Last years Colorado Trip...

[LaOutbackTrail]

I never got around to doing a trip report, but I will work on it this week.... Here's a video to start off....

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I dont think the embedding works, so here is just the link... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxEXpaGW_Nk

 

[KSJeep]

Beautiful video, love the scenery. Where in Colorado is Phantom Canyon?? Looking forward to the report.

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

Phantom Canyon is in the middle of nowhere, but can be easily accessed from Canon City.

We went from Colorado Springs via Gold Camp road (Above) to Victor (cool, sleepy mining town).

And then Phantom Canyon Rd

Phantom Canyon Rd traces the route of an old railroad that serviced Victor and Cripple Creek, Colorado. Its pretty cool, because the entire route looks like the picture above, carved out from the rock face and a few neat bridges. Unfortunately for my wife, she wasnt able to enjoy it because she had picked up some sort of bug and had car sickness the entire time.

This was a highlight of the trip and was about day 4.

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

Starting from the beginning.

My wife and I had been planning a run to the Sierra madres in Mexico, instead of this trip. Well, a week before we were to go was when there were several break outs of violence in Reynosa, just across the border and along the road we were to travel. We chose Colorado. Not a bad alternative, I might say, but the adventure was less.

We based our first couple of days in Colorado Springs... which we wanted to check out for graduate school... we didnt like it so much there... just not for us I guess. We did enjoy Manitou Springs and we drove to the top of Pikes Peak.

Manitou Springs is a beautiful little place.

As well as Garden of the Gods. And the roads around.

Sui's first snow Experience!

Our only major problem was the cold. We were born and raised in the south. 40* is cold for us. Ice on the windshield in the morning is unique and interesting... and a pain in the butt.
Our second morning in Colorado, a cold front blew in lowering the temperature to about 20* for the high and a wind chill significantly lower. It also blew in my first snow and ice experience. N

 

[mtn-high]

You owe it to yourself to visit here again in the Summer.

As the (skiing) mountain folks have been known to say around here.."Winter is why we came here, Summer is why we stay"

I grew up in KC. 95 degrees and 95% humidity...and while winters are long here...after 25 years I couldn't live in the "tropics" again if you paid me. 85 degrees/above 25% humidity is where I start to lose it....LOL. (toss in a city and things get dicey QUICKLY for me!)

Um...can someone explain to me what these air conditioner things are folks talk about? LOL.

That "car sickness" was most likely altitude sickness. Nothin you can do but wait it out.....bummer for your wife!

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

I've been to Colorado in the summertime and still got snowed on.

I do want to go back one day. But, I have a slight interest/ passion for Latin America.... so from the looks of it my future trips will be south of the border. I've seen much of the US growing up with my dad remodeling Walmarts all over the country.

I still have a few more pictures to show you guys, but the story wont be that great.

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

More from Pike's Peak.

That says 14.1 thousand feet

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

A couple more from Colorado Springs

My daughter Kylie resting in Garden of the Gods.

Gold Camp Road and Phantom Canyon Road

We drove up on these deer. They werent too worried about us like the deer in La are.

Sui on thin ice. She crossed the creek after a rabbit. I was trying to get her back and tried crossing the ice... was a no go.

Family prints

Immerging from Phantom Canyon

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

The Royal Gorge

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

What's the deal with the monkey?

Ok, so something I am beginning to do is bring my daughter's favorite monkey and taking pictures of it in different places, as you can see.

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

We left Canon City with high hopes of doing Medano Pass. If you couldnt tell already, it was a bit snowy. When we got to the turn off to go into the mountains, but at that particular time we were in near white out conditions and the roads began getting slicker and slicker. Time for 4wd and white knuckles. Remember I had previously never driven on ice and snow. Well, the snow isnt bad, but ice sucks. We passed a lady who spun out and landed in the gaurd rail, She managed to get into a drive way on the otherside of the road and gave me a thumbs up whenever I passed and asked if she was OK, and there was a snow plow behind me so I figured they would stop to help. I didnt want to jeopardize the safety of my family or my vehicle to try and help her... sorry if that offends you. Had the woman been hurt, thats another story.

How the morning started

This is what the road looked like when we left Canon City

And then a few minutes later...

This is how much snow fell in like the 2 hours it took to get to Salida, Colorado from Canon City.

And to show how bad the ice was......

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

We were aiming for the Great Sand Dunes National Park

The great white GREAT Sand Dunes

Sorry for the rotation problem. Kylie infront of the dunes, where the creek usually is.

Wifey (Kacy) and the pup (Sui) infront of the Dunes. Notice the slight under exposure to compensate for the color? Notice Kacy has sunglasses on? Definately underexposed.

A little better compensated to show the brightness....

The trail to Medano Pass.

X infront of the dunes. Looks nice with a load on the roof. By the way, the cheap walmart dry bags did great and even had thick coats of ice on them at one point but the PVC flexed just fine.

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

That pretty much ends the Colorado portion. The next 8 hours were spent on ice most of the way down to Santa Fe, NM. We saw several major wrecks and were praying we wouldnt be involved in any. Thankfully we werent.

A few more nice views on the way south.

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

She wanted to see the divide. I told her she had already crossed it like 4 times when we were at about 9*N Latitude. But Costa Rica doesnt do signs for their divide.

Self entertainment

Vast white nothingness in New Mexico

Have you driven across texas???

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

Just incase you are wondering......... Especially having driven on ice all morning..... running from more snow/ice. I drove 19 hours that day... finally calling it a night in Tyler Texas.

Amarillo by........ lunch time.

Bienvenue

And more lovely weather as we get home.

The end.