Category: Colorado

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Colorado day 1-4: Chicago to Southern Colorado

July 25-26

Interactive map

Day 1-3

After driving for more than a day on I80, somewhere in Nebraska, we made first important decision: we are heading to Southern Colorado first. Driving on smaller roads for a change. Made it only to Oakley Kansas on day 2.

Joanna had our first destination already researched: dispersed camping and hiking along Lake Como Road on southern slope of Blanca Peak (4,374 m) of Sangre de Cristo Range. The road gets bumpy as it climbs up, so at some point we decided to stay at a good spot (many were available) with open view of the mountains. Joanna practiced night sky photography after dinner. Next morning we just walked 8 km and 500 m up and down the (4WD) road to stretch legs and get first taste of thiner air at almost 3000 masl. Relaxing hike with great views, no other hikers, few “machines”. Lake Como was too far/high for us that first day.

Day 4

Next destination: Great Sand Dunes National Park. We were quite lucky (weekend) to find campsites for two nights at very good park campground (recommended). In the afternoon we walked a short trail to Zapata Falls. Joanna practiced some fancy footwork on rocks, Piotr just waded through very (refreshing) cold water. All to get a glimpse of the falls. The trailhead is located above the valley floor offering good panoramic view of the dunes at the east edge of San Luis Valley pushed against surrounding mountains of Sangre de Cristo Range. And then we just looked around or starred at the dunes plotting exploration route for early next morning. Had time to plan next move, some idea where to go first to avoid biggest crowds. It was morning walk on the dunes and evening walk in Mendino Creek, with midday fiesta (hot weather).

We were getting into travel rhythm after leaving Chicago in a hurry with just a general plan. Sightseeing: yes, but we also needed several days to warm-up and start pushing to higher elevations on easier day-hikes to trigger altitude acclimatization before Colorado Trail.

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Colorado 2025

Finally, we are getting serious about our next, 3500-mile road trip this time to Colorado. Our main goal is to hike 75-mile segment of Colorado Trail from Silverton to Durango. Plus some shorter hikes in the area. We also want to visit Great Sand Dunes National Park which we somehow missed on our previous trips. The rest of the planning is for now just the map below. We are not going to move very fast and will fix details on the go. But we are not going unprepared. Joanna is packing (scientific, but tasty) rations for the trek, light-weight and calorie-reach. Piotr is catching-up with car service and repairs. Car- and backpack-packing should be faster this time as we are building on previous experiences. From time to time we will publish a brief note about our whereabouts on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewanderingspot.

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5-day return from JMT to Chicago

August 19-23

Interactive map of entire road trip

We made last minute decision to take different route on the way back home: crossing Utah and Colorado to Denver on I-70. We made short stops at Great Basin NP, Colorado National Monument and Silverthorne at Dillon Reservoir. We divided the extra day saved on JMT between these places to have at least some time to look around. We stopped in North Platte for the last night just to break the miles.

But first we had to get back to our car in Lee Vining: 3-hour 122-mile ESTA bus ride from Lone Pine and 1-mile street walk to Visitor Center, final backpacking effort of the trip. Our car was fine waiting for us. We stopped briefly at Mono Basin Historical Society exhibition to examine old, rusting machines and then had dinner for breakfast at Whoa Nellie Deli (Piotr had big steak and two x-large lattes with extra shots) and very soon started crossing Nevada on now familiar Rt 6. We diverged in Elly to visit Great Basin NP. Found nice spot at Baker Creek Campground (recommended). Tickets for full Lehman Caves tour were sold-out and road to Wheeler Peak Summit Trailhead was closed, we walked nature trail near visitor center and hiked 4-mile Baker Creek loop instead. Interesting flora ecosystem – Pines, Aspen, Curlleaf Mountain Mahogany and shrubs. Wheeler Peak always in the background. Stopped for lunch at Baker Creek picnic area and started driving towards Utah.

Driving across west-central Utah: straight empty highways for miles (flat Sevier Desert), then colorful hills, and later cliffs and canyons with interesting rock formations. We only had time to stop at couple of viewpoints on I-70, but agreed we should come back to explore this part of the country. It was getting dark, so we decided to stay at motel in Green River. We later regretted the decision – campground at Colorado National Monument was great, as we discovered next day, and far better option even if we arrived very late. Dark clouds greeted us when we arrived at Colorado National Monument, but not much rain fell and the rest of the day was mostly sunny. We spent several hours on 23-mile Rim Rock Drive on top of the mesa. Stopped many times to view canyons and walk short trails to interesting rock formations. We spent afternoon and evening driving into the Rockies, across Vail Pass to Silverthorne. The area was packed with tourists, mostly bikers, but despite arriving late at Heaton Bay Campground we got nice campsite. Next morning we did two short walks: along the banks of Dillon Reservoir and to the Old Dillon Reservoir. The rest was just driving: CO, NE, IO and IL – familiar route we were on multiple times before.

Independence Monument View
Ute Canyon View
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