Category: Roadtrip

Helen wasn’t feeling so good, so we left her and Jon at camp while Rose and I explored the cliff dwellings of the park – Long House in the morning, Balcony House in the pouring rain, then in the evening, as we were the only two people, with our very own guide we explored Cliff Palace. Wandering around these ruins was much like the experience in the Mexican ruins a few years back. Clearly there has been a lot of “restoration”, since early photos show many of the sites as piles of rubble – which makes it feel a bit like you’re walking around a prepared, packaged exhibition rather than an original, ancient site. But without restoration, you wouldn’t get the same idea of what the villages used to be like, and tourism probably wouldn’t even be possible. Impressive, nonetheless. Yet another unique experience!

We picked up Jon & Helen and trucked on towards Utah. We’d not had an American diner meal together, so we stopped off for dinner at Denny’s in Cortez where we met a friendly local called Steve, who lives on a small ranch nearby with his wife – having moved from Boston seeking the simple life. Another late night drive – we’ve hardly done any driving after dark in months – took us over the border into Utah. It’s very, very dark at night out here. No street lights, and pretty poor van lights means that we only get to see a small patch of yellow tarmac for a few hours – with a huge flash of lightning every now and then in the distance. We’ve been able to see thunderstorms somewhere on the horizon pretty much every day. So we turned up at a campsite a 6 miles down a small side road, in the dark. With my powerful bike light we could just make out the huge, red rocks looming over us. What’s it going to look like in the morning?

Monday and Tuesday

South again, to Sand Dunes National Park. A dramatic drive across huge, open plains with the Sangre de Cristo Mountains rising gradually from the valley floor on the left. In the distance, nestled at the foot of the hills, we could see the sand dunes as we approached. All the sand from the surrounding mountains gets washed into the valley, then the regular strong wind blows it all down to the corner where the huge dunes form. We set up camp, waited for the sun to chill out a bit, then hiked up the dunes to watch the sunset. Way across on the other side of the valley, a couple of thunderstorms were rolling southwards, making for a pretty atmospheric evening. We decided that we liked this camp so much that we’d stay another night, so we spent a day relaxing, reading, and had a wander up the river that runs along the foot of the dunes.

 

Wednesday 20th

Into New Mexico! We weren’t originally planning to come this far south, but on recommendation from Ben and Rosie, and with a pinch of wanting to bag an extra state, we thought we’d pop over the border to Taos. The drive to Taos took us past a load of random homesteads – families set up for remote, desert living. Some really run down, and some clearly belonging to old hippies that have been here for a long time; from school buses converted into houses to smart solar panelled eco-dwellings made from adobe and glass. We stopped in Taos for lunch, had a look around at the numerous galleries and bought a couple of souvenirs. We decided that there wasn’t much extra to be gained from staying for a night, so we turned back on ourselves, over the impressive Rio Grande Canyon, and on towards Durango. With hindsight, and reading the guides, we should have stopped in at Taos Pueblo just north of Taos – the longest continuously inhabited settlement in America – but we just drove by without knowing about it. Should try to read up a bit further ahead.

A long drive through Carson National Forest brought us to a campsite at Heron Lake State Park – a pretty much empty gravel site on the edge of a lake.

Saturday 9th August

Frustrating day today. It’s been too long since I spent a load of energy. Sitting in the van, and sitting around camp for too many days. It’s relaxing, but after a while I get all antsy and need to get the blood pumping. I’d read that there was some good riding in the State Park, so I headed out on a random track – Mule Deer trail – which turned out to be an awesome 9 mile loop of singletrack through beautiful alpine forest and meadows. I certainly felt the 9,000 foot altitude, but it didn’t take too long to readjust. Back at the van feeling much revitalised, I freshened up under the camp shower and made dinner as the sun set over the aspen trees.

 

Sunday 10th August

Another day of surprises! One of the great things about being on the road with no particular agenda is that unexpected things always creep up on you. Today we planned to get some more time at the library, and then scoot south over the Interstate 70 to another campground where we could get a shower, but that’s not quite what happened.

We did spend some time at the library, where, it being closed on a Sunday, we had to sit outside to use the WiFi. I had a long chat with a guy in the car park about the settling of The West while Rose did some research. I feel like I’ve not absorbed as much local history and culture as I would have liked on this trip – I’m going to have to stock up on books and catch up retrospectively when we have lots more reading time on the boat. We headed south and somewhere around Black Hawk, a crazy town that seems to be purely casinos and hotels, we missed the turning to the i70 and ended up in Clear Creek Canyon. Which turned out to be an awesome drive through a twisty gorge of red and golden rocks, next to the tumbling creek. Lots of people were out – fly fishing, running, climbing and enjoying their day off. It’s funny how I look forward to weekdays now since everywhere is less busy.

The canyon road funneled us all the way back to Denver, which was way off route and there were no campgrounds anywhere nearby, so we decided to head further south west to a state park and a likely looking site. After an hour or driving, along a twisty, narrow dirt track by the site of the Platte River, we ended up at Platte River Campground … not much more than a dusty parking space and a few tent pitches. Checking my phone again, I realise that the Platte River Campground I was looking at was in Michigan. Oops. Was a nice drive, anyway.

So we came up with a new plan. Across the mountains to another State Park. We took an unpaved road up onto the hill which wound its way through empty wilderness and dead fire-destroyed trees for miles and miles. Every now and then we passed a parked truck, where a couple of guys were shooting guns – I assume at targets. We also passed a number of mountain bikers loaded with gear. Stopping to chat briefly to a chap at a junction, we learnt that they were part of a 500 mile race from Denver to Durango. Hardcore. Pretty miserable for them this afternoon though – the skies opened and poured with rain, turning the dirt road into a river and making for some slippery driving. Pretty dramatic though. We even passed an area where it looked like it had snowed, or maybe hail. Eventually we ended up at Eleven Mile State Park, surrounding a reservoir. The setting sun dropped below the dark cloud cover and gave us an awesome light show.

