COLORADO 2018
Independence Pass to Great Sand Dunes
Knowledge = Confidence = Success
make your own path . . . in Life & in the Wild
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| Whitewater rafting on 46 degree Arkansas River |
Colorado hiking & camping journey June 15th to July 2nd. Southern Colorado was in extreme drought, stage 2 fire restrictions prevalent.
My journey starts acclimating to altitude in the Pinyon-Juniper-Sage desert at Ruby Mtn camp on the Arkansas River; a BLM site.
This is a stellar camp and the gateway to the new Browns Canyon National Monument just outside Buena Vista.The massive Collegiate Peaks of the Continental Divide rise across the valley.
Brown's Canyon National Monument:
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| Prickly Poppy |
This plant exudes a toxic sap when stems or thistle looking leaves are broken. The oil in the seeds was used as a fine lubricant in WWII and as a medicine by Native Americans. The 3" crepe blooms are a visual treat in the desert.
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| Treasure Mountain from Browns Canyon N.M. |
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| Hike Turret Trail to 8,055' to views of San Isabel N.F. |
Browns Canyon is a rugged Wilderness of canyons and huge Granite outcroppings. A variety of micro climates means a variety of trees such as Pinyon, White Cedar, Juniper, Ponderosa, Spruce and Aspen with Yucca and Cacti. The dry wind blew clouds of yellow pollen from the pines.
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| Wildcat climb to 8,055' granite outcropping for long views |
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Ruby Mtn BLM site #3 on Arkansas River, Collegiate Pks of the Divide
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Wildcat Hiking: one of joys of hiking is reading the Topo's and grabbing the GPS and heading out cross country, off trail. It's a journey of discovery - of landscape and of self, rerouting, unexpected experiences; quiet and solitude.
Mismatch outfit perfect for Whitewater Rafting the Arkansas River. Low snow pack meant a tamer river (1,820 cfs) but still lively getting sprayed with 46 degree water in the class III and IV rapids. This is the only practical way to see the wild rugged rocky Browns Canyon. I follow this up with the Zen and peace of a soak in 105 degree Cottonwood Hot Springs.
Cottonwood Hot Springs
Encounter with Discovery Channel star: I was grabbing a latte, checking river flows at a water sports shop, and poking around old towne in Buena Vista and went into a gem & mineral shop. "I just want to check out the rocks & gems if that's OK" I told the shop owner. "That's fine" she said.
We got talking about minerals in the area and I mentioned the Discovery series that was filmed around here called "The Prospectors". "I was in that" she said. It was Tracy Cardwell who had the aquamarine mine on the top of Mt. Antero. Said she and Todd were working on a show together they hoped Discovery would pick up.
Twin Peaks & Independence Pass:
Salida is an artsy funky new age town of 5k on the Arkansas River. This is the banana belt of Colorado with west facing slopes often snow free all winter and periods of mild winter weather.
Red Hen bakery has top tier home made organic treats and makes bagels in a wood fired oven. I opt for a loaf of sour dough bread, shortbread, and a pecan pie bar. I pull into Moonlight Pizza/Brewery on the corner of F Street & 3rd Street for a dyno pizza and Lager while watching the beat of the street; interesting people and time pass by.
The Chaffee County museum is staffed by an interesting bloke who worked for Kodak. He had a lot of interesting tid bits from his world wide travels. "Japan is a very orderly society, the train stations in Tokyo have many lines both directions across the vast station to board and unboard the train. People queued up and stayed in their line." The museum showcases the mining, railroading and agrarian past (lettuce). A smelter tower still stands north of town. Life in 1880 was for the tough and determined.
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Twin blues of water & sky at Twin Lakes with 14,433' Mt. Elbert
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I score best site #19 at Twin Pks campground. It sits on a high bank above the rushing boulder strewn Lake Creek with two 13K peaks rising from the river. The soothing sound of cascading crashing water fills the site. Lake Creek is flowing at a robust 252 csf of snowmelt. This part of Colorado had only 37% of the usual snow pack.
This San Isabel National Forest campground has wood, water, and garbage - the luxuries. This is the last N.F. campground in Colorado to allow fires. It sits at 9,650' in the Sub Alpine zone which is essentially a Lodgepole Pine forest.
The sites are large and private. Mine is 50 x 40 strides or about 125' by 100' with 2 private trails (to the river & to the road). I walk the .38 mile camp loop to warm up at sunset and check the gear and sites of the professional campers this campground attracts.
