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Fall is in the Air

COLORADO

By Time2Geaux Unplugged

November 18^th, 2019

There is a harmony in autumn, and a luster in its sky, which through the summer is not heard or seen, as if it could not be, as if it had not been! - Percy Bysshe Shelly

We rolled out of South Dakota ahead of the cold weather heading south into Nebraska. Making an honest effort to visit all the states, neither one of us had been to Nebraska. What we found, at least where we visited was nice small communities with free community overnight parks with power and water! Some had a place for donations, others ask you to pay if you stayed over two days. All and all Nebraska is very RV friendly!

We met some friends in Denver where we met at a winery and discussed plans for our Alaska trek next summer. Nice making friends on the road who share your lifestyle. Accommodations in Denver were tight, a craft brewing fest was happening that weekend so we moved on to the mountains. We had taken some drives up to see the leaves and what a spectacular view with the blue sky, green conifers and yellow aspens. Unlike the east with hardwoods all changing with different shades the contrast was more stunning! We found a boondocking site outside of Leadville. Leadville was a gold mining town at 10,000 feet surrounded by high peaks in all directions. We were close to town and enjoyed visiting this less touristy old west mining town. One of the highlights of our stay was an afternoon train ride on the Colorado Southern Railroad, built up on the mountain we got a bird’s eye view of the Arkansas River valley and mountains that surround it on both sides. The ride took us past Prospect Mountain to a view below Mosquito Peak and an old water station for the steam engines where were being setup for a picturesque view and wedding the following day.

While at Leadville I got the opportunity to climb Mt Elbert, the highest peak in Colorado. It was good to climb my first ‘14er’, a peak that is over 14,000 feet. This was considered one of the easy 14ers but it was all I had to climb it! Most was hiking with one section of class 2 bolder scrambling.

After leaving Leadville we headed south towards New Mexico. We stayed overnight near the Great Sand Dunes National Park. It was amazing to see so much sand so far from the beach or desert.

Fall in the Rockies

What a sight! What can you say about the aspens in October, other than breath-taking! This was our first year to see them in their full glory it was spectacular! A true gift from God!

Technically the process can be explained by the chlorophyll in the leaf diminishes and leaves behind carotenoids which is where the color comes from. If you want to know more about the process the Forest Service has a nice writeup about the process at this link.

https://www.fs.fed.us/r2/recreation/fallcolors/chemistry/

Route 10 / 404 between Breckenridge and Como

Aspen grove in the St Isabel National Forest

Leadville, CO

Little did we know when we picked Leadville on the map we were going to end up in the highest incorporated city in North America! I keep telling JoAnn that I had no idea it was going to be that high when we picked it and out of breath she would reply ‘yep, we didn’t think to check on that…’. JoAnn doesn't handle altitude well and takes her longer to adapt.

What a historical jewel of a town. We had never heard of the town and it was once considered for the capital of Colorado! It was founded in 1877 after the small settlement was established in 1859 focused on placer gold played out. Silver and lead were discovered in was the main driver for the town for more than a hundred years. Now a small community of 2500, it sits in the middle of several ranges with some of Colorado’s tallest peaks which makes it popular for outdoor activities. We found so many quirky colored homes and just had to take pics of them.

We were able to boondock just outside of town on some forest service property where disburse camping is allowed. What a nice place with the views of mountains in every direction!

Train Ride around Prospect Mountain

If you want take a ride back in time from the Continental Divide up through the most precarious mountain hugging tracks I have ever seen, then this ride is for you. Built in the late 1800’s, this narrow-gauge line was part of a freight line from Leadville to Denver that carried mining supplies in and enriched ore back out. This line overlooks the Arkansas River Valley where the competition line had locked down the easy way leaving the mountain route to Colorado & Southern Railway. In order to meet contract expectations, they had to work through the winter at over 11,000 feet! When the railway became unprofitable, Burlington Northernsold off the railroad to a local business man for $1. He reworked it into a tourist based railway that takes passengers up into the mountains on a ~21 mile / 2 ½ hour trip back in time.

Mount Elbert Climb

Mt Elbert is the tallest peak in Colorado, at 14,439 it is considered an ‘easy’ 14er. It is in the Saint Isabel National Forest and can be climbed as a day hike. It took me almost 10 hours for the round trip (spending an hour at the summit and stops for photos), it was still a big challenge. About half the hike is below the tree line and part of the trail is shared with the CDT (Continental Divide Trail). Most of the trail is a level 1 hike, there is one section above the tree line that is a steep level 2 (some scrambling), I was glad to have my hiking sticks in both directions.

While this was my first 14er to successfully summit it was still a humbling experience! I left about a half hour before sunrise and it took almost 6 hours to summit. With over 4000 feet of elevation gain I logged almost 30,000 steps that day and 151 floors climbed! When I got back to the parking lot all but two other vehicles were still there. Even after weeks of acclimation I’m not sure I will ever be able to be a very successful mountaineer.

Mt Elbert leaves the CTD & Colorado Trail

He showed up when I took out my trail mix...

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Who knew that the largest sand dunes in North America was in the middle of the Rocky Mountains! Located on Hwy 17 north of Alagoas, snuggled up next to the Sangre de Cristo Range. With dunes over 700 feet tall this place is so unexpected. The dunes contain over 5 billion cubic meters of sand (covering about 30 square miles). The spring Medano creek is a playground for kids, when we visited it was dry but it is a critical part of the dunes, the prevailing winds blows the sand east into the Sangre de Cristo Mountain where the winter snow and rainfall wash it back down into the San Luis Valley where it repeats the cycle again.

Popular on the dunes is sand boarding down the long faces of the dunes. We hiked up some of these faces which is harder than you would expect. This sport would be a great workout!

Fighting Wildfires

We were driving on Hwy 225 south of Poncha Springs when we tripped upon the Decker Fire. It was our first time to see firefighting with helicopters in person. We were close to where a Chinook was picking up water and stopped to take it in.

The Decker fire burned 8910 acers and took almost two months to finally put it out with the help of snow. We passed it on October 7th and it had already burned 6326 acers and had two helicopters working the fire.

Chinook dropping water on the Decker Fire

Chinook helicopter working the Decker Fire

What we Learned:

The colors from the east (Appalachian Mountains and the Heartland) are much different than the Rockies. The vibrant yellow of the aspen contrasting with the deep green conifers is really something to see.

Sand dunes can be found in the strangest places! To find the largest dunes in North America between two mountain ranges and over a thousand miles from the ocean was quite unexpected.

Even a relatively easy 14er is a challenging for someone born below sea level. While I had plenty of time to acclimate, four thousand feet is still a lot of elevation. It was a humbling experience for me.

Next Stop:

We plan to keep heading south and stay ahead of the cold weather! We are from the deep south and while snow is fun, when our feet get cold so does the rest of us!