dare2go

Rocky Mountains in Colorado


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We went to meet Danica when she got home from work and she took us to dinner at Sushi Basho in Littleton. We ate excellent sushi and drank sake and chatted like we hadn't seen each other since last week! It's always lovely to see old friends when it is so comfortable, and good food is an added bonus.
On Friday, she had a day off work to spend with us. We had to sort out some 'cell-phone' problems so she found us a T-mobile shop. Then we went in search of a shoe shop that sold Birkenstocks - almost Juergen's only form of footwear... Those things managed, we went to eat Japanese again for lunch. The Domo Restaurant is quite traditional and built right next to a Dojo. There were a few upsets like being seated inside when we had asked for a table in their rather gorgeous garden (although that might have been a blessing since it was quite hot!), and Juergen didn't get what he had ordered and had to wait almost another half hour to get his food. Because of this, we took longer over lunch than we otherwise would have and were rather annoyed when the maitre de came and asked us to leave soon after 2.00 so that they could start setting up for dinner!!! But I must say that the food was very good and the Jamaica iced tea was something special. We would recommend it and hope that the problems we had were not the normal experience.
We bid Danica farewell around 4.00 and headed out of Denver. We were heading west in the direction of Utah, where we want to visit the Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, but we weren't quite finished with being awed by Colorado yet! As we have mentioned a few times I'm sure, we try to avoid the major highways. To drive west from Denver it is impossible to avoid the Interstate 70, so that is what we took out of Denver on Friday afternoon. This highway drives up and up into the Rockies and we were awed most of the way by the scenery. First we saw magnificent vistas with snow-capped peaks in the distance and then we were actually up to the height where there was still some snow lying on the ground. We didn't want to drive too far that evening, so we turned off at Silverthorne to travel a few miles north to the Blue River Campground in the White River National Forest. The campground was situated between the road and a rushing river, like a lot of the rivers and streams throughout this area - swollen from snow-melt. Although our site was close to the road, we spent a pleasant night, even though at 8500 feet, it was rather cool. The people there were really friendly, especially the camp hosts, who made an effort to make everybody feel welcome.
Yesterday we drove on along the I-70, appreciating more magnificent alpine vistas, and driving through a lot of ski resorts, until the Colorado River meets the highway at the beginning of the incredible Glenwood Canyon. The Highway through here is purported to be the most environmentally friendly highway that has been built in the United States. Trees were only removed and rocks were only blasted as a last resort. The highway, a bicycle track and a train line follow the Colorado through the narrow canyon to Glenwood Springs. The scenery is awesome. At one point we left the west-bound side of the highway to follow the signage to Hanging Lake. It took us back on the east-bound side for about 4 miles to the exit that finally took us to the start of the Hanging Lake trail. This is because they have kept exits and entrances to the highway to a minimum through this sensitive area. We walked a little along the bicycle track beside the river, but decided against climbing up to the Hanging Lake. The trail is 1½ miles up and since I've been having some slight stomach trouble the past couple of days and not feeling 100%, we decided against the climb. From pictures we have seen and talking to Danica, it must be a beautiful place, where a waterfall drops into a pristine lake filled with trout (no fishing allowed!).
We drove off the highway again at Glenwood Springs. We had thought to check out the baths at the springs, but could see from the highway exit that the place was full - I guess we should have expected that on a Saturday! Leaving Glenwood Springs, we started descending and the scenery rather quickly changed from the tall pine and aspen forests to the stunted growth and red rocks we connect with the desert scenery we have become so familiar with. The Colorado was still there, usually right alongside the highway. It is such a powerful river in this area compared with what we saw at Lees Ferry and the Navajo Bridge, upstream from the Grand Canyon. It makes you wonder what it would be like if it weren't controlled by man to use as a water source for irrigation and the like.
We arrived in Grand Junction at about 2.00 and started to look for a familiar supermarket, a laundromat and a T-mobile hotspot, before heading out to the Colorado National Monument in search of a campground. This town was much larger than anticipated, and we spent a considerable amount of time just driving around aimlessly until we gave up and went into the next supermarket we came across - only to be frustrated that we couldn't find the things we were used to buying! Eventually Juergen asked another shopper if there was an Albertsons in town - turned out there was and it was only a short distance away and right on the intersection of the road that led to the Colorado NM. And there was a free Wifi connection to be had in the area - no laundromat, but 2 out of 3 improved the day!
By the time we were done with that, it was 5.30 and time to go looking for a campground. Being a Saturday, we didn't really believe that we would find a site at the first place we tried. We drove to the Colorado National Monument, which was only a few miles out of town. Once we entered the park, we discovered that the campground was right on the other side of the park about 20 miles away. The drive turned out to be the Rim Rock Drive. We came into this park only because we prefer to camp in National or State Parks and knew almost nothing about it. We started out on this road and found that it followed the edge of a plateau (huge mesa) along amazing canyons. The views were stunning but when we were driving, both of got too nervous to look - it was literally straight down for 200 metres or more right beside the road in most places. Once we stopped at the first lookout, we started to appreciate the amazing sights this place had to offer. We met a ranger at this first lookout who told us there was plenty of room in the campground, so we stopped hurrying and made many more stops along the way to ooh and aah and take photographs. I lost count of the number of canyons we drove around the edge of, but the 19 mile drive took us about 2½ hours!!! Read the story of John Otto's amazing love of this place - he fought almost single-handedly in the early 1900's to get it set aside as a national park.
The campsite overlooks another of the canyons and then down to the plains where Grand Junction stretches out in front of us. Today we will drive just a few more miles along this Rim Rock Drive to exit the park near the town of Fruita. From there our goal is the Arches National Park just over the border into Utah.