 

Oh yeah, and last night we had the police disturb us around midnight. We were parked up in a quiet layby, fast asleep, when a car pulled up with all its lights ablaze. I’m a good sleeper, but something woke me up before the car pulled to a stop. I poked my head through the back door to a cop asking what we were up to. I gave him our story, he took my licence and came back a couple of minutes later – all ok – wishing us a good night.

Monday 11th August

So nice to be back out in open country. The majority of our campgrounds on this trip have been tucked away in the trees, without much view of the sky or surrounding mountains, which means it gets dark early, and we don’t see the sun until quite late in the morning. This place is a huge flat valley, nestled in between the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, about 60 miles southwest of Denver. There are no trees, just lumps of granite amongst the grassland, which reminds me a bit of Joshua Tree NP. We had a relaxing day, out on the water in the kayaks and relaxing in camp.

I fiddled a bit more with the shortwave radio and laptop, receiving weather faxes. When we’re out at sea, away from phone and VHF radio reception, the shortwave radio is the only way we’re going to be able to get weather forecasts, so I’m testing out the gear and getting practice to make sure everything works OK. I’ve been trying at a number of remote places, but have generally had reception problems – but here I finally managed to receive clear, complete faxes. Looks like Hurricane Julio is sat just above Hawaii, tracking north. The rest of the eastern Pacific looks pretty chilled out though.

 

I’m still deliberating whether to get a satellite phone for when we head south, which would let us download weather files by email, as well as stay in touch with family. Not cheap though. Also trying to decide what to do about a life raft. We already have an inflatable dinghy to use as a tender, but it’s not a survival craft by any stretch of the imagination. Usually people also have a dedicated inflatable life raft, either stowed below in a tough bag, or up on deck in a canister. Life rafts need to be serviced every year, and cost a bomb … and from what I’ve been reading, are not anywhere near 100% reliable, especially after a few months in the sun. They sometimes don’t inflate, and sometimes leak badly once inflated. If we’re going to be spending a bunch of money, I’m thinking it might be better to get a hard dinghy that converts into a lifeboat – something like the Portland Pudgy. Nothing to inflate, nothing to leak, a more robust tender than an inflatable would be, and would also hold its value.

Tuesday 12th August

We’re on the way to pick up Jon and Helen from Denver! They are going to be with us for three weeks, as we journey down through Colorado, Utah, Nevada and maybe a bit of Arizona. We’ve been looking forward to them joining us, it’s going to be rad. Hopefully lots of hiking, biking and adventure, as well as seeing some of the most dramatic scenery in the USA.

Got up early this morning – before the dawn – and watched the sun come up over the mountains, burning off the wisps of mist on the lake. I keep saying it, but I love early morings. As Henry David Thoreau says in his classic “Walden”, which I’m gradually working through,

“The morning, which is the most memorable season of the day, is the awakening hour. Then there is least somnolence in us; and for an hour, at least, some park of us awakes which slumbers all the rest of the day and night.”

The mind is fresh, with none of the half-finished threads of thought that collect during the day to distract from peacefully absorbing the surroundings. The fizz of mental activity has not yet begun and the body is (usually) well rested. I make a coffee, have a stretch, listen to other creatures waking up, and just watch the world.

After a long day of driving we pulled into North Platte to find somewhere to stay and something to eat. Ended up at a great little motel where we cleaned up, and then popped down the road to a Taco John’s for a quesadilla. The past few days we’ve not been cooking much, we’ve been eating breakfast in camp then snacking during the day, and eating out in the evenings. It’s not easy to find decent, healthy food on the road out here, so we’re going to do a shop tomorrow and start cooking again.

Thursday was another long day on the road – closing off our Nebraska experience and heading into Colorado. I was expecting to be driving through the same kind of open grassland landscapes that we saw when going east through South Dakota, the state just north of here, but the cornfields and agriculture in Nebraska extend a lot further west.

The skies were awesome. Driving into Colorado we saw a huge thunderstorm ahead – from about 20 miles away, the beast covered over a quarter of the horizon. The clouds were changing every minute as the storm developed. It looked pretty menacing. Not sure if we were heading into the belly of a full-on mid-west summer tornado, we flipped the radio on to get a weather update. Sure enough, the music was interrupted regularly by storm warning broadcasts. The storm was due to pass south of us by a few miles, with winds of up to 65 mph forecast, and golf ball sized hailstones being reported.

We cut through the trailing corner of the storm, and got our fair share of wind and rain before we popped out the other side for the final run into Denver. Driving straight through the city, we headed up into the Golden Gate Canyon State Park to look for a campsite. The site in the State Park was fully booked, but the ranger directed us down the road a short way to a National Forest site which still had a few places free. I’m sensing the outdoorsy and adventure vibe here – much like Montana and Wyoming – lots of cars and pickups with high-end mountain bikes on the back. Not so many kayaks or boats though. I think it’s going to be a bit harder to find free camp sites, so we may have to plan a bit more and book ahead.

Friday was a nice leisurely day, hanging around camp, tidying up the van, and making an excursion to a local library just down the road for Rose to do some stuff online. It feels a little strange to be right in the middle of beautiful mountain country and not walking, biking or getting out at all but it’s just nice to be stopped still for a while, recovering from a few long days of driving.