Wyoming: Grand Teton National Park

From Idaho I crossed the border into Wyoming, rolling into Jackson midday where I got the best pizza lunch special deal thanks to a rec from a friend, and wandered through the town square for about 5 minutes before deciding there were too many dumb non-social distancing, non-mask wearing crazies and hopping back in the van. Not before snapping a pic of the crazy antler arches marking each corner of the park. Woah, elk. I guess this is a thing here? I saw another giant elk antler arch in Idaho the day before…

Before entering the park proper, I stopped by the T.A. Moulton barn, which is the remains of a homestead on Mormon Row with the most spectacular view of the Tetons, and is one of the most photographed spots in the country. So of course I had to add to that number.

It being the week of Independence Day, this was unfortunately a high traffic time in the park and everyone and their grandma wanted to be out camping to escape quarantine stir-craziness, so all the free camping spots I went by were full and I had to suck it up and pay for camp sites for 3 days in the park, which was actually kind of nice because I had amenities and cooked a bunch of stuff for later knowing I could dump my water any time I needed and reload. Hello campfires and cooking! Aside from the loud bros nearby at one site it was very nice. I caught lovely sunrises and sunsets over the lakes, hills, and peaks. Magic.

My first full day in the park I drove around, stopped by all the turnouts, and did a hike to two lakes where I stopped to snack, read, and wade in to my knees in the cold but refreshing water. I was so, so tempted to strip down to my underwear and swim but the there were kids around and my sanity prevailed. I was also treated to crossing paths with a mama bear and her 3 cubs from a decent distance. So cute!

The following day I went to Jenny Lake and took the boat one way across to the Cascade Canyon trail. Before reaching the canyon trail I passed Hidden Falls and the Inspiration Point, both of which were full of tourists with no masks shoved together. No thank you. Snapped a quick pic and off I went to the thankfully much emptier trail. Amazing how the more effort required the less crowded, huh? Well done, America.

Anyway, this was one of the prettiest trails for the least effort I’ve ever done. So gorgeous! The trail runs through the canyon between the mountains offering amazing views of the famous peaks from a different perspective, and follows a stream most of the way with some rocky patches, ponds, and woods intermixed. I spotted 3 moose and a bald eagle along the way, so that was cool, as well as the tail end of a pika that hid before I could really see it, and a few carefree marmots. I made it to the end of the canyon trail with half a notion to continue one on to Lake Solitude, but I’d started later than intended and am still getting blisters on one toe from my new-ish boots so turned back and saved myself 5 miles.

At some point I drove up Signal Mountain, stopped by some more turnouts, and scoped out all the parking lots for license plates (down to just Delaware… where are you!?!) before taking off down a terrible bumpy dirt road on my way towards Yellowstone. This is one of the most fantastic places I have ever been and I know I’ll be back. So. Amazing.

Colorado, Wyoming and Idaho: the road to the Tetons

After our day getting re-settled after New Mexico, I finally left Golden for good (well, for the pandemic extended imposition) and headed north for a change. I stopped off in Boulder to read for a bit in a park that turned out to be filled that day with a mix of yuppies and druggies, get lunch at a cool tea house Kevin’s roommate told me about- I guess it was disassembled in Tajikistan, sent to Boulder as a gift, and reassembled in it’s full glory. So pretty, and yummy food and tea! It was almost like being back at the teahouses in Hong Kong and Taiwan aside from no chopsticks, tea ceremony, and these giant portions. After I went to load up my cooler with beverages from Avery Brewery, then continued onward to another town full of breweries, Fort Collins.

I’d never been here before and ended up stopping at one place where I chatted with a friendly local, and decided to stay the night in Poudre Canyon. The road through the canyon along the river was beautiful and I had to restrain myself from stopping every 5 minutes to take photos or jump in the water. It looks like a lot of people raft, kayak, and fish here, as well as climb. I found a spot for the night well into the canyon up a hill, and awoke to spend the 4th of July beginning with breakfast and books by the river, where I chatted with a fellow van guy, before heading back into town to check out a few more places.

