IntrepidXJ
Explorer
Night finds us at a KOA in Grand Junction. There is one other tent and the rest are RV's and camper trailers. It's okay, reasonably quiet and the shower feels fantastic..
Right down the street from my house!
The Big Meander, Summer 2011
- Thread starter scarysharkface
- Start date
Right down the street from my house!
scarysharkface
Explorer
Wonderful part of the world to live, and I'm a little bit envious!
scarysharkface
Explorer
Time to pack up..
Buy some cheap gas..
Get breakfast and an oil change and hit the road..
The basic plan was to go East and South..
We stopped for maps..
And soon found what we were looking for..
We get to a good stopping point and have lunch..
After a bit, a guy rides up on a quad and we chat a bit. There's a tree completely blocking the other end of this road, so we'll need to turn around..
So we enjoy our lunch and head back toward pavement..
Compared to last Summer, the trees are not the only things that have grown like, er, trees...
We keep on keepin' on..
John
Buy some cheap gas..
Get breakfast and an oil change and hit the road..
The basic plan was to go East and South..
We stopped for maps..
And soon found what we were looking for..
We get to a good stopping point and have lunch..
After a bit, a guy rides up on a quad and we chat a bit. There's a tree completely blocking the other end of this road, so we'll need to turn around..
So we enjoy our lunch and head back toward pavement..
Compared to last Summer, the trees are not the only things that have grown like, er, trees...
We keep on keepin' on..
John
scarysharkface
Explorer
We show our National Parks pass and head for the campground..
We bought a new tent at the REI in Grand Junction. The Coleman tent requires 2 people to set it up, and is both overkill in size and relative-complexity to setup so we got a nifty 2-person tent on clearance..
Jeep has been good to us, to take us to all these places..
We go for a quick walk-about..
The short path is well-groomed..
and leads to that which, I'm convinced, cannot be photographed adequately...
The Black Canyon of The Gunnison..
It's a really, really long way to the bottom, and the river is LOUD coming up the canyon walls.. I mean like deafening loud.. Really..
The viewing-area barrier seems woefully-inadequate for the drop it guards..
Of course, parts of the path are protected only with dead trees..
That, of course, don't keep the college kids from running to the edge to pose for pictures..
It's just really something worth seeing, I don't care who you are or what you've already seen...
We are going to need a fire tonight, so a quick run outside of the park for some roadside dead-fall happens..
Of course we did the full-Clampett..
But we got our firewood and took turns napping in the hammock between dinner-prep and playing music...
We went back to the overlook to play with more night-sky stuff before turning-in..
John
We bought a new tent at the REI in Grand Junction. The Coleman tent requires 2 people to set it up, and is both overkill in size and relative-complexity to setup so we got a nifty 2-person tent on clearance..
Jeep has been good to us, to take us to all these places..
We go for a quick walk-about..
The short path is well-groomed..
and leads to that which, I'm convinced, cannot be photographed adequately...
The Black Canyon of The Gunnison..
It's a really, really long way to the bottom, and the river is LOUD coming up the canyon walls.. I mean like deafening loud.. Really..
The viewing-area barrier seems woefully-inadequate for the drop it guards..
Of course, parts of the path are protected only with dead trees..
That, of course, don't keep the college kids from running to the edge to pose for pictures..
It's just really something worth seeing, I don't care who you are or what you've already seen...
We are going to need a fire tonight, so a quick run outside of the park for some roadside dead-fall happens..
Of course we did the full-Clampett..
But we got our firewood and took turns napping in the hammock between dinner-prep and playing music...
We went back to the overlook to play with more night-sky stuff before turning-in..
John
scarysharkface
Explorer
In the morning we go for a drive to the other overlooks on this side of the gorge..
It was disconcerting to discover that we have been surveilled from the parking area..
More driving...
More striking visuals..
And a big gravel shortcut..
The forest up here is beautiful..
Soon we are headed downhill again. It's been a nice stretch of gravel..
John
It was disconcerting to discover that we have been surveilled from the parking area..
More driving...
More striking visuals..
And a big gravel shortcut..
