Dead Horse Point State Park

WOW!  Beautiful sceneary again. 

Dead Horse Point - In the 1500's, Spanish explorers released horses in the area during their travels.  For 300 years the herd roamed the area free.  During the 1800's, cowboys and ranchers chased the wild horses onto Dead Horse Point.  There they build fences behind the horses as the entrance is only 36 feet wide. They removed the saleable horses and "broomtails" were released back into the wild.  Legend has it that a group of "broomtail" horses were left on the point to die of thirst and hunger and that's how it got its name.   Today, wild horses do not live in the park.   

Dead Horse Point State Park

The Colorado River at DHP

Pinion Pine

 

Pinion Pine fence

 





Canyonlands - hazy from smoke.

 

The haze just kept getting worse.....

This area is Utah's "Grand Canyon".  It is not as deep or as wide, but every bit as breathtaking.  Lots of movies were filmed here - Thelma and Louis when they drove their car over one of the cliffs, Mission Impossible II with Tom Cruise, are among the more famous.  Canyonlands is "greener" with lots of scrubby bushes, pinion pines, and wildflowers when it rains.  It got really hazy while we were there, and we didn't get a lot of good pictures, but we enjoyed it anyway.  Temperatures are above 110 degrees.

Arches National Park

Arches did not disappoint....it is beautiful.  It was also very hot, we had to take it in two trips, early morning, and later in the evening.  We've loaded an album with all our pictures, just click on our profile, and on the album "6-28-2013".  Rock formations are 300 million years old made by actions of the Colorado and Green Rivers. The Moab region is divided into four sections, the Arches, the Needles, Canyonlands, and the Maze.  Each is distinctly different.  Hollywood has filmed many movies in the immediate area.

Thank you Sherry and Dink for the safari hats, here I am in mine

triple arches

Skyview arch, and Rich in his safari hat

This gives you a good idea of the scale of this place - see the car?

The heat here is horrible.  Dry or not, it depletes energy, and makes doing anything a real challenge.  Other than that, we love it here.  People are super nice, lots of things to see and do. 

The heat is so bad, we've had to change our plans to go to Las Vegas, they are expecting 110 to 120 over the next 10 days.  No thank you!  We will probably head north east for a while.

Preview and Heat, June 27th

We arrived safely in Moab, Utah yesterday. It was a tense drive on two lane, over a mountain road.  We KNOW it's not the best time of the year to visit the desert, but the last time we were in the southwest, we missed three national/state parks that are high on our list of places to see.  We were only 200 miles away, and decided to make the trip.  Arches National Park, Dead Horse Point State Park, and Canyonlands National Park.  We couldn't wait to start, and took the car for a little drive after we set up.  Here's a preview of the beautiful red rock country surrounding us:

 

And here's a preview of what we can expect temperature wise:

 



In case you can't read this, it says it's 7:33 at night, 80 degrees in the coach, and 106.8 degrees outside!

On another note, we've received some nice "nonreply" anonymous comments on the blog, and because they are nonreply status, we will have to answer here: the trout Rich caught were caught on a lake on the Southern Ute Reservation using an imitation grasshopper fly.  He has not fished any of the rivers yet.  Rich watched an Indian woman fishing using a remote controlled motor boat . . . I think that was rather clever.

Fire on the Mountain, Pagosa Springs

It has been a quiet few days for us.  We are still in Pagosa Springs, Co., because Rich still has dental work to be done.  His final appointment is Tuesday, June 25th.

We have watched as a wild fire has grown from the small lightning strike blaze first pictured in the "Wolf Creek Pass" post we made earlier, to over 66,000 acres.  You can find the details by searching for the "West Fork Fire, Co.".  We are not in any danger as we are 8 miles south, but we are so sad for beautiful South Fork, which we left on Monday.  South Fork has been evacuated and the fire is only 1.5 miles from the town.  Wolf Creek Pass is closed to all traffic, the town of South Fork is evacuated, including the campground we stayed in.  We've talked to other RVers, who had to evacuate at 1:00 a.m. in the morning.  It was very scary for them.  One couple went out to eat, and were not allowed back to their RV.  Finally a state police officer and fire unit escorted them back to retrieve their coach, they are here in the same campground with us.