In very American fashion I packed my day by visiting New Belgium, Odell, and some place I forget the name of but had a beer called sad panda which made me intent to visit just to send my friend Grant a picture. Oh dear. Anyway, I had some great mac and cheese at one place, read a bunch, and finally hit the road again in late afternoon with Laramie, WY as my chosen destination for fireworks watching. They were just the right driving distance away and were doing a fireworks celebration visible from a few city parks, so I picked one and parked myself on the soccer field early enough to make and eat a salad while watching Hamilton on my phone until the show began at (the very late thanks to norther summer) twilight hour. It was no DC show, but being able to pack up and be at the car and ready for bed in 15 minutes instead of battling either a packed Metro or walking an hour plus at home made the trade off okay.

In the morning I wandered through Laramie’s downtown and saw a statue commemorating the first female voter in the United States- she just went in to vote and no one stopped her despite it not yet being legal, many cool mainly fish related murals, and yet another library themed bar? Maybe this is a sign I need to switch gears and open one of these somewhere. What a trend!

After departing Laramie I crossed through southwestern Wyoming, passing a cabin made of dinosaur bones (?!?), stopping at Little America, which is like a western and much tamer version of South of the Border based on the variety of ‘attractions’ and number and spacing of billboards, and

Later in the day I passed into Idaho, a new state for me! I did a short hike up a canyon where, at a later time in summer, there is a spring that “breathes” by stopping and starting every few minutes, but alas it wasn’t the right time to see the phenomenon. Later I found a beautiful camp spot in the forest not far from a gorgeous terraced travertine waterfall on the river- Fall Creek Falls- which I had to myself. If I’d been with someone else I would have plopped on my bathing suit and hopped in to one of the upper falls pools, but didn’y want to risk it alone.

Awoke to frost on the windshield for a change, and some cows swimming in the creek. Those cows had the right idea! People had told me Idaho was surprisingly beautiful, and if this was any initial indication they were so right. The rest of the state would have to wait, because next stop was the Tetons! On the way, though, I did get the most stereotypical Idaho roadside attraction of a giant potato sculpture at a drive in movie theater. Of course.

New Mexico: around Santa Fe

Our final stop in the Land of Enchantment on this little tour was Santa Fe, the one place I had the most recommendations for. Hooray! We camped overnight in what can best be described as a patch of flying dust in the desert outside town, which left us very dirty but provided a beautiful sunset. The next morning we took a brief detour south to visit two small towns known for looking like (and occasionally acting as) a movie set- Los Cerrillos and Madrid. Between the two we saw old west style buildings, a diner that was not a diner but rather a gift shop about the movie Wild Hogs that I guess had scenes filemed here, which I was sad to find being in need of coffee, a park with an abundance of wooden scenes to take photos in, and a park I was excited to see but was closed that has giant origami-like sculptures… we glimpsed a few from the gate but that was a bummer.

We rolled into Santa Fe very hungry thanks to the non-diner travesty, and went directly to a cafe on the main plaza that had been recommended, and proceeded to eat dinner entrees of enchaladas and meatloaf at 11am. So good. Kevin and I wandered through the plaza and more shops than I care to recall, and I bought a turquoise ring because this was my goal for thie state, and little else thank goodness for my bank account.

I love how so many of the buildings embrace and have kept the adobe/pueblo feel, and the many planters and gardens filled with colorful flowers. Such a pretty town! We walked through a few church gardens, and stopped in at a former church that boasts a magical set of spiral stairs constructed without nails and architecturally speaking shouldn’t stand but do. The original steps didn’t have a railing, so you couldn’t have paid me to go up there in that case. There’s a myth that the carpemter who made them appeared mysteriously without leaving a full name or accepting payment, but some say this was a story spread by a powerful family who killed the guy so no one would ask about him so… who knows. In any case, pretty!

After leaving the plaza area we stopped by the (closed) state capitol building, a local college where there was a giant whale made of garbage plastic to raise awareness or something (named Ethyl because she’s made of polyethylene), and walked up and down a street filled with art galleries. I was delighted to find a gallery we were drawn to was almost all filled with smaller versions of the same artist’s origami inspired sculptures as the closed park- hooray! If I were super loaded I’d build a garden decorated with these awesome pieces.

We had some margaritas at a place recommended on the way out of town and debated whether to stay another day to visit a dormant volcano you can drive up, but decided to head back to Golden that night. It was a long drive, but happy to have had a day to recombobulate and relax before we headed our separate ways. With so much closed I’ll have to go back for sure, but my first foray into this lovely state was amazing.