The forest up here is beautiful..
Soon we are headed downhill again. It's been a nice stretch of gravel..
John
1leglance
2007 Expedition Trophy Champion, Overland Certifie
Thanks very very much for the epic pics and family adventure...
My younger son is 13 and I can see my family doing the same trip.
How do you get such a great sky in your images?
Thanks again and honestly I like the parts about being on the road & getting there/back just as much as the dirt time. We all have to admit we spend more time on the highway than the dirt
My younger son is 13 and I can see my family doing the same trip.
How do you get such a great sky in your images?
Thanks again and honestly I like the parts about being on the road & getting there/back just as much as the dirt time. We all have to admit we spend more time on the highway than the dirt
scarysharkface
Explorer
Thanks very very much for the epic pics and family adventure...
My younger son is 13 and I can see my family doing the same trip.
How do you get such a great sky in your images?
Thanks again and honestly I like the parts about being on the road & getting there/back just as much as the dirt time. We all have to admit we spend more time on the highway than the dirt
Glad you're enjoying it!
Hopefully these trips plant a seed in the kid's brain that he'll need to keep feeding.
I use a circular polarizer on my 10-24mm zoom. Everybody tells me not to use that combination for a variety of reasons, including that it messes with the autofocus (it does). I like it though.
To me, while I would love to do a hard-core fully off-road trip in the Jeep or on the motorcycle, I live far enough away from the really good stuff that I feel I should maximize the cool stuff seen and that means lots of highway travel.. And really, there is a lot of cool stuff along the highways as well..
John
It was a grand trip indeed. This has been a good year for me, which is a large part of why this thread isn't done yet!
John
Doc Foster
Adventurer
Grand trip indeed!!! Great pictures, and great thread - thanks for sharing it all!
scarysharkface
Explorer
scarysharkface
Explorer
*Sign* of civilization..
Even a place as mundane as "Cow Creek" is scenic..
And we stop yet again for some snacks and some iced tea..
We smell bad and decide a KOA is in the cards for tonight. That way we can do some laundry as well, and get some intel on celebrations down the road tomorrow..
We're like a travelling Keen sandals display..
John
Even a place as mundane as "Cow Creek" is scenic..
And we stop yet again for some snacks and some iced tea..
We smell bad and decide a KOA is in the cards for tonight. That way we can do some laundry as well, and get some intel on celebrations down the road tomorrow..
We're like a travelling Keen sandals display..
John
scarysharkface
Explorer
July 4, 2011... Ouray..
Friends had suggested that Ouray was the place to be on July 4th, and here we are..
The blue smoke hanging just over the street is from the AT-6 WWII Trainer that just flew down the street..
*want*
Anyway, those were so pretty big doin's downtown. Great start to the day..
John
Friends had suggested that Ouray was the place to be on July 4th, and here we are..
The blue smoke hanging just over the street is from the AT-6 WWII Trainer that just flew down the street..
*want*
Anyway, those were so pretty big doin's downtown. Great start to the day..
John
scarysharkface
Explorer
We head South and take one of the many little detours just East of the highway..
It's a beautiful, partly cloudy day...
There's always an element of trust..
So much history here. So many cool things to see..
John
It's a beautiful, partly cloudy day...
There's always an element of trust..
So much history here. So many cool things to see..
John
scarysharkface
Explorer
And there's just a wee bit of slickery mud in spots, but generally speaking the primitive roads are nothing you couldn't drive a Camry down with just a little care and restraint..
John
scarysharkface
Explorer
I apologize for not having many words and lots of pictures, but I don't know what I can type that would say so much as the photographs say..
Lots of water..
In some places I expected it to be considerably softer than it was. I could see how a really wet Winter could completely wreak havoc on travel here though..
Some holes in the rock, just off the track..
We finally hit enough snow to make forward progress difficult, so we turned back toward the highway...
John
Lots of water..
In some places I expected it to be considerably softer than it was. I could see how a really wet Winter could completely wreak havoc on travel here though..
Some holes in the rock, just off the track..
We finally hit enough snow to make forward progress difficult, so we turned back toward the highway...
John