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| Wild Rose |
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| Buttercup |
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| Indian Paintbrush |
Temps dip down to the upper 30's. Pinyon wood smells like pepper and Ponderosa like butterscotch. The base wood of my fires is Minnesota Red Oak and Birch; high BTU, big long coals, little smoke, great aroma, high light output.
Shadows from the pregnant 3/4 moon on this Solstice day overtake the shadows of the twilight sun at 9:37; near the end of 'nautical twilight' where the sun is 6 to 12 degrees below the horizon. The horizon is distinct during this time and you can see the outline of objects. The sun set at 8:33. A few days earlier the quarter moon rose and set at 2:23 am/pm; a symmetry often found with astronomical events.
Full Moon rising above Twin Peaks flanked by Venus & Jupiter
Hike on the Contintental Divide at Independence Pass:
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| Star Mountain |
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| Continental Divide at Independence Pass leads to Ouray Pk 12,957' |
I am the only hiker on the Divide. The morning is a crisp 37 degrees with a warming sun and ample S & S (Silence & Solitude). Can you hear it; the sound of freedom.
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Can you see the Ptarmigan?
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Looking North off the Divide to the 13k snow clad peaks of the Williams Mountains in the Hunter - Fryingpan Wilderness in the White River N.F.
Chillin' on snowfield with 13,998' Grizzly Peak and the Gunnison National Forest rising behind me to the South.
I'm standing on the Divide in the north end of the Sawatch Range in the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness of the San Isabel N.F. with a fantastic 360 degree panoramic view. 50 Mountain Goats graze in the mountainside across from me. This is the backbone of the Rocky Mountain chain.
The Sawatch Range sports 13 14k peaks, a fourth of Colorado's 14k peaks. It spans 5 biospheres and I can see a couple dozen 13k and 14k peaks, 3 Wilderness Areas and 3 National Forests. There is nothing sublime about this primal massive earth altering landscape. It commands the attention of all 5 senses.
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| Screaming loud 50 mph winds blast over the Divide whipping up these Cirrus clouds; Mt. Elbert off to the right. |
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| Alpine Tundra meadows ablaze in primary colors; yellow Sunflower, blue Penenstrom, red Paintbrush, white Daisey, purple Moss Violet, lichens and mosses |
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| Looking West towards Aspen and red Capitol Pk and the Maroon Bells |
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| Big Dipper through the Lodgepoles |
G & G day (Get 'n Go), continual visits from Ruby Throated Hummers and a last shot of my digs at #19.
Roll through the funky, young, high energy old town area of Buena Vista to access the Eastern side of the Arkansas River. The 4 Midland tunnels were blasted out for a narrow gauge railroad from Pueblo to mines in the area.
Exploring reddish powder dirt BLM roads to fine overlooks of the Arkansas River. The 14k Continental Divide peaks of Mt. Princeton, Mt. Antero, and Mt. Shavano rise across the valley.
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| Late 1800's gold mining 'head' near Monarch Pass |
Old Lady and the Pinyon:
Camped at Lady of Shavano N.F. campground at the south end of the Sawatch Range with the old prospector Leon from Tennessee the host. He has a substantial infrastructure for water and electricity for his rig. I roll through Poncho Springs just before Poncho Pass I see large 2 story piles of various woods. I pull into the maze entrance and am admonished for not following the signs by an elderly lady who came out of her shed to see what I was up to.
She had a deep tan, furrowed face, and wore a straw hat. She was more than willing to talk wild fires, snow pack, and wood. "Do you have any Pinyon" I ask. Pinyon Pine is a hard long burning aromatic wood that smells like baked pepper. "I've got a pile from New Mexico" she says. "I'm interested in a couple bundles for camping" I say.
She points to a large home made wooden wagon; "This is the smallest quantity I will sell" she declares flatly. She wouldn't budge from that, though looked like they could use all the dollars they could get. Land and life here are no nonsense and hardscrabble and so are the people. Next time I stop I'll get the wagon load.
Great Sand Dunes National Park:
The Magic of Crestone: The San Luis Valley is in extreme south central Colorado with a heavy Spanish influence; customs, architecture, and food. It has more in common with New Mexico. Albuquerque is as close as Denver. This was Mexican territory and Mexico granted homesteads so they would populate the area after the U.S. made the Louisiana purchase whose boundary went just east of here. Some of these original homesteads from early 1800's survive today.
