Final Stats

July 10th

33 Days on vacation

RV Totals:

2379.3 Miles

385.47 Gallons of gas

$1610 Gas money

$3.56 Average cost per gallon of gas

6.17 Miles per gallon

$.68 Cost Per mile

Jeep Totals:

2417 Miles

$485 Gas Money

$.20 Cost Per Mile

July 10th Final Stats From the Trip

Gas
Mileage
Animals
Ice Cream

July 7th - 9th

July 7^th Four Lakes All in One Hike!

Sunrise at Glacier Basin Campground (spot 140)

Today we decided to hike around Bear Lake and up to Emerald Lake. On the way we were able to enjoy Nymph Lake and Dream Lake as well. About ½ way around Bear Lake (elevation 9,475 ft)

Nymph Lake (elevation 9,700 ft) had a magnificent reflection of the mountains.

Dream Lake (elevation 9,900 ft) was like so clear that you could see the Rainbow Trout.

So, close to Lar's plate, yet so far away… no license, no fishing.

Keep on  hiking Viking.

Emerald Lake (elevation 10,080 ft) still a little frozen.

July 8^th Lets go see the animals!

Before leaving RMNP, our early morning mission was to see the elk and moose that hang around the Beaver Pond area on the other side of the park.

We traveled back over the Trail Ridge Road, where we stopped and created a now (2011) and then (circa 1933) photo of The Great Rock Cut just past the highest point of the road at 12,183 ft.

We were also hoping to take the Old Fall River Road, which is rough, steep and perfect for a jeeping experience. We had heard it doesn’t usually open until the beginning of July, so we reversed our vacation order in hopes of driving this back road that parallels Trail Ridge Road. Didn’t happen, when we talked to the Ranger, she said it may not open at all this year because the road is pretty washed-out and worse than usual because of the high snow fall totals.

We came back to the campground(I love the waterfalls on the road to Grand Basin), packed up our stuff and headed for the last night of camping in the Roosevelt National Forest (near Boulder) called Meeker Park.

July 9^th One More Photo Before Heading Home

Since we will drive over the night to get back to St. Louis, we decided to view a few more canyon roads, Longs Peak, and any animals we could find.

St. Malo Church on Hwy 7 near Meeker Park

Longs Peak is the last of the 14teeners (elevation 14,256 ft) going north in the Rocky Mountains, including Canada. The thought of hiking this mountain was more hours than we had left of vacation (and I am sure you would need snow shoes… I think we will wait until another trip).

As we were leaving Roosevelt National Forest we did see a couple of animals at the Meeker Park picnic area, one male bear and one female elk…who knew that they would play so nicely together.

July 2nd - 6th

July 2^nd  Steamboat Springs
We tried to Jeep around to view Elk and Grouse Mountain, Coral Peeks (on route CR 21) and Stillwater Pass… nope too much snow or the roads were washed out, so we opted for going to Steamboat Springs (where it was a little too toasty for us …86 degrees) for the day. On the way back we waited around to see the fireworks in Granby, where we saw a great sunset. After waiting awhile, we decided to go back to the campground to see if we could view them from there.

July 3^rd Shooting Range and Grand Lake
Today we set out for the shooting range in the canyon of Hot Sulphur Springs, where the sound of ricocheting ammo and echoing boom sounds from all sorts of weapons could be heard. From there we traveled to the town of Grand Lake where we strolled around until the afternoon rains would come. On the way we say great views like this one of Lake Granby (Lake Granby, Shadow Mountain Reservoir and Grand Lake are all next to each other).

July 4^th Rocky Mountain National Park & Estes Park, COAs we rolled into Rocky Mountain National Park, I couldn’t think of anything more majestic for celebrating the July 4^th holiday.

Elk is very prevalent in the park since there are no real natural predators (at the moment).

This is Kawuneeche Valley as you enter the park from the Grand Lake entrance station.

The Never Summer Mountains Chain

The view from the large RV windshield.

Lava Cliffs viewed from the Trail Ridge Road near the Alpine visitors center (12,183 ft).

Once we were able to locate a camp spot in Glacier Basin (all reservable sites are booked solid), we headed to the town of Estes Park to meet up with another camping buddy from Missouri, eat Thai food and watch the fireworks display over Lake Estes. 

