11/28/22    I need to begin this final post with a prolog I'm adding from my sons apartment in Seattle, Wa. He is in Japan and had been planning the trip for many months with the hope Japan would lift some of their Covid travel restrictions and they did. At some point in my trip I offered to come cat sit for him rather than put his cat in a boarding location and he took me up on the idea so I've done a small amount of exploring. The weather has been mostly clear with minimal rain but it has been cold and there is a chance of snow most of this week. The photos I posted from Snoqualmie Pass on I-90 were taken on a day where west of the Pass it was sunny and clear and at the summit and east was socked in and the moisture in the clouds was freezing on the Fir trees. I had hoped to add some mountain photos from here, especially of snow covered Mt. Rainier but the haze and sometimes smoke has stymied my attempts.

 

 Flying in at one point I could see Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Adams in Washington and Mt. Hood in Oregon, 4 impressive volcanoes. The photo is Mt. Rainier with Mt. St. Helens in the background.  I'm here until Dec 1st when my son and I fly to Sacramento to see my brother and his wife. I return home to Tallahassee Dec. 7.

 

 

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Well I'm home and didn't disappear though my failure to post photos and notes seemed abrupt. My plans to use libraries for my posting were interrupted due to bigger problems and I missed the towns that were big enough to have a library. And my lack of commitment to posting didn't help!

I have tallied up a few things I typically track. I did 6630 miles used 602 gallons of gas at a cost of $2676(avg $4.45/gal) for an average of 11 mpg which is good for my 2002 truck with only a 4 speed transmission. I was gone 141 days and I spent 6 nights in private RV Parks and 135 nights either in National Forest campgrounds or dispersed areas, State or National Parks, Army Corp of Engineer campgrounds or municipal areas. My average cost per night of camping was $9.80 so you can see that my style of camping is quite cheap except for gas to get where I like to go. I took over 1000 photos and spent many hours deciding what to keep as well as post. I've got to trim my Google photo page since I've just about used up my free 15gb of storage. You can find the photos at https://photos.app.goo.gl/g3iGwJA3byeTQpfX8

So I'm going to give you a recap from my last posting which ended with Cottonwood Lake CG.  I spent 8 days there and was about 10 miles west of Buena Vista, Co. A nice town that I've been through before but I got to explore a little this trip. They have a nice library with good wifi and I had hoped to use it twice but that didn't happen and I planned to substitute the library at Salida, Co while I explored the old town and checked out a local brewery/pizzeria next to the library! I had only one problem, unexpectedly I could only stay 1 night so Salida, at 7053 ft, is still on the visit list. It sits in the Upper Arkansas River valley as does Buena Vista, at 7965 ft,  and Leadville, at 10152 ft, and the Twin Lakes area, at 9200+ ft, the valley rising as you go from south to north and the west side is famous for its string of Fourteeners and if you look at a map you'll see an impressive line of BIG and BEAUTIFUL mountains I've visited this area about 4 times and would do it again. I'd like to see the valley and the surrounding peaks in the Winter but I would never tolerate the cold. Leadville is at the northern end of the valley and Salida near the southern end.

The path after Salida didn't offer a library or other significant access until I reached Santa Fe on my way home in late September. I tried using my phone as a hotspot but it never worked efficiently.

So for the majority of September I continued to meander in the Southwest quadrant of Colorado and I rarely drove more than 75 miles between campgrounds so I got an opportunity to explore the area in more detail. I had arrived in Colorado on June 20th and didn't leave the state until Sept 12th. 

This was a different style for me. In what's a normal trip for me I would have covered a much greater area and with 4 and 1/2 months I may have easily gone to Seattle to see my son. But this was not a normal year , between my F150 tow vehicle being over 20 years old with 203K miles and the price of Gas I decided on a limited travel area and I really enjoyed the benefits of that plan. I gained a better feel for the areas and the people. I traveled many dirt/gravel/rock roads getting to campgrounds and dispersed camping areas and while I had a limit of tolerance for rough they still took there toll on the truck and the trailer. I recently got my truck out of a shop. They replaced both exhaust manifolds on my V8 engine and it's a tough nasty job and I'm thankful they were successful on such an old rust bucket! One side was cracked and other missing bolts that had rusted away.  I'm $1300 poorer but given what was done it's not a bad price.

The passenger side exhaust manifold started leaking enough for me to hear it on my first significant heading home day. I left Santa Fe Sept 24th and camped just east of Amarillo, Tx off of I-40 and everyone heard me coming. I sounded like a big badass Harley! It got a little louder the next day traveling through Oklahoma but being on I-40 it wasn't bad. But unfortunately I couldn't explore with just the truck so I stayed hitched up and did 3 1 nite stands at Federal campgrounds. The truck didn't get any worse and I got home Sept 29th, 1 day before my youngest granddaughter turned 5. 

But my last month of the trip was great in terms of seeing new places and wondrous scenery. I was hoping to see the Aspen turn their Golden Fall color but the change came late this year and I heard is was due to warmer temps and a very wet Southwest Monsoon season, and I can attest to the wetness!! I saw a few pockets of Aspen turning gold at high altitudes but nothing like I've seen in the past.