The San Luis Valley is largely agrarian with some mining and tourism. It draws an eclectic people with a positive energy force emmenating from the Crestone Needle, a 14k granite tower; think Sedona, crystals and all. There are several hot springs here, a crocodile farm, a UFO viewing tower, and 30 some religious temples spread in the Pinyon desert around the hamlet of Crestone.
Crestone is a gathering of 127 people and a spiritual and new age center. It bears investigation, 10 miles off the lonely main road. I pull into an old wood coffee shop. Two middle aged men sit at a weathered circular wooden table on the patio discussing various strains of marijuana. The inside is an old plank wooden floor with a raised portion at one end set up for a band ready to step up and play.
Looks like a new age, counter culture, hipster crowd with long flowing dresses, flower shirts, sandals. I couple 60 ish pony tail dudes are sipping a java, one intent on a laptop, the other plugged in to Spotify. Is it 1970? I grab a latte and a wrap and roll.
Maybe it is better to tune out all the noise of politics, world events and just live your life which you do have control over. Hey, the Hickory Hiker is soaking in some of this new age spiritual karma.
750' tall and the largest dune field in North America, sand blows across the San Luis Valley and dropped at the foot of the fault block Sangre de Christo mountains which rise abruptly 7,000' from the valley floor, just like the Tetons.
The thin air at 8,326' heats up to 93 degrees by noon. UV radiation is very high, shade at a premium and water a precious commodity.
Dunes meet the Mountains, EDGES, natures demarcation lines, it is where things happen. 13,027' Mt. Herard rises skyward.
Wildcat cross country desert hike:
The sun rises the farthest North of the year on this near Summer Solstice Day. I pack and roll with a nice 57 degrees and low sun angle; humidity is 8%. I cross 6 miles of open desert to the dunes and follow dry Medano Creek to where the Dunes meet the Mountains. I walk around huge patches of Prickly Pear Cactus, slow to a crawl in sections of deep soft sand, and climb in and out of large steep snow melt Arroyos.
The desert is still and silent. Green pines below the towering Dunes and blue sky above with the Sangre mountains provide a colorful surreal back drop. There are a few birds, beetles, and butterflies around. Lot of thorny, spiky, needley, scratchy plants in the desert; hint-should have worn nylon rip stop pants, not shorts.
The sun climbs and burns in this southern thin air locale, hits 93. Denver hits all time high of 105. I quicken the pace back to camp, re-hydrating in the scant shade locations; quicken the pace as camp comes into view and ice cream and Power Aid on my mind.
Wildfire and Sand infused sunsets
Looking West to the San Juans
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| Cloud Bank moves over Sangres and full Moon |
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| The Dunes constantly shift, now swallowing a Ponderosa Pine |
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| Sand & Sky - core desert elements |
This is true desert with only 8" of precip annually (11" the demarcation upper limit defining a desert environment). Snow pack here was 10% of normal.
Nearby Alamosa had 2.2" of Precip for the year. The Rio Grande River irrigates the sandy soil for Alfalfa, hay, and potatoes. The irrigation and aquifer plugs are being pulled on the farmers. The Dunes provide protection from fires so some very large and old Pinyons and Ponderosas grow here.
Long views of Dunes and Sangre de Christo mountains. Best place for 5 & 6 layer photos.
Circling back; water and the railroads dictated prosperity and viability of a particular Western geographic location. Water is now, and will increasingly be, the trump card, final arbiter and reaper.
National Parks can be a bit of a traveling circus. Great Sands is family camping and not quite sardine land - sites not packed but pretty tight. The night brings 5 hour burns, peace and solitude, alive to the cadence of the fire and the living night
I burn the rest of my wood on my last night. This is the last legal fire in Colorado as Great Sands goes to stage 2 tomorrow joining all of Colorado.
Some of the rocks & minerals in this area.
Spring Fire is OC (outta control at 100k acres). LeVeta Pass is closed so I reroute over the top of the Sanges, down the Arkansas River and exit out via Colorado Springs. The latitude is 38 degrees here, same as the Korean DMZ.
Road Trip Sage notes:
Master Mazda Mechanics don't come walking out of the cornfield in the middle of Dakota
Keep climbing the peaks of your dreams, re-inventing as the landscape of your life changes. Walk across the landscapes, visit with people, sample the cuisine and bounty of the land, learn about the natural and cultural history.
The Hickory Hiker will keep climbing and keep sampling.
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