With only a week to plan, we took off on a late season trip.
It all started when Chris (Street Wolf or whatever he poses as here) put out a fishing thread trying to acquire another truck to go out to Moab to run the Kokopelli trail. After playing twenty questions, I found out that TheIcecreamPeople would be driving solo on the trip. Cool. Long story short, I called up Jason and he was cool with having a passenger/co-driver. Next, all that was needed was to gain permission from the bosses (wife and work.)
Upon that obtainment, I was clear to go!
The only real goal was to get to Moab, but not being so naive, I suggested time being spent in Colorado. What a beautiful time of year to go too!
So we took off on Saturday morning at about 4:00AM headed to Wichita Falls to meet up with Chris. After driving around and waiting for over two hours we finally hit the road again. We pressed west until Amarillo where we refueled, then headed north to Dumas, TX where we briefly left Chris and Jeff at a Chinese Buffet (number 8 in the nation apparently) to go hike around the Capulin Volcano.
I didn't take out the camera until we nearly reached the volcano.
The FJCruiser sure looks tiny from atop the volcano!
Snow in the rockies!
The hike around the rim of the Capulin Volcano took about an hour and is well worth it for the views and the general experience of hiking atop a volcano!!
After 580 miles, we finally get off the pavement at Aguilar, Colorado heading for the Spanish peaks and Cordova Pass.
To reach the pass you must wind through many aspen lined valleys passing many locked gates leading to many lonely ranches. A truly beautiful area, different than the rest of Colorado.It is really an area not explored by many outsiders and the only folks we saw were hunters. At the pass is a quiet campground. White, patchy snow glowing beneath giant spruce trees. A red sun setting over the front range, and the domes of the Spanish Peaks glowed of gold over our shoulders.
A quick hike to a 180* view vista point rewarded me with a few photos of a breathtaking sunset
We ate dinner beneath the stars. And boy were they aplenty. This was my first opportunity to try creating "star trail" photos. And interestingly enough, the first time I've enjoyed a view of the Milky Way (captured nicely in this photo).
A chilly first night.
It all started when Chris (Street Wolf or whatever he poses as here) put out a fishing thread trying to acquire another truck to go out to Moab to run the Kokopelli trail. After playing twenty questions, I found out that TheIcecreamPeople would be driving solo on the trip. Cool. Long story short, I called up Jason and he was cool with having a passenger/co-driver. Next, all that was needed was to gain permission from the bosses (wife and work.)
Upon that obtainment, I was clear to go!
The only real goal was to get to Moab, but not being so naive, I suggested time being spent in Colorado. What a beautiful time of year to go too!
So we took off on Saturday morning at about 4:00AM headed to Wichita Falls to meet up with Chris. After driving around and waiting for over two hours we finally hit the road again. We pressed west until Amarillo where we refueled, then headed north to Dumas, TX where we briefly left Chris and Jeff at a Chinese Buffet (number 8 in the nation apparently) to go hike around the Capulin Volcano.
I didn't take out the camera until we nearly reached the volcano.
The FJCruiser sure looks tiny from atop the volcano!
Snow in the rockies!
The hike around the rim of the Capulin Volcano took about an hour and is well worth it for the views and the general experience of hiking atop a volcano!!
After 580 miles, we finally get off the pavement at Aguilar, Colorado heading for the Spanish peaks and Cordova Pass.
To reach the pass you must wind through many aspen lined valleys passing many locked gates leading to many lonely ranches. A truly beautiful area, different than the rest of Colorado.It is really an area not explored by many outsiders and the only folks we saw were hunters. At the pass is a quiet campground. White, patchy snow glowing beneath giant spruce trees. A red sun setting over the front range, and the domes of the Spanish Peaks glowed of gold over our shoulders.
A quick hike to a 180* view vista point rewarded me with a few photos of a breathtaking sunset
We ate dinner beneath the stars. And boy were they aplenty. This was my first opportunity to try creating "star trail" photos. And interestingly enough, the first time I've enjoyed a view of the Milky Way (captured nicely in this photo).
A chilly first night.