 

 

On a happier note, Rich went trout fishing Friday, and caught his limit.  Trout this size were everywhere.  Our small freezer is now overloaded with trout.

 



One day, we visited Durango, we were there last year also  It is a pretty town, that emphasizes its cowboy, mining, logging, railroading past.  They still have narrow gauge train excursions up into the mountains.  Durango's landmark building is the beautiful Strater hotel.  Inside, the hotel is just like it was at the turn of the century. 

 

 

Louis L'amour was a near permanent resident.  While staying at this hotel, he wrote most of his paperback novels.  All of the staff were in period clothing.  We would have loved to stay here a night.  On the way home, we stopped by the Ignacio Ute Casino.  Bad mistake, we broke our own rule of $40 or one hour and came home losers.

 

Picasa Web Album

We have just learned, slowly we admit.....if you click on our profile picture and scroll down, there will be a link to picasa web albums, where we will upload all our pictures.....if you are interested.

Pagosa Springs and Wolf Creek Pass Highway

After finally arriving safely in Pagosa Springs, we set up and set out to see the sights.
Pagosa Springs is home to a famous hot springs resort, with dozens of thermally heated hot pools of mineral intense water.  It's a beautiful place, but a little smelly:

Pagosa Hot Springs Resort, and mineral mound - reminds me of Yellowstone.

We headed back up the Wolf Creek Pass highway, we didn't get to enjoy the scenic views coming in with the coach and felt it was worth another look.  At the top of the pass is Wolf Creek Pass ski area at over 10,800 feet elevation.  Colorado's scenery does not disappoint.  Here are a few pictures:

Fire on the Mountain

 

Big Valley views looking towards Pagosa Springs

 

Treasure Falls

 

Rich actually walked out on this ...as usual on the wrong side of the fence!

 

Straddling the Continental Divide

Awwww......is that a bear hug?

Prairie Dogs

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

Creede Colorado

Saturday, we drove 20 miles to Creede Colorado, where part of the new "Lone Ranger" was filmed.  We can't wait to see the movie as the scenery, in real life, is spectacular.  There is a quaint town center, and then there is the "Bachelor Loop Trail", seventeen miles of rough, narrow gravel roads, passing abandoned gem and mineral mines, and ghost towns.  All along the way were towering mountain peaks, also tumbling streams, which make up the headwaters of the Rio Grande River.  Oh, and wildlife, several deer, and a MOOSE!!

Downtown Creede

 Here, moosie, moosie!

Headwaters of the Rio Grande - crystal clear, by the way.

Scenic Bachelor Loop Trail

 



Creede is a ex-mining town that is populated with some real characters, along side artists and outdoor enthusiasts.  The Bachelor Loop trail is named for the town of Bachelor that was home to 1200 people at its zenith.  The town had saloons, a church, a school, a race track and all of the amenities of the time.  This was in the late 1800s. Today, all that remains are steel food cans, tin from roofing, and piles of rocks as foundations.  One grave in town has three bodies.  A miner's daughter became ill.  The miner went to Creede to get the doctor.  When he returned home, he saw a strange horse tied outside his cabin.  The miner walked in, saw a man standing over his daughter.  The miner killed the man only to later find the man was the doctor, the girl died, and the miner killed himself - all are buried in the same grave.

Creede has an outstanding exhibition mine that shows how the old timers did it.  Twelve hour shifts swinging sledge hammers in near total darkness. Ore and rock loaded with shovels by hand. Each miner shared a candle with another to do their work.  Horses were lowered into the mines  to perform the heavy hauling and returned to the surface daily -ugh.  The trail had several abandoned mines:

Abandoned mine, and a portion of the gravel road we drove.

 



We've been educated...there are no grizzly bears in Colorado,not since the late 70's, so the honey-cinnamon colored bears we've seen are just bears - boooo!  BUT, they are much larger than the black bears we commonly see in N.C., W.V., and other eastern states.