New Mexico: Carlsbad area and Roswell

We next dipped back south to visit Carlsbad Caverns. In another internet research fail, e arrived in the early afternoon to discover that they were limiting cave tour numbers for social distancing (totally smart and good) by handing out timed passes in the morning (just wish they said this part online). So we were out of luck for that day, but decided to take advantage of this reason to stay in town for the night and catch the bats at sundown. To fill the hours before this phenomenon, we made a quick trip across the border into Texas to do a short hike through Guadalupe National Park, which is adjacent to Carlsbad Caverns park.

The hike we did was only a couple of miles but in the dry 90 degree (plus) heat under full afternoon sun it felt a lot longer. We chose this trail because it was the furthest north, was supposed to be pretty, and took us to two natural springs and had a little shade. The first spring was just a small pool surrounded by tall grass, and the path seemed forever to go through desert, cacti, twisting trees and canyons. After I had assumed the first spring was the last, we were overwhelmingly excited to find the second spring, which was located in a shady oasis with a stream, rocks, and relaxing water sounds galore. We sat in the shade for quite a while, traded hats for photos, and may have been overexcited to see water.

It was time to head back into New Mexico to see that thousands of bats emerge from Carlsbad Canyon at sunset. Due to pandemic concerns, the usual amphitheater was off and people were viewing from the parking lot while listening to a talk over the radio from a ranger stationed on the roof. Man, were there a lot of bats taking off in swirling groups every few minutes. Eat all those bugs, bats! I got some good videos of the bats but photos do no justice, though the sunset was photogenic for sure.

The next morning after enduring some bizarre midnight, weeknight fireworks being set off as seems to the a pandemic tradition for no sensible reason, we were off to the Caverns to snag those early times tickets. The tour groups were self guided and limited to 25 people per 15 minute time slot, which was a blessing not only for distancing in the most enclosed space you can imagine, but also allowing it to really feel like you were exploring the expansive cave like a vanguard spelunker at times. I took a million terribly lit photos, a few of which show the amazing stalagmites, stalactites, columns, draperies, pools, crystals, and the rest. The ‘Big Room’ is well named, and made the dinky caves we’d seen in Colorado seem sad. While entering the cave, we were treated to the beautiful experience of hundreds of swallows swooping in and out of the entrance to nests just inside. The sound of the flying adults and the cheeping babies echoing in the cave entry hall is indescribable.

After the caverns (fun fact- the ranger told me there’s no difference between caves and caverns, just a branding choice) we retraced our steps north to Roswell, home of all things UFO. The ultimate roadside attraction! While the UFO museum was closed because NM mandated all museums closed for Covid, we did visit the gift shop, take in the alien adorned road signs, street lights, murals, marketing ploys, etc. One place that was open was a blacklight “spacewalk” experience run by a nice dude who gave out stickers, glow sticks, and encourages people to come through as many times as you want in a day. We went through the path but once, and I had a fun time while Kevin was underwhelmed, but I paid for us both so he couldn’t complain. We had lunch at the flying saucer shaped McDonald’s across from a Dunkin’ with a beefy alien advertising outside.

This town has leaned in to the hype, and I was all about it. I wouldn’t say I’m a believer, but I’m not a disbeliever and the universe is so huge I find it difficult to say we are the only life out there, but whether it’s little green guys probing humans, that maybe not so much. What I do know for sure is that I had a fun time seeing all the crazy here!

New Mexico: Albuquerque, a food town tour, and Capitan

Next stop Albuquerque, the only thing about which I know is from watching Breaking Bad. Our first stop in town was to visit Petroglyph National Monument just on the edge of town. This park has several sites to visit at which you can get very close to hundreds of symbols carved into the rocks hundreds of years ago. We opted for the shortest walk of the sites having just seen some petroglyphs in Bandelier, and given the super hot sun coming down on us. It seems crazy to me that they let people climb all over the rocks with these symbols close enough to touch, and even crazier that it’s located adjacent to a suburban neighborhood. Weird juxtaposition, but so convenient!

Because I am my crazy self, I next forced a drive all over town hunting down roadside attractions! And as a fitting addition Kevin re-introduced me to Weird Al’s song about the town. Which is like 13 minutes long and hilarious. Please go listen to it. Anyway, we hit up a graffiti wall full of Nintendo scenes, tracked down a giant rattlesnake sculpture decorating a highway median, drove by an impressive home that kind of looks like a spaceship, and snapped a pic of a bar made to look like a library. If only it were open! I love the creativity, and of course the book titles they made up.

