Canon City, CO (08-03-20)

 First, I just need to say that the first N is supposed to have a tilde over it- I searched for at least 2-3 minutes for a way to make it so, and gave up.  That’s ok though, the town didn’t even add it until 1994.  Cañon City.
There, I copied and pasted from somewhere.
Also, we may not have driven down here to go hiking if we knew we would be coming here next, but we booked at the last minute. Our destination from here is a little further north, Loveland CO.

Anyway, Canon city is known for quite a few things- 13 prisons, one of the highest concentrations of mountain lions in the country, and world class fossils, most of which are in museums all over the world.  Oh, and Royal Gorge.












Yep, Royal Gorge is the big tourist attraction here, and there are many ways to experience it- you can cross over it on a pedestrian bridge, a zip line or a gondola, or you can see it from a raft, a hiking trail, or a train. We chose the train and the hiking trail.















The train through the gorge is the same one we had seen on the hiking trail the other day. It’s a two hour trip, which they do 3 times a day.  They offer decent meals for purchase but we went on the 9 am ride and had already eaten. I was most interested in being in the “outdoor” car, so we wouldn’t be near too many people, but when I found out we would have to walk thru 2 cars to get to it, they were nice enough to change our tickets. The train was booked at half capacity so that was nice too.




On the first half of the trip we were treated to a narrative about the history of the area, and we learned the difference between a gorge and a canyon.  A canyon is wider than it is deep, and a gorge is deeper than it is wide.

Anyway, back in the day, the water in Canon City was polluted with chemicals, so a wooden pipeline was built along the gorge wall to bring water down into the city.  The pipeline was 8 miles long and gravity powered. In 1972 the water in it froze for so long, the town decided they needed a better solution.




The second half of the ride was quieter, but we spent the whole time outside anyway, enjoying the fresh air.

One of the other curiosities in the area is Bishop’s Castle. Jim Bishop has been single handedly building this castle for over 40 years.  It’s full of staircases and wrought iron work and even has stained glass windows. The inside is mostly an empty shell.  Or, so Paul says.













 It was also very full of tourists, so I waited outside.  I would love to come back and climb all over it another time though.

After that busy day of tourism, the following day we planned on hiking, and chose Red Canyon Park. It’s owned by the town, and has some camping spots, but it has no actual official,  marked trails. So, although we got out and walked around, we didn’t really do any hiking.















The hiking trail along the gorge is pretty short, and very easy.  There is an amusement park type place along the gorge as well, but its pretty pricey to get in, and there was nothing we wanted to do in there anyway.  So we hiked the short hike, then took some back roads to check out the area.

After a hike or other outing, we often wander around just checking things out. Paul can quite frequently be heard to say "I wonder what's down this road" as he veers off onto a dirt road.

This day we managed to make it over an hour down the road, to Cripple Creek, a small mining town that we have been to before. It was swarming with tourists so we ordered a sub, ate it in the truck, and turned around to go home.

The longer hike we managed to do is called Island in the Sky. We combined a couple of trails and made it 5.5 miles and almost 600 ft of elevation gain.

At some point we stopped for ice cream, but I felt like I couldn’t enjoy it…these people kept staring at me.  Felt like they were judging me

Salida, CO (07-29-20)

We were finally able to get to Salida, and managed to get a full week, so we can take our time exploring.

The down town area is really cool with some streets closed off to allow for outdoor dining, and all kinds of ways to play in the river .

We walked around and went in a few stores (limit 4 customers per store) but we didn't eat dinner out.

The guy surfing was the biggest surprise, but there were also rafts, kayaks, tubes, and people just floating down in life jackets. If we get a good weather day we will rent tubes.

Our first full day we packed up lunch and headed towards the town of Buena Vista, another town with excellent access to the river, but our goal was hiking.

We chose the Barbara Whipple trail system - combining 3 trails to make a 3.5 mile loop overlooking the city.

With time to spare we took a scenic drive through the pass in the mountain, as far as cottonwood lake and then turned around.












Several days we just hung out at the trailer, and I took advantage of the time and did some paperwork, organized some pictures and took more pictures of hummingbirds. I haven't gotten my good camera out yet, so these are taken with my phone.  I actually got some nice slo-mo shots but can't put them on the blog.

male Broad tailed hummingbird

male Rufous

After driving an hour north to Buena Vista to hike, for our next hike we drove an hour south to Tunnel Dr. Trail, in Cañon City.

Getting there involved a pretty drive along the Arkansas River where there are quite a few state recreation areas with access to the river.








The hike itself was a really easy 4 mile hike that went through 3 man made tunnels.

The views all along the way of the Arkansas River below were a definite bonus.

With time on our hands we detoured to check out Skyline Drive on the way home. The sign says nothing over 20 ft allowed and we are 23, but the driver didn’t think we would have a problem.













The sheer drop offs, sometimes on BOTH sides of the road made me nervous, but we survived it. I was very happy when we reached the parking area at the top.

Part of the reason for the road is to show off the dinosaur tracks that are preserved in the stone. Apparently this area has a plethora of dinosaur fossils, many of which are in museums all over the world.










After sitting around all day Saturday, we were still feeling lazy on Sunday but we found a hike right down the street that looked interesting, so we pushed ourselves to get moving.

It turns out it was totally worth the effort.

The trail was an easy 3 miles, and the rock formations were awesome to see.

We just wish we had gotten an earlier start, since we had to finish the hike in the rain. At least it was warm out.












The best weather day for tubing was Wednesday - our last day here, but again, it seemed like a lot of effort, plus it was windy. So, anyway, we decided to pass.


We have now stayed at campgrounds near The Animas, San Juan, Rio Grande and Arkansas rivers....kinda neat.

Speaking of the word “kinda”- we saw this along the way and thought it was funny, in a sad sort of way. Many RV parks are open, but most of the amenities are not, or are limited.  Many of the laundry rooms for instance, have signs that limit capacity to one person only, and some places have a sign up sheet.  I like it that way.

South Fork, CO (July 25, 2020)

Having no reservations, because we had no idea how long we would be in Farmington dealing with the truck, we called around Pagosa Springs but no one had availability. And that’s how we ended up in the small town of South Fork.....home to 5 restaurants and one gas station. 

Getting there required us to go over Wolf Creek Pass again but we were happy to get it over with and see how the truck performed. And yay, no check engine light and no code thrown.

We didn’t have any time to explore this little town- we were going to eat out but it was raining and 61 degrees - not conducive to eating outside.

Our one day there we packed a lunch and headed out to the historic mining town of Creede.

This is a neat little town with a dramatic back drop. It was an active mining town well into the 1900s, and since there is a mine tour, Paul was very interested. 

I was not, so I waited for him in the truck. 

Because of Covid they are only doing self guided audio tours, which was perfect, plus he was the only one in there, even better. It’s not actually in the mine, but they blasted through the rock to create the tour area, and he said it was very well done. 

From there we drove the 17 mile historic “road” to look at the remains of local mines and the Humphrey Mill. There are all kinds of warnings to make sure your vehicle is in great shape and can handle a very rough, narrow road. 

I had trepidation taking the dually but we figured we could always turn around. 

We made it the whole way but the most interesting part was at the very end, and we could have skipped the jarring trip there.

I had wanted to hike the short trail to the nearby pinnacles, but it’s 900 ft of gain, and just walking around casually reminded me sharply that we are at 10,000 ft.

With that plan nixed, we drove to North Clear Creek Falls. It was a gorgeous waterfall, and no hiking required.   

We took the backroads on our way home, just to check out more of the area. It seems that wherever we look in Colorado, the views are amazing.