Sunday, we decided to try trout fishing, well, Rich wanted to fish.  I was all set to paint and picnic, but the weather didn't cooperate,  Rich had little fishing time (and no luck), and I waited in the car.  Colorado boasts great trout fishing.

Rich lost a filling in a molar, and we discovered just how remote South Fork is....there is only a "traveling" dentist available, and no one knew when he was due back in town.  We finally found one in Pagosa Springs, 50 miles away, and 1000 feet lower in elevation.  We packed up, and headed out.

We travel with a gps especially programmed for our coach's, height, weight, and length, so when it sent us out on highway 160, we had no qualms.  Jeeze, 7% grade for over 6 miles, across Wolf Creek pass at 10,800 feet, and the continental divide.  I was so glad Rich was driving.  Up hill was a strain with our CRV in tow, but downhill was a panic.  Trucks crept along at 25 mph, and we tried to stay out of their way.  There were numerous sand-filled, run-away up-ramps for trucks that burned up their brake capability.  We were glad to hit bottom, at 7200 feet, it felt like the longest 50 miles we've ever driven.  For the last four days, we have been seeing bicyclists in a coast to coast race.  Seeing them pedal up Wolf Creek was hard to watch.

We landed safely, and have checked into a roadside campground.  We have one tv channel, and very slow, intermittent wifi.

Highway of Legends, Trinidad, Colorado

We extended a day at Cedar Rail Campground waiting to see what was going to happen to the fire situation in Colorado Springs.  Turns out the fire is the most destructive fire in Colorado history.  We decided to stay local and follow the 80 mile Trail of Legends loop that starts in Trinidad, Co. (once called the Devil's Playpen by activist Carrie Nation due to sinful places in the city).  Trinidad was visited by the Conquistadors in 1500's.  One strip of the highway is lined with abandoned adobe homesteads. left by sheep farmers and ranchers who came about 100 years later.

Everything was going well until coal was discovered and mining companies ran everyone away in the 1800's.  A general miner's strike occurred in 1913-14 and State Militia massacred about 25 men, women and children.  As a result of that massacre, laws were passed establishing the 40 hour work week and banning child labor.

We visited a virtual ghost town that had 1500 coke ovens operating in the late 1800's.

The trail leads from the arid valley floor up into the Sangre de Cristo mountains.

A geologic formation shoots up from the valley floor.  The lava wall is a couple of hundred feet tall and about 6 feet wide, and is called the Dakota Wall.  This formation can be found throughout the Rocky Mountains.

 

 

 

 

We continued up the mountain and reached the 10,000 foot summit.  Temperature had dropped from mid 80's to 59 degrees.  A rain squall passed through near noon and covered us with slush.

The road passed through Aspen and Spruce forests back down to the valley floor.  Along the way, we saw mule deer, a beaver lodge, and beautiful scenery.

We stopped at a rancher's market in La Veta

 

and then back to Trinidad, which is full of Victorian architecture.

So much to see and do, we took 132 pictures.  Good thing photography is digital now.  80 miles took 8 hours, and we were really tired when we got back to the coach. 

The wild fire is turning us due west to a resort town in the mountains - South Fork, Co.  Brochures say it is an outdoorsman's paradise.  It is close to Pagosa Springs, Creede, and Gunnison, Co.   My brother-inlaw, Joe often speaks of visiting the Black Canyon of Gunnison.

Whoa, we were on our way to Colorado Springs and three wild fires came into the picture.  One fire (Black Forest Fire) is just east and north of Colorado Springs moving west, it is very large, out of control, and dangerous.  One fire is west and another east of Colorado Springs.  I25 will likely be in danger of being closed.  We have decided to head directly West on a scenic highway to Pagosa Springs, N.M. But first, we booked an extra night here at Raton Pass, NM.

We moved 230 miles yesterday through remote high chaparral to Raton Pass (elevation 8900 feet).  Campground is named Cedar Rail Campground.  Our view is of the snow capped Sangre de Cristo mountains, but no pictures because of a hazy horizon.  Hope we can get a shot before we leave.   The manager told us "do not feed the mountain lions and bears" - right.  She advised us about a drive to take to see wildlife at sunset, and off we went.  We drove though the country a bit towards one of Ted Turner's ranches.  We saw a grizzly bear, several elk, mule deer, antelope, and turkey - not too bad for one evening.

