that was fairly level in Loop 2.  Chica and I walked down and paid for 4 days and we are settled in for a nice relaxing time.

We had to move…

The next morning I was walking around the site and noticed that they had put a reserved sign on the post that covered the last 2 days we had already paid for.  What is that all about.  There was no reservation sign on the post when I posted our receipt.  I went down and talked to the host who said there was a huge group of kids coming on the 9th and 10th but I could stay in that site tonight.

I decided I better move now rather then later so I piled everything back into the rig and moved.  I had planned on moving to a particular site that seemed fairly level, but after moving there, I realized I wouldn’t have room for the toad (Billy).

Then it started to hail and thunder like crazy.  I have never seen snow hail like I did up here.  I finally found a good spot just when it finished storming.

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I took a couple pics of the sand dunes as well.  Yes those are sand dunes and not snow dunes.

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Just after I got moved we had a visitor.  Chica didn’t know what to think of it even though I have told her about all the bears and big animals they have up here.  It is not a great pic as it was taken through my screen.

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Went for a walk…

The weather cleared up and I decided we need to go for a walk.  I dressed Chica in her stylish best and we hit the road.  She hates her coat, but puts up with it.

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Love this place…

I really love this park.  It has some fantastic scenery.  I just wish I was here a bit later in the season.  There are some awesome 4WD trails some leading as high as 13,000 feet, but I am afraid that the creeks are running too high for me to chance it.  I am thinking of going to Zapata Falls which is off a dirt road and a short hike.  Stay tuned!

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In the meantime this is my backyard.  Life is good!