Had to go to the White’s house from Breaking Bad but everything I read warned that the current owners hate the visitors so it was just a quick pic from the moving car as they’ve been known to yell at people who park there. Yikes. They also had to put up a fence because too many people were tossing pizzas on the roof, so I give them leeway for the lawn chairs that sat thankfully vacant by the garage the owners normally inhabit. In town is also a (not very new at all spoiler alert) gravesite we could have visited, but Kevin is the last person to have just started watching the show and I didn’t want to ruin anything.

We also attempted to find a fabled spot on the old Route 66 where if you drive a certain stretch at exactly 45 mph it plays America the Beautiful. Unfortunately it seems that the state repaved recently and declined to pay to recreate the wonder on the new pavement. We did get a few notes from a piece of shoulder but alas, it was a let down. We decided to spend the night in town to have shower access and for the added bonus of spending the evening at La Cumbre brewery just a few blocks from our motel. Good food truck fare, nice patio seat, a few drinks, and even got to see an older biker gentleman fall off his bench towards closing time.

We were headed south from the ABQ, and took a detour to stop for lunch in Hatch, home of all things chile. I did some online research that all led to a crazy looking spot offering burgers and BBQ with some veggie options on their online menu. It certainly delivered on the kitschy oddball statues and photo ops. We arrived to discover once we’d waiting in line for a while that they were only offering a limited menu, so all the non-meat choices were a no go aside from a couple of sides. Out of spite I ordered nothing to show them that perhaps keeping one choice would be nice. then proceeded to consume half Kevin’s chili cheese fries. I picked up some green chile salsa since fresh chiles are out of season, but left town very hungry and cranky.

A little down the road in Los Cruces we found the world’s largest chile pepper, so that put me in a better mood, as did a stop by PistachioLand in Alamogordo. I’d actually driven this route before on my way from El Paso to Golden months earlier when everything was majorly abandoned, so this visit gave a fuller experience for sure. We saw the largest pistachio again, but also got to go through the shop for some spicy nut products and happily for my belly also a cone of pistachio ice cream which was so delicious. Edit from previous post- my memory was all off and put together all the weird government stops, but between the chile pepper and pistachio was really where we passed White Sands and near by went through a different checkpoint (I assume immigration related since we were close to Juarez) where a guard tried to get us to say we had drugs but since we didn’t… we didn’t. He seemed very disappointed in us as van hippies.

We camped by Ruidoso, a town which a man at La Cumbre had said was the most beautiful place around. It was pretty nice, and in normal times would be even more booming with multi-season attractions like skiing, ranches, water sports, whatever. Google Maps took us some weird way through a town with goat statues all over town that local artists painted, like the pandas in DC, so that was fun. This area also is home to a bunch of sites related to Billy the Kid, but more interesting to me was the town of Capitan- home of the original Smokey Bear. After a forest fire the fire fighters found an injured bear cub up a tree, rescued him, and made him the face of fire prevention. Smokey lived out his days at the National Zoo and was buried right here, back home in Capitan. I promise to be extra careful with campfires, Smokey! And with that, off we went- in the words of Weird Al, the world is our burrito.

New Mexico: Taos, Los Alamos, and Bandelier

My plan after leaving Kevin’s after forever was to head south into New Mexico or west into Utah, but looking at the 100 degree temps in parts of Utah I wanted to see made the decision easy. I must have made it sound so fun that Kevin decided to come with after my few days away in Leadville- way to be a draw, Land of Enchantment or my wonderful company!

We retraced our path south through Pueblo and Sand Dunes into the forest land around Taos in central northern New Mexico, where we camped in a spot that was obviously a campsite thanks to the picnic table and brick fire pit, but was also in the middle of a logging area and everyone else camped further in (side note- there was def something weird going on back there like maybe one of the groups was dealing or had young ladies dropped off for who knows what? Just odd comings and goings…. but they were far away and who knows, we were all good where we were). Oddly in the morning when we went to leave there was a wire gate blocking off the entrance, so maybe the area was really closed and one of those other groups had taken down the gate… Easily re-removed and off we went with this mystery as a souvenir.

