October 2022
Some adjustments for me coming from Utah. First was the dry air which sucks all the moisture from your body. Then there was the drastic change in temperature once I climbed to the 10,000 foot mark in Breckenridge. And there was readjusting to a lot more people and traffic – oh, and speed limits with highway patrol enforcement. Realized I needed to slow back down to California speeds. There is also a bigger risk of vehicle theft both by people and the occasional bear – smash and grab is not limited to California. But then there were the fall colors and a lot more food and basic necessity options.
COLORADO NATIONAL MONUMENT; FRUITA
I started at the Colorado National Monument in Fruita, staying at the Saddlehorn campground which had beautiful views and flush toilets instead of just the single vault, oh and trash bins – the small luxuries. While a nice campground, you do have to pay the park fee of $20 so if you are staying one night, you may want to venture to nearby BLM land where you can find free dispersed camping. I randomly picked a spot which turned out to be next to another female traveler, Natalie, who is on a similar path – with whom I shared dinner (gourmet dish of canned chili over packaged mashed potatoes (dry form, add water) and travel tips. I also met a couple from the Bay Area who recognized my car from Needles (in Canyonlands) who had a very nice set up for sleeping and traveling and a few other folks from random places.
BRECKENRIDGE
Then it was off to Breckenridge where I was also able to mix in a bit of family time with my cousin and her family at their condo. Timing was fantastic as I was able to catch my first of many changing of the leaves – the drive was stunning. Turns out it was also Oktoberfest so there were thousands of people in town which was a shock to the system after being in the mountains for weeks and seeing maybe 50 to 100 people on any given day. In addition to some hiking up and down the mountain, we took a beautiful bike ride as you can see from the shot Ruth took of me from behind on my sturdy rented gravel bike from Breckenridge Ski & Sport (not the best quality but very reasonable daily rental rate).
My last afternoon in Breckenridge was spent trying to bear proof my car – because I read they had some sightings in Fort Collins, my next stop. It is October after all and they are in their fatten up stage for hibernation. Since I am carrying my bedroom, kitchen, etc. all in my car, I am a bit paranoid about the inside of my car becoming a bear’s lunch box with or without me in it. So I bought more containers and baggies and sealed everything with a scent so I would be ready for my next night of camping in Fort Collins with Ruth. Yea, I may have overdone it. Turns out we were on a small lake on private property and little chance of bear sightings.
FORT COLLINS / LOVELAND / ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK
In Fort Collins I was able to watch my top ranked cousin Ruth waterskiing. You can see the video posts in that section of my blog. I also took in a walk and then a bike ride through a mining gravel pit turned wildlife habitat. I then headed to Colorado Springs detouring through an amazing drive through Loveland where I stopped at the outdoor Benson Sculpture Garden which is free and pretty cool, and then headed along the rocky river and men and women fly fishing to Rocky Mountain National Park – highly recommend the drive even if you don’t make it to the park. I had to wait until 3pm to enter as I did not have a reservation and unfortunately, a lot of other people did the same thing even though it was cold and raining. I did get to see the requisite elk which was too far for a decent photo and some great scenery.
COLORADO SPRINGS
Colorado Springs has plenty of outdoor activities and so far my favorite part of Colorado as lots to offer but not overly crowded. We rode bikes through Valley of the Gods (free to enter) and up some view hills where we caught this amazing abstract rainbow. We put in an 8 or so mile hike (RT) through the free to park Red Rock Canyon (not to be confused with Redrock Parks) from the house to a really good Mexican restaurant in Manitou Springs. We stopped at the Buffalo Lodge, bike focused lodging with bike racks in each room and activities catering to cyclists. I also took a drive through the cute downtown and then through the Air Force Academy campus which has some nice grounds you can stroll around – sadly the award winning cathedral I came to see is covered for renovations through 2024. On my last night had a very tasty lasagna dinner at Paninos and because I was so full, Ruth and I walked part of the way back to work it off and saw a group of deer having their dinner in someone’s yard.
PUEBLO
Though not necessarily a hot spot, I took a side trip to Pueblo and enjoyed an amazing $4.50 green chili pork burrito from small pick up only storefront Tortilleria Delicias – also known for their large, tasty tortillas ($3 / $3.50) – the burrito might alone be worth the trip. I also walked around the historic downtown, checked out the railroad cars (the Pueblo Railway Museum was not yet open), visited the Riverwalk, and toured the historic Elks Lodge (built in 1888) with Jeff, a friend of Ruth’s and a former (and still hot) Mr. Colorado. All free and interesting.
BOULDER / DENVER
From Colorado Springs, after a quick detour to California (by air), I drove to Boulder where I stayed with friend Jeannie and her daughter. Hiking highlights (all free, including the parking) were Redrock Parks and Amphitheatre outside Denver (stock photo from internet below), which if you are not familiar, is a beautiful outdoor concert venue built into the rocks with some great trails surrounding it and lots of stairs to climb though you do need to arrive before 1pm on concert days which is almost every day; the reservoir outside Jeannie’s place for more fall colors; and capped off with my one hike with Jeannie up the Royal Arch Trail. This last hike was definitely one of the harder hikes I have done in a while. It is a 3.4 mile out and back with a 1,469 elevation gain and a lot of boulders/steep steps to climb. Coming down was hard and when we were near the bottom I twisted my ankle so lots of icing and low impact for the time being.
On the food and drink front, we had some tasty cocktails at the Bitter Bar in downtown Boulder where the waitress brought out a rhubarb liqueur for us to try which was surprisingly tasty. In Denver we headed to the hipster Highlands neighborhood for dinner at Sushi Hai with new friend Jen where we had some sushi and shared an amazing calamari appetizer. And thus concluded Colorado (well, the part worth seeing – not much to see east of Denver, at least along the flat drive along 70).
MESA VERDE AND CANYON OF THE ANCIENTS
So I missed the main attraction at Mesa Verde, the cliff dwellings as I was a bit tired and had already visited Monument Valley in Utah (after driving hundreds of miles the previous day), Hovenweep and Canyon of the Ancients. And I still planned to drive to Durango for dinner and Los Alamos, NM for the night. Would not recommend trying to see this all in one day! Mesa Verde was pretty and Canyon of the Ancients (spread among various hikes in different locales so I stuck to just the visitor center area) was interesting.