July 5^th Exploring in Estes Park

We headed for the famed Stanley hotel, where we heard that was where the movie The Shining was filmed… not so …that is where the idea came about as a result of Steven Spielberg being a guest there. Later the TV mini-series was shot on location there. Then we headed for the main part of town, where we found rainbow trout at Claire’s for breakfast and went about our shopping exploits.

July 6^th Jeeping toward Walden, CO on scenic Highway 14

We had a nice picnic along the Poudre River at a roadside park.

Hey, you know the Rocky Boys (Mount Rushmore)…well, what president is this? No, this is Profile Rock in Poudre County, CO.

Views from the drive into the Roosevelt National Forest and along the canyon walls and riverside camping areas on CR14.

June 29th - July1st Arapaho National Forest

June 29^th
We arrived at our new camp spot in the Arapaho National Forest on Granby Lake. There were several campgrounds, but we opted for Sunset Point in Rainbow Bay. The campground is approximately ½ between the town of Granby and Grand Lake. 

June 30^th
Today we Jeeped around the towns of Granby, Grand Lakes, and Arapaho National Forest.  Our thoughts were to take a ride (2hours) to Steamboat Springs but the weather turned to stormy in the afternoon.

Eagle’s nest in Willow Creek

They say that weather in the mountains can change fast, be prepared. Wow, they weren’t kidding. We saw dark clouds across the lake, but all of sudden the winds picked up and it was so strong that it knocked out about 20 Lodge Pole Pines from the root.

Not only were trees down, but one of those pines landed on top of the Jeep (better than on the RV). Luckily, there was only a little roof damage. The forest rangers that came around to check on the safety of the campers and assess the damage said that this kind of wind was rare.

For the next few hours we heard the sounds of chain saws and generators. There we canopies and tents that were headed for the dumpsters after the storm. Once the forest department workers removed the tree, we were able to repair the roof with a little duct tape (glad the roof on the Jeep is gray…it’s a good match).

July 1^st The weather was stunning, so we hung out at the camp site enjoying the sun (and charging batteries with solar panels) and the lake.

It was a lazy day of peeking through the binoculars at hawks and pelicans hunting and catching fish, people watching the boaters, and watching the clouds build up in the mountains.

June 26th-28th Travel Days with a stopover in Grand Mesa

June 26^th Lakeview through Blue Mesa Recreational Area & Black Canyon to Grand Mesa

Today we left Lakeview and the Gunnison National Forest, traveled through Blue Mesa Recreation Area and then took the North rim of the Black Canyon up to Grand Mesa National Forest.

Blue Mesa Recreation Area

Gunnison River as it winds through Black Canyon with the San Juan mountain chain in the background.

Colorado traffic jam on the way to Grand Mesa.

The trip up to Grand Mesa took a little longer, Due to the steepness and altitude climb, we had to let the RV cool down two different times … the engine and transmission ran hot, warning gauges are a good thing. The views were worth the wait, this is just one of the many lookouts near the top of Grand Mesa.

Island Lake, one of the many lakes we passed on the way to Jumbo campground (which had just opened last week, due to snow).

June 27^th Jeeping out to Land’s End and Crater View

Today we headed out to see the back country of Grand Mesa. This is the view from Land’s End

While at the observation point, Lars met Chip and Dale who loved the sunflower kernels he had to offer.

 From Crater View you are able to see Land’s End which is a large mesa/peninsula that you are able to look and see Grand Junction below.

After leaving Crater View we headed down the rough, 4X4 trail only to find patches of snow. Hmmm…it was a little too much snow for the (blue mule) jeep…yes, stuck again. The mud puddles were fine, but not the hard packed snow. Three of four wheels had no grip, since the frame of the jeep was resting on top of the snow. No handy shovel or gloves to speak of…until some nice ATVer’s came and helped bail us out. Lets just say we struggled for about an hour and half.

We came down from Grand Mesa (10,000ft) to Highway 70 (5,000ft) where it was in the mid 90’s, yuck.

However the scenery on Highway 70 around Glenwood is stunning with the steep rock walls on both sides and the Colorado River flowing along aside, it is definitely a great view. You also get to tunnel through the mountains, which felt somewhat cooler.