Before arriving in town proper, I made us stop at the Earthship complex and visitor center. I read about Earthships before, which are these super cool and oddball totally off the grid homes made of things like old tires packed with soil, walls of adobe laid over bottles and cans, and with lots of plant life to cycle water and regulate temperature. While not as many of the structures were open to tour thanks to pandemic, the tour was pretty amazing and I now want to build one. Well, I want someone to build one for me and I help in all ways with only a portion of the manual labor because that stuff is hard! Way to go, all you people who have done this. Impressive! There are some on the complex that you can rent out for the night and I will one day come back and stay in one.

Taos is a charming, artsy town full of fun shops I wanted to buy all the kitschy everything, and where we had our first real green chili-filled meal. Mmmmmmmm. I also had some melted chocolate with Mexican spices that was delicious. Most of the shops were open but not all, and it was super quiet compared to what I expected.

We had hoped to hit up some roadside hike-in hot springs outside town in the mountains, but the trails were all closed according to what we saw online, and driving by a few it looked like all of humanity decided to go there anyway despite the closed gates at some that meant instead of driving to a trailhead for a shortish walk, you had to triple the distance by walking the normally open road. Long walk plus already hot day temps plus many gross people shoved together in hot water? Nope. Hard pass.

Next stop was the Bandelier National Monument, which was only partially accessible- not due to Covid but instead because they’re taking advantage of lower attendance to do repairs on some roads and areas. Very smart, but a bummer for us. We did get to walk out along a trail to the Long House, a Pueblo cliff dwelling which was up to 4 stories tall, and also has petroglyphs visible. Normally in the park and even on this loop you can see a bunch more homes and even climb ladders and peek in, but alas. On the way there we did see a mule deer chilling in the shade, and on the way back a snake which might be a rattlesnake or might be one that pretends to be a rattlesnake as camo. Any snake experts who know?

Onward we went to Los Alamos, which was cool because we had to go through the government doing secrety things area, and the town of Los Alamos has a cool self guided walking tour through town of historic sights we were able to do and learn a lot of things despite the historic park being closed. The town park is super pretty with a bunch of fun sculptures and children running amok happily which I miss. Even the statues of Oppenheimer and Groves, Manhattan Project bigwigs, were masked up, but I guess if anyone knows the benefits of safety precautions it’s these guys.

The next day we headed out of town and through a huge ancient volcano crater now called, appropriately, Valle Grande since it’s… a big valley.

Finally, on our way toward Albuquerque we passed through a Pueblo that online said it was open, which apparently meant just the visitor center while all the tribal areas and amazing structures usually avaiable to tour were still locked down. I totally get this and with the amount of systemic oppression and repression tribal nations have experienced since we immigrants arrives a few hundred years ago creating a vast gap in healthcare, wellness, and to this day being caught in red tape to get pandemic funding every other community and state received with no issues due to some BS unrelated to any of this (okay, rant over- but there’s so much more!) I wouldn’t let anyone on my land either. What we could see was wonderful, though- a small exhibit of the history and culture, a model home and oven, and the gorgeous red rocks all around. We went by some tent rocks, too, but the main park to these cool hills was (can you guess yet?) closed. We had little better luck as time went on- and a good reason to come back again!

Colorado: Around Golden

Weird bundling of three bundles of time in Golden, because why not.

I first arrived in late March to impose myself on my friend outside Denver until the Covid-lockdown-crazies calmed down and I could figure out where in the area would be a viable option to head next without restrictions and overwhelming closures. Little did I know I’d be here this long…

When I first arrived it was a beautiful spring evening. and we spent a day exploring downtown’s parks along Clear Creek after getting up early to catch the sunrise over town from Lookout Mountain. Before too long though I was treated to a beautiful snowy day. My friend Kevin took me out for a little intro hike in his neighborhood through the snow, which was beautiful but kicked my butt as my first outing at altitude. Kevin’s roommate made a nice fire which was fun- especially the part where he sprayed some kerosene or something… flame-o-rific but not long lasting.

After a few days I could tell the roommate was missing his space, so we took off to Kevin’s friend’s ski condo they said we could use to escape for a few days. Fraser is a cute little town that felt definitely empty and a little sad thanks to all that great press ski towns were getting in those days. We hung out, watched Terminator, went on a failed search for a geocache (or as my friend Inna would say, “geocrap”), frolicked in the snowy streams, and spent a day checking out frozen Lake Granby and Grand Lake where the trail we aimed for was closed, as was a lookout point just inside Rocky Mountain Park. Instead we found a picnic table in the snow by the lake to read and snack. Just after Fraser we took off to Iowa for what turned into 5 plus weeks before returning for about 2 weeks in May.

