TheIcecreamPeople and LaOutbackTrail do the Rockies!

[LaOutbackTrail]

With only a week to plan, we took off on a late season trip.
It all started when Chris (Street Wolf or whatever he poses as here) put out a fishing thread trying to acquire another truck to go out to Moab to run the Kokopelli trail. After playing twenty questions, I found out that TheIcecreamPeople would be driving solo on the trip. Cool. Long story short, I called up Jason and he was cool with having a passenger/co-driver. Next, all that was needed was to gain permission from the bosses (wife and work.)
Upon that obtainment, I was clear to go!

The only real goal was to get to Moab, but not being so naive, I suggested time being spent in Colorado. What a beautiful time of year to go too!

So we took off on Saturday morning at about 4:00AM headed to Wichita Falls to meet up with Chris. After driving around and waiting for over two hours we finally hit the road again. We pressed west until Amarillo where we refueled, then headed north to Dumas, TX where we briefly left Chris and Jeff at a Chinese Buffet (number 8 in the nation apparently) to go hike around the Capulin Volcano.
I didn't take out the camera until we nearly reached the volcano.

The FJCruiser sure looks tiny from atop the volcano!

Snow in the rockies!


The hike around the rim of the Capulin Volcano took about an hour and is well worth it for the views and the general experience of hiking atop a volcano!!

After 580 miles, we finally get off the pavement at Aguilar, Colorado heading for the Spanish peaks and Cordova Pass.



To reach the pass you must wind through many aspen lined valleys passing many locked gates leading to many lonely ranches. A truly beautiful area, different than the rest of Colorado.It is really an area not explored by many outsiders and the only folks we saw were hunters. At the pass is a quiet campground. White, patchy snow glowing beneath giant spruce trees. A red sun setting over the front range, and the domes of the Spanish Peaks glowed of gold over our shoulders.
A quick hike to a 180* view vista point rewarded me with a few photos of a breathtaking sunset



We ate dinner beneath the stars. And boy were they aplenty. This was my first opportunity to try creating "star trail" photos. And interestingly enough, the first time I've enjoyed a view of the Milky Way (captured nicely in this photo).

A chilly first night.

[LaOutbackTrail]

The second day of our adventure started a new trend, windy mornings. My best meteorological guess is that the change in the atmospheric temperature from the rising sun causes wind in the mountains. Makes sense to the cows that joined us for breakfast.
We awoke to the cool air and we boiled water for oatmeal. Soon we were heading down the mountain to the town of La Veta. Crisp air filling our lungs under the shade of the golden aspens over head. A glorious morning for our first day in Colorado.


We stopped for fuel and coffee in La Veta, Colorado where we met an interesting fellow who was drawn to Chris's Rover. He had been a mechanic for some time and a Roverphile for decades, he complimented Chris's build, before zipping away in his MGB.

This is when Chris pulls a fast one on us. Within moments of discussing the route plan, he and Jeff created a story about needing to go to a rover shop in Colorado Springs. After attempting to persuade the duo into visiting the Great Sand Dunes and then swinging towards CS, we bid them adieu and went our separate ways. A few hours later my wife calls wondering what we were doing in Durango. She watched the SPOT tracker head south west off of our intended course. Apparently someone had a change of heart.

No worries, we continued on towards Alamosa turning due north on a great "Long Road to Nowhere" type of road followed by a distant view of the Great Sand Dunes National Park.



We paid our dues at the gate. Thankfully we convinced the park ranger to let us pass with only the $10 per vehicle fee, instead of my Nikon D7000. We went straight to the dunes via the Medano Primative Road. It was unfortunate, but we had originally planned to travel over the Medano Pass road into the Sand Dunes, but due to the snow a week before, many limbs and trees had fallen over the trail and raised the water level of the creeks.

The creeks were definitely much higher than when I visited in August. Here we are at number 3. Number 4 was supposed to be about a foot deeper... we opted out.

Plenty of wildlife was to bee seen. Several deer, an elk in the bed of a pickup truck, many birds, and people. Lots of people. But I generally don't blame them, the sand dunes are a wonderful place and the best places are usually well trodden.



We did not spend much time in the area. Fears of another snow storm during the night pushed us north to the town of St Elmo to catch the Tincup pass trail before getting caught in any weather. The drive to St Elmo was disgustingly ugly. So much trash on the road. Flat. Boring. And void of vegetation.... as seen in the following pictures:





St Elmo is a famed, picturesque "ghost town"... but it was a bit of a let down. A few old buildings with plenty of history, sure, but not as grand as we had hoped. We aired down and headed up.





So we headed up Tin Cup Pass, and at the top?




We then headed down to Mirror Lake (its actually on the trail) and I setup for a time lapse photo shoot.

Not so much of a mirror this evening, I hear early morning is the best time to shoot here. Oh well, we press down the mountain to Tincup. I'll save you the bore of me trying to explain this town, Tincup, Colorado. A definite place to return to, much better than St Elmo.

Tincup, Colorado after dark:


Night number two was a blur. We decided to press on, a mistake, but every campground along the way was closed. Somethings are meant to be I suppose. We drove through the mountains dern near till midnight when I finally settled on a national forest hunters camp, off Co Rd 12 west of Crusty Butt, CO... a happening ski town with a cute down town. Crusty Buttians if you find my gray beanie cap, please forward it to me.....

We checked several camp sites that night, along route 12. Several of which arrived at dark hunting camps, reassuring ourselves that our presence was appreciated but unwelcomed, we as quietly as possible turned around and crept away. We finally found a small double track leading up a hill and beneath a GIGANTIC spruce tree was a small fire ring and plenty of firewood. PERFECT! I pitched my tent beneath this majestic spruce tree, expecting rain during the night. A great idea indeed. We woke up, again, to the normal heavy wind and a light patter of rain against the tent. That light patter grew to heavy patter, then quiet. Light rain, to sleet, to snow. We packed up before sunrise and we were gone, headed to Grand Junction.

Before sunrise, we popped out of the forest, glimpsing a mountain shrouded in clouds and blanketed in snow.

[LaOutbackTrail]

We will return after these short commercial breaks.

[LaOutbackTrail]

We will return after these short commercial breaks.

[LaOutbackTrail]

We will return after these short commercial breaks.

[LaOutbackTrail]

We will return after these short commercial breaks.

[trackhead]

Nice pics. Looking forward to the rest.

[Larry]

Beautiful pictures! Looks like the weather cooperated for you going over TinCup. Less snow there than a couple weeks ago.

Not nearly as high quality pictures as you take but this is how Mirror Lake looked the morning of October 7th

[Bikemobile]

Im headed to crested butte today. Where did you lose your beanie?

[theicecreampeople]

Beautiful pictures! Looks like the weather cooperated for you going over TinCup. Less snow there than a couple weeks ago.

Not nearly as high quality pictures as you take but this is how Mirror Lake looked the morning of October 7th

we lucked out on weather for sure ...saw that storm come through that week ...did you camp at mirror lake ?i have a thing for old towns and when we ended up at tin cup town ..i was in awww ...scott takes some great pics for sure ...j