 

So on Labor Day I headed to O'Haver Lake CG  which is a National Forest site on a small peaceful lake with lots of visible trout swimming around. Unfortunately whoever laid out the campsites had no idea of camping and crammed sites in. The drive to this campground was interesting. It was Labor Day and I expected some traffic but thank goodness I was going south out of Buena Vista. Just south of Buena Vista you join Rt. 285. 95% of the southbound traffic was going east on Rt. 285. 285 goes to Denver. The north bound traffic was doing the same and it was backed up for many miles and there were almost as many campers as cars.There were no backups going southbound. It reminded me how the traffic would get on a Sunday in the 70's with folks going home to the D.C. area from the Maryland seashore via the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. 

I only stayed 1 nite at O'Haver and continued south on Rt. 285 over Poncha Pass into the northern end of the San Luis Valley which extends into New Mexico. At 100 miles long and 65 miles wide the San Luis Valley is the largest in Colorado and at an average of 7600 ft the largest high altitude desert in North America.  There I went to just outside the town of Crestone, Co to North Crestone Creek NF CG. A small campground with sites along the creek.

 There were many tent campers and most sites would only accommodate a small camper which added to the peacefulness of the campground I stayed 5 days and went to sleep each night with the sound of the rushing creek. I did some hiking but minor. The area has many trails going to peaks as high as 13,000 ft in the Sange de Cristo mountain range. I was fortunate to enjoy a recently opened Brew/Pub in Crestone. The area is a haven for many religious groups. If you look on a map at Great Sand Dunes National Park you'll see Crestone just a little north. It impressed me as a possible summertime haven if you could find a nice mountain spot.

On Sept. 12th I left Crestone and headed south to Antonito then into New Mexico via Rt.17 and Cumbres Pass a beautiful drive that goes up to just over 10,000 feet. I had a few glimpses of small patches of golden Aspens, I would see them again.  I had been in Colorado since June 20th and never left the southwest quadrant. I went to the town of Chama, NM and stayed in the Rio Chama RV park for 3 nites. As critical as I am about the typical RV park I enjoyed my stay and talked with the staff quite a bit. I think it would be a candidate for a summer job I like the area.

The stay at Chama had been arranged back in June when I decided I would ride the Cumbres-Toltec scenic railroad that runs between Antonito, Colorado to Chama, New Mexico via the Cumbres pass that I drove over.  The ride was great and the scenery outstanding. I elected to take the train from Chama to Antonito then ride a Motor Coach back to Chama. The train offered the opportunity to enjoy the geography and I got to see a few golden Aspen patches up at the higher altitudes. We had lunch at a facility the train company has near the pass. It was a fine lunch and the overall experience was great...I'd recommend it.

At this point I reaped the benefits of a change in plans. 

 

I had been anticipating the train for a few months but I had modified my itinerary in August and went back to the areas of Northern New Mexico that I couldn't visit as I had intended in May due to many of the National Forests being closed due to wildfires.

So from Chama I did a short drive to Hopewell Lake NF CG in extreme Northern New Mexico, one of my top 5 favorite campgrounds. This was my 4th visit in 10 years. The posted photos of the Milky Way were taken from here. The closest towns are small and over 20 miles away so there is no light pollution and the star gazing is amazing. It sits at 9500 ft in the Carson National Forest.

As expected the evenings were cool and the highs around 70, in other words about perfect! A campfire every night. I enjoyed some hiking on a portion of the Continental Divide Trial that runs through the campground. One afternoon a young couple rode up on bikes asking about the campground water system which was off so I offered them some water for their rather small containers. They were from Switzerland and were riding the entire trail, had started in Alberta, Canada and would finish near Deming, NM. That's a very long ride on rough trails and backroads with significant elevation changes and you're out in the boonies much of the time but knowing some of the areas they went through I envy them for what they got to see. I also admired their ability to do the trail.

 

 

After 4 days I headed southeast toward Taos, NM and then south to Santa Barbara Campground along the Santa Barbara river, which many would call a creek. The river was very nice and the surrounding mountains and forest were fantastic. I met a young couple who were camphosts and they said the big fires got to about 12 miles away and they were from Mora, NM and they had friends and family who had lost their homes. The fires had burned over 300,000 acres of forest just like the one I was camping in. It makes me sad to think of the losses. And all from a controlled burn that got away from the Forest Service.

 

 I completed my revisit plan with 2 nights at Black Canyon NF CG up in the mountains 8 mi out of downtown Santa Fe and about a mile from Hyde Memorial State Park. The State Park has water and electric campsites and a dump station for $14 a nite. It's almost at 9000 ft so days and evenings are nice even in summer and it's a quick easy drive to town. I first visited Santa Fe on a long trip in 2012 and have returned 3 or 4 times. I enjoy the old town area but the growth has been significant in the last 10 years and the traffic is bad any time of day. Lots of retirees flocking there. New Mexico has some extraordinary places and geology to see.

 

Overall it was a great trip and I enjoyed the easy pace and got to explore some areas of New Mexico and Colorado in detail. My issues with the altitude were intense at times and I knew I was losing weight but when I got on the scales at home I was surprised to see I had lost 25 lbs. I trying my best to keep it off!!