  • frozen lake
  • closed as predicted
  • snowy picnic spot

Now it was not just warm but some days hot. I went on a few little solo hikes around near Evergreen and Golden while Kevin did things like bike and run with friends who would not hurt themselves immediately as I would have. Happily for me, our friend Andrea was also just moving to the area, so I got to see her and we had a mask-laden reunion/ whatever you’d call a housewarming set in the parking lot of the Crocs headquarters? Another day we all got together to eat a box full of yummy Danish (the country rather than the type of pastry) pastries, and go for a hike together into a cloudy, chilly summit of Chief Mountain. Between this fun, some board games and shenanigans, taking full advantage of kitchen to make some good food, and helping Kevin spruce up a rental house for new tenants, two weeks went by getting chores done and we could hit the road for a two week Colorado tour road trip.

The last of the bundle was after returning from the tour for about a week of errands and meetups with friends. Places in town have pretty much reopened with distancing restrictions and adaptations, so the week was filled with patio time at restaurants and breweries for the most part. I managed to take almost zero photos this week, aside from to document that we went to the ordered take out from the original Chipotle and ate in the park.

I had a few days on my own in the area which I spent camped out outside Leadville, catching up on things (like these entries, cleaning and organizing, reading, sleeping, cooking, watching Queer Eye…). I took a hike around Turquoise Lake and had some lovely hammock time, and later tried and failed to order pizza in Leadville- the highest town in America full of frontier town storefronts and colorful cottages with patterned shingles and in one case a few skis and a billion dandelions. On the way I stopped off at St, Mary’s Glacier to hike up to the lake and glacier, where people were both skiing down the small slope and others were swimming. Cold two ways, yikes! Pretty area for sure, made prettier still by the piggy rock down the street. I’ve got to recreate this magic someday with a rock of my own.

Good times, Colorado! I guess that John Denver wasn’t so full of it after all. Otherwise I wouldn’t have been in this town for 5 weeks over 3 months…

Colorado: Glenwood Springs to Estes Park

The next stop on our little Colorado tour was kind of a roadside attraction stop to fill some time on our way towards Rocky Mountain Park- a few hours in a funny little amusement park in Glenwood Springs. We really went so we could ride the scenic gondola up to the top of the hills, and walk through a few cave areas. This was the least okay I felt with people social distancing thus far, despite the park requiring people to wear masks and limiting group sizes on the cave tours. We didn’t go on any of the rides they had but still… if there’s one place you’re really breathing the same air as strangers it’s in a cave. But we kept our distance, wore masks, and almost bathed in hand sanitizer so here’s hoping.

This old west mining themed park had some fun photo ops, nice views over the canyon, and the caves were cool but nothing to write home about- I’ve definitely been spoiled between Mammoth and Luray in the past few years. It was a fun way to spend a little while though, and after the park we had lunch by the river and spotted rafters going by which looked like a lot of fun. We skipped the hot springs but did drive by the site where Doc Hollywood was killed, and on the way spotted yet another Hawaii license plate, so in just under 24 hours we now only need 3 more states. Come on Delaware, Rhode Island and West Virginia! I was far too amused, as usual, by the signs for the town of “No Name” because I am children.

We stayed the night in Fraser to be well staged for our next morning’s timed pass into Rocky Mountain National Park over Trail Ridge Road. We arrived a little early and used the time to walk up to Adams Falls by Grand Lake before heading into the park checkpoint. As we came through I had to hop out and take a photo since we had done the same thing when at the lake in early April. What a change! Last time we were there the park was closed, the lake was frozen, there was snow on the ground, and a Covid drive through down the road from where we parked for the falls. Crazy.

We had no trouble getting a timed entry pass online about 2 days out from our arrival, and I’ve got to say I really enjoyed the restricted capacity. I’ve only been to RMNP once before but it was way more crowded, trafficky, and full of cars pulled over in dumb places for lack of parking. This was so nice in comparison. We stopped off to do a little walk in the valley by a creek with stunning views of the mountains, and at a historic site of an old ranch before stopping for lunch at a little lake halfway up Trail Ridge Road. We stopped off at the Alpine Visitor Center in hopes of climbing up to a ridge where we’d last visited a few years back in a sleet storm on an otherwise sunny October day, but it was closed from snowfall or something. Oh well. Further along we spotted some elk, and stopped off at a pull off where everyone oohed and aahed over a marmot who chose a scenic home for sure.

