Month: June 2015

Escaping the heat

SUNSET OVER THE LA SAL MOUNTAINS

This was the view from our camp. I can’t quite find the words to do it justice…so I’m just going to shut up about it and let the picture speak for itself.

The heat came as predicted and we headed for cooler climes. It’s only about thirty miles from the river, but it’s thirty miles straight up. Aspen groves, creeks, and World Class mountain biking abound! A hundred years ago we probably would have thrown up a cabin and called it a day.

THE WOLE ENCHILADA

Back on the Colorado River

THE COLORADO ON A VERY HOT DAY

It’s still raining all around us so we decided to spend a few more days on the river. Next week it’s supposed to be over 105…we’ll try to miss that.

In the mean time, it seems that Kaila has found a way to feed us. Every night the river guiding companies pull-out on the beach next to our camp and camp in the group camp adjacent to us. Kaila has charmed her way into helping the guides cook and even CLEAN UP their meals. Her hard work has earned her the role of honorary river guide AND it’s gotten us all a couple of nights of strawberry shortcake!

RED CLIFFS OVER THE COLORADO

Trying to hide from the rain

LIGHTNING OVER THE COLORADO RIVER

Apparently there’s some hurricane down Mexico way that’s wrecking the weather in the area. With four solid days of rain forecast in Southern Colorado we skipped out and headed back to the Colorado River where the forecast was ninety degree days and only occasional T-storms. At about three am Copper D. Dawg let me know that he was VERY unhappy with the thunder and lightning. So we got up and let nature entertain us…well one of us anyway…by bouncing lightning off the canyon walls for nearly three hours.

T-REX LIGHTNING

The Valley of The Gods

CLINT WAS HERE

I’ve passed by the turn-off for the Valley of the Gods at least half a dozen times and every time I had a schedule and someplace to be, always promising myself that next time…Well, we finally made it and I’ve gotta say that after getting fleeced at yet another tribal rip-off – Monument valley ($20 to enter and there’s no hiking on the formations) – this place is nothing short of stepping into your own personal spaghetti western. Free entrance. Hiking anywhere and everywhere. And you can curl up with your six gun and sleep underneath any one of dozens of amazing buttes.

Gooseneck State Park

NOT YOUR GRANDFATHER’S HORSESHOE BEND

This is a REALLY cool place. We highly recommend it. A hearty thanks to our friend Mark who recommended it to us. Lightly regulated remote camping with a well maintained pit toilet. Check, check, and check.

More Gooseneck State Park

MORE BENDS, LESS CONGESTION

It’s just a few miles off the 163 but it might as well have been a thousand. This place has two or three times the bendies of Horseshoe Bend and none – I mean zero – of the congestion.

We pulled in and were greeted with a total of four – yes four – campers. We drove about a half a mile and camped literally thirty feet from the one thousand foot drop into the San Juan river. It was AWESOME! Just be careful if you get up to take a leak in the middle of the night.

PASSING THUNDER STORM

As we were setting up this cell pushed through to our north and shook things up quite a bit. The winds went from about two mph to about thirty in a heart beat and we saw at least one tent commit suicide by flinging itself into the abyss.