This giant (Rich's word) grizzly bear ran across the road in front of our car.  As usual, with animal shots, we get so excited, our pictures don't turn out well.  The bear is in the center of the shot above, and if you click on it, you can see it better.  He made a hasty retreat into the forest.

Buck mule deer

Retreating bull elk

Two elk

 

  We passed though Capulin volcano lava flow and past the 85,000 acre TO Ranch.  Along the road we passed a town named Sophie, located 23 miles away down a dirt road.

Weather here is nice with 90 degree days (13% humidity) and 60 degrees at night.  We plan to follow the Highway of Legends and Santa Fe Trails today and off to Pagosa Springs tomorrow.  Gasoline prices are a killer @ $3.79.

 

Northern Texas is similar to Piedmont South Carolina with fewer pine trees, and rolling hills.   Two lane highway speed limit is 75mph.  We stayed in Mount Pleasant, Texas.  It is a small, very western town.  Drove 231 miles to Wichita Falls, Texas and stayed at the wonderful Coyote Ranch RV Resort. Two swimming pools, cable, wifi, our kind of place for sure.

 

Drove uphill all day to Amarillo.  We passed through wheat fields, cornfields and cow pastures for 231 miles.

 

 

 

  Lots of little towns are clearly struggling to survive.  Saw one store that advertised two items (1) deer corn and (2) ammo - so much for the wildlife.  We counted 14 operating oil wells in about 5 acres of pasture.  The land is quite flat and the wind blows continuously.  Temperature was 103 today.  We passed a giant wind farm with windmills to the horizon.

This part of Texas was settled in the 1890's when people could claim 160 acres of government/Indian land.   I don't know how these 160 acre farms were joined to make the mega-ranches here now.

 

If you visit Amarillo, you must visit one of the country's best steakhouses - The Big Texan Steak Ranch.  If you can eat 72 oz steak with all of the trimmings, it's free.  Regular cost $72.  Over the years, 40,000 people have tried the deal with about 6,000 successful.  They have a live internet feed showing who is trying and their progress.  C.W. and I split an 18 oz steak and brought half home. 

 

 

 

 

I guess we successfully crossed Tornado Alley without incident and have our sights on Colorado Springs, CO.  We are really looking forward to touring the "Garden of the Gods" area.

We moved over to the Natchez Trace near Tupelo, Mississippi (birthplace of Elvis Presley).  I tried out my best impersonation but locals were not impressed.  Tupelo is a very quaint little town with colored guitars spaced down main street.  They were to have a giant Elvis celebration the week-end after we passed through.

 

One of several decorative guitars in Tupelo, Ms., birthplace of Elvis

 

The Natchez Trace was a pre-historic 450 mile path between Natchez and Nashville.  It was the major transportation route until the advent of the steam engine and paddlewheel boats.  Today, the Trace looks much like the Skyline Drive without the skyline.  Some of the original trail is still visible.

Moved over to Conway, AK to visit my sister Rhea and her husband David.  They raise various farm animals.  C.W. and I helped them start a garden; Rhea promises pictures throughout the summer.

We have headed west and south along Interstate 30 to avoid Tornado Alley.  We landed in Mount Pleasant, Texas.   Hope we made the right call.  We are heading to Wichita Falls, Texas and on to Amarillo.  After Amarillo, we plan to turn North to Denver.  We should be through Texas by Wednesday.

Atlanta Braves Game

Our first day on the road was uneventful.  It is always a little intimidating getting behind the wheel of the coach after a few months of not using it.  We arrived in Red Top Mountain State Park, near Atlanta to visit Hunter and Misti.  They took us to see a Braves game.  The Braves won in the bottom of the 10th inning on a close play at the plate.  We all had a great time.

The bottom photo includes Melissa and Mike, (friends of Hunter and Misti), Rich, Misti and Hunter. We had great seats right behind 3rd base.  Lots of entertainment from the camera crew, fans, and of course, the ball players.