Our final stop in the park was over to Bear Lake, where we had zero luck searching for new license plates despite full parking lots, but did spend the afternoon hiking out to a series of four beautiful lakes which got progressively prettier and emptier as we hiked up. Bear Lake was large, Nymph Lake had lovely water lilies, Dream Lake offered calm reflections, and finally Emerald Lake paid off with the dramatic cliffs just across the way. Plus this was one of the few places in the park Kevin hadn’t explored on previous visits, so a fun way to end!

We ended the evening with a tasty Mexican dinner in Estes Park, a walk along the creek through town, and a drive by sighting of the hotel from the Shining before heading back to Golden where we began. I could never have plotted this course to see so much of what makes this state pretty special. Just today I was perusing a road travel book my Uncle Carl gave me and realized that without planning we hit most of all three recommended loops. Well done, CO tour guide! It was a great two week tour.

Colorado: Aspen

From Black Canyon’s hot and dry climate, we were quickly back in the land of mountains and cool winds as we drove north and camped for a night at Twin Lakes. It was Friday and the lakes were packed with campers, but we lucked into a space just up from the water in a cluster of trees next to some welcoming neighbors with sweet dogs and an even more sweet campfire they invited us to share. We made some pasta and had some drinks with the neighbors for an across the fire socially distanced evening. It was fun swapping stories since of the two couples in their group one dude was from northern VA and the other couple had done the van travel thing for a while, too. The funniest part was how young they were (25) and at one point we discovered that one of their dads was at the same concert as Kevin many years ago and they’re about the same age. Ha. Another time I found myself saying stuff like “oh yeah, when I was your age 10 years ago I did the vegan thing too for a while until I got re-addicted to cheese.” Good times.

The next day we explored a little around the lakes then took off over Independence Pass towards Aspen. It was a beautiful drive though the weather was getting more ominous as we approached the height of the pass. We stopped off for some photos just as it started snowing/graupeling/hailing or whatever it really was. The wardrobe combos of our warm weather gear and sandlas from the morning with the coats and hats thrown on in the car are pretty stylish. We cut the photos and playing in the snow short when it started thundering because the very best place to be in a lightning storm is the top of a mountain. Obviously. On the way down the other side we passed a cool ghost town but just made note to come back one day since there was still lightning not far off.

In Aspen we spent a sunny afternoon at the John Denver Sanctuary looking at the engraved quotes on stones, sitting by the streams and flowers, and watching some baby ducklings. It being a Saturday in Aspen, everywhere nearby to camp was full so we did a hotel night with some good Thai food and a nice shower in Basalt before heading back into town first thing Sunday morning to grab a first-come campsite reservation by the Maroon Bells.

The Maroon Bells are some of the most photographed mountains in the nation, and I see why. I added to that total alone by hundreds! We hiked up to Crater Lake, which is not far but over a bunch of rocks uphill so I was grumpy trying to keep up, and as usual the grumpiness was forgotten once we hit the more level home stretch and entered the clearing where the beautiful lake views emerged. We sat, read, ate lunch, and someone napped by the lake for a few hours in the combination of cold wind and hot sun which led to me putting a layer on and off more times than I care to recount. On the way back to the parking lot we took the nature trail around Maroon Lake and were treated to more spectacular views of the mountains, small waterfalls, streams, and aspens. The water was so clear and turquoise, I could barly believe it. Had we experienced a moment without wind the reflections would have blown my mind and added another hundred photos, but it was not to be. Can you spot which of these pics captured Kevin and me trying to push one another off the log? Luckily we both failed.

On our way to the campsite, not one but two amazing things occurred that I’d been begging the universe to provide: 1) we found a Hawaii license plate to finally end the license plate game I’d been playing since January, and 2) we saw my first ever moose drinking from a stream below the road! What a day! Plus we had a fantastic campsite close to the stream hidden amongst the aspens and pines, and lucked into having more fun neighbors who donated extra camp wood for our fire and joined us for a while. I think it helped that I had seltzer and cups to go with the mother’s (of the mom and daughter duo neighbors) tequila and limes.

In the morning we got up on the early side to go back to see the Bells in the nice morning light, and it was wonderful but rather chilly. After soaking in some last Maroon Bells beauty, we headed down into Aspen for some delicious pastries and coffee before hitting the road again. This stop will be hard to top!

