09/25/01:
After leaving the Great Sand Dunes I ended up in the Pike National Forest again. This time camped at 9500 feet on FR 431 off US 285 above Antero Junction. Yesterday I didn't do anything. Well, I went looking for Salt Creek Trail but didn't find it so went back to the campsite. I guess I was somewhat down because of the terrorist crap as well as its impact on the financial markets. So I just hung out and read and didn't do much of anything else.
After another night in the 20's I headed north on US 285 again. When I got to CO 9 I followed it 10-12 miles along several 14000 footers. Very nice. I tried a couple of forest roads looking for a campsite, including Boreas Pass Road. Boreas Pass is 13000 feet which would have been a new record for me. However, they had the old road to the top of the pass blocked off so I turned around and went back. Passing a fenced in field I saw some strange looking shaggy cows. Driving down the road I came across one of them standing in the middle of the road. So I got out of the truck and took its picture as it stared back at me.
I heard on the radio where they were going to put down several herds of elk totaling close to 1000 in southern Colorado. They apparently have a disease similar to mad cow disease or hoof and mouth disease that can also be transmitted and can be fatal to humans.
I eventually found some free camping at Kenosha Pass at 10000 feet. The Colorado Trail passes through here and there are toilets at the trailhead. What more could I ask? I may stay a day or two to try the trail.
09/26/01 Hiking Colorado Trail (Kenosha Pass - South):
Temperature in the 50's and a bright sun as I drove the short distance to the Colorado Trailhead at Kenosha Pass at 8:30am. I could see several cars already at the north trailhead on the other side of US 285. I was the only one at the south trailhead. The first part of the south trail is flat but the traffic noise from US 285 is horrible as it flows up from the highway.
I passed into a thick, yellow forest of aspens as the trail moved away from the highway and the noise diminished. An hour or so and some inclines brought me to the top of a ridge. Great views in all directions with the yellow foliage of the aspens making a sharp contrast to the green of the blue spruce as they ranged up and down hill and slopes and valleys. Mountain peaks and ranges rose up in the background providing another dimension to the views.
After going down a steep but short incline I came to a fork. The left trail was closed and led off into a meadow and bright sunshine. The right trail was a continuation of the Colorado Trail and led into a dark forest of spruce so that's the way I went. The trail seemed to be going back the way I had just come though. And then... oh no! Switchbacks! Looking down I could see the trail went down quite a distance. Since I would have to climb back up I said, no way!
So I backtracked and took the left fork, stepping over the logs blocking the trail. This led to another meadow with some more great views. The trail kinda faded out but appeared to head down a steep grassy slope. That didn't look any more attractive than the switchbacks so I just sat down and enjoyed the views for a while before heading back.
One of the advantages to getting out on the trail early is that on the way back you meet a lot of people just starting out. Today I met a couple from Long Island, New York. They've been out traveling for 10 years. When I lived in Connecticut, they lived directly across Long Island Sound from me.
09/29/01 Hiking Colorado Trail (Kenosha Pass - North):
I meant to hike this trail the other day. When I got in the truck I heard more bad financial news. I'd about reached my limit on how long I could go with the flow and dumping some mutual funds became a priority. I drove to Castle Rock, did laundry, got a haircut, did some food shopping and almost forgot about the mutual funds.
I moved back into Pike National Forest west of Castle Rock but things didn't work out well. No camping anywhere. The drive along the South Platte River was pretty, had lots of fly fishermen on this weekday and lots of toilets... but no camping. I found myself not too far from Kenosha Pass again so headed up there for the camping.
This morning is in the 50's and somewhat cloudy as I hit the Colorado Trail at 8am. The trail starts off at a slight incline through a thick forest of second growth conifers. I passed a few stands of bald aspens along the way. Very few aspens have any leaves at all, now. It was just last week when it seemed to be peak foliage. An hour into the hike the trail took a sharp drop downward as it moved along a steep slope. After a mile or so the trail entered a stand of leafless aspens and the trail was still going down.
As I continued down the trail, many mountain bikers came flying down the trail behind me. I was crunching a lot of gravel and never heard them until they called out. By 9:30am they were out in force but I guess that was to be expected on a nice Saturday morning. I had to stop daydreaming and keep a good watch on what was gaining on me so I could hop off the trail. All or most of the bikers had helmets. Almost all said hello as they zoomed past. Many said thanks for giving up the right-away.
The trail flattened out for a while and then turned upwards at a moderate incline. Eventually I topped a small rise. More bikers came by and I watched them struggle up an incline a short distance away. I'd come about 4 miles or so, still had the long ascent to make on the return trip and didn't feel like wasting my legs on that one and turned back.
The long ascent really wasn't that bad. Maybe because I had to step off the trail 8-10 times to let bikers by as they zoomed down the rocky trail. All the way back I passed more and more bikers until I thought this must be another bike tour or something. I passed well over 100 bikes, closer to 150. When I got to the trailhead I was amazed at all the cars in the parking lot, on the driveway and lined up along the highway. Not only on this side but the south trailhead too.
10/10/01:
I've spent the last 8-9 days with friends in Franktown. I left 4-5 days ago but while following my buddy back to I25 the truck konked out. Turns out the clutch went dead, probably because of being stuck in the sand at Lake Powell in Utah when I burnt the computer in the truck out several months ago. I knew I had to raise the clutch very high but it still worked. Was I lucky it quit with my friend there! I had been up in the mountains all summer and was headed for the deserts of southern Utah right away. It could have died at any one of those places. While they had the truck, I had them do a 30,000 mile maintenance on it too. I had put it off because of the continuous market decline over the past year but decided to bite the bullet and get it done before I hit the desert again.
I drove down I25 to Pueblo and then west on US50 to a few miles short of Salida. This is where I fell on the cactus patch a few weeks ago. US50 is a great drive. I had driven it west to east but this was the first east to west trip and I got a whole new viewpoint. The road runs along the Arkansas River which has carved out a deep canyon many hundred feet deep. Snow covered mountain peaks provided an excellent backdrop. I saw a large bird with a white head I took for an eagle except it also had a white tail? Maybe it sat in some white paint?
I think in the morning I'll continue on US50 to Montrose and then take US550 north to Grand Junction and to I70. I'll probably camp in that area somewhere and then continue on to the Arches National Park which is the closest thing in the desert to me. At least that's what I think I'm doing. I may have the routes and such screwed up but that's the general idea.
10/11/01:
I got up this morning and found a large, dead rat just outside the truck. I had heard some noises last night but couldn't tell if it was my stomach rumbling or something outside. Obviously it was something outside. I don't know if the rat wore itself out trying to get in or what.
Continuing west on US50 I got to Gunnison in an hour or so. The great views continued. I passed many more snow covered peaks and gold mines as I passed Montrose and continued northwest on US50. On the other side of Montrose the road turned upwards. Driving most of the time in 3rd gear, my ears popped a couple of times before the road returned to a more reasonable elevation. I got to Grand Junction around noon.
The 50 mile drive on I70 through the remainder of Colorado and into Utah is a lot of arid hills, mesas and mountains. I picked up CO128 and followed it 40 miles to Moab. The last 30 miles can only be described as spectacular. The Colorado River has cut a deep canyon into the red sandstone, sometimes half a mile wide, sometimes only a couple hundred feet. Everywhere are great canyon views, a few pinnacles in the distance and snow covered peaks in the distance.