Colorado: Black Canyon

From Ridgway we drove north and west into the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. I knew the least about this park going in but it was fantastic. Most areas of this park were open including the campgrounds, so we booked a night and planned on about two days to explore the park. We started out by combining a few smaller hiking loops to go down a little into the canyon from the visitor’s center on the south rim, then through some of the scrub along the top edge of the canyon for a few miles. This was great because we got a variety pack of walking through the little patches of trees finding a way to grow along the canyon wall, getting the dramatic views into the canyon depths, and through the more desert-like areas on top. The only downside was a lot of the trail was in full sun in 80-something degree weather in the dry air, which made for an extra-thirsty me and a sunburned Kevin, but in my book worth it for sure. Also note my poor choice in not bothering to change out of my sandals before doing this hike- I looked up part of it online which showed almost zero elevation gain, and I can walk for miles in whatever shoes if flat, but the part we added last minute was the canyon section. Oops. Made it! Just went barefoot for any bouldery sections.

Later we got abck to the van and located our campsite which we’d picked sight unseen from the few remianing online. It was… the worst campsite in the place by far. Ha! Full sun with very little in the way of shade until late evening, about 60% of the ground was covered in boulders sticking out from the ground so there was only one viable spot to pitch a tent, which happened to be only a few yards away from our neighbor’s fire pit and where they’d chosen to put their tent. Also whoever occupied this site before us left piles of oatmeal and rice out, which is just what one wants to find alongside the warnings that it’s illegal to feed the wildlife and, oh yeah, lock up everything because this is bear and mountain lion country. While we didn’t get any surprise bear visits we did have several fearless chipmunks come visit and gobble some of the leftovers. My attempt to scare them off by placing my creepy cat statue by the oatmeal was totally unsuccessful until one of the chippies sniffed him and he collapsed creating a hilarious run for dear life. If you’re on Instagram and haven’t checked it out already, search for #creepycatroadtrip for his other antics.

After making dinner (it was a great one- my favorite of my camp meals thus far, lemon couscous with a sautéed mushroom, onion, chickpea, escarole and balsamic glaze… still getting a handle on the whole cooking at altitude timing though) we checked out a bunch of the overlooks along the road as we went as far into the park as the road goes to catch the sunset. The pull off named “Sunset Point” was predictably our plan and of course packed by the time we arrived, but the next spot down (end of the road) offered just as pretty a view and was deserted aside from a nice group of retirees on their annual couples trip. They even had a telescope set up to do some major stargazing after as this is one of the darkest and clearest spots around and we got to sneak a peek.

The next day we got up early-ish to get a hike in before it got too hot, and drove back out to the end of the road where we did a little hike on a nature trail with a guidebook from which we took turns reading aloud because you can’t take the teacher out of me. From here we could see the end of the canyon and the view out over the plains toward to mountains we’d crossed the other day. Such a crazy difference depending on which way you looked, it was a great spot to reflect on how much variety nature is capable of.

On the way back to pack up camp we stopped at the rest of the overlooks we’d missed the day before. Some of these offered the best views of the striations and colors that look like someone took a paintbrush to the canyon walls and aimed for Dixie cup motif. It was also the best bird-watching and we spotted beautiful little birds swooping in and out of caves in the side of the canyon alongside larger birds that could have been hawks, golden eagles, falcons, or turkey vultures. I know we saw at least two of these but which ones they were I can only guess with the help of the signage. A few types of lizards, some rabbits, a small snake, and a bunch of cute rodents rounded out our wildlife sightings.

Our last stop before leaving the park was, at a ranger’s suggestion, driving down a 16% grade road to the bottom of the canyon for a picnic lunch by the river. The little van did it’s job with flying colors thank goodness! The ranger said it was one of if not the steepest road in the state, and I believe it. The bottom of the canyon was a different world from the top. It was cool, a little buggy, and so peaceful and quiet aside from the running water sounds. There’s a campground down here which I would totally come back to try out sometime, and with a permit you can hike down and back out further into the canyon in the backcountry. We saw people fishing with success, kayaking, and swimming. I dipped my toes in and it was chilly but warmer than I expected.

This was my favorite surprise of the Colorado Parks we visited. There’s something about how big a canyon like this feels that put our crazy world into perspective, which was welcome with everything going on out there.