Impromptu Road Trip to Colorado

Beach or Mountains?

For me, that’s always been an easy one. Beach! To be specific, in a condo at the beach, listening to the waves from the comfort of air conditioning and an easy chair. I’ve always been an "inside girl" who doesn’t like dust, dirt, wind, rain, heat, cold or anything that makes you tired or sweaty to do it. Nature is fine as long as it stays outside!

Then came Father’s Day 2017 and an impromptu road trip with Pat to ride trails in Colorado’s Gunnison National Park. Wow! We ended up staying nearly a week, enjoying THE BEST vacation either of us has EVER had and being overwhelmed every single day by God’s amazing creation.

A few of the hundreds of photos I took before we even got there!!

Spectacular views in every direction…

Snow capped mountains

A river with kayakers and white water rafters running alongside railroad tracks

Amotorcycle gang out for a ride

A horse farm

An old mine

Miles and Miles of vibrant green pastures surrounding forests of pines and cedars

And the higher we went, the more gorgeous it became…

Gunnison CO

Taylor Park Trading Post

We stayed in a cozy little cabin which quickly started to feel like home. I loved the simplicity and rustic charm.

natural
flower garden at the corner of the cabin

Monday Trails: Texas Creek and Pieplant Mill

Tuesday Morning Trails: Slaughterhouse Gulch and Cumberland Pass to Pitkin

One of our favorite trails was called Slaughterhouse Gulch, which starts out with a great straight stretch for going fast then rises over 2000 feet with lots of twists, turns, bumps and pretty scenery.

From there, we adopted the phrase of the day, "ESTAMOS SUBIENDO" (Spanish for "we are going up!") because that is exactly what we did as we climbed from 9500 feet elevation to the Cumberland Pass which, at just over 12, 000 feet, is not only one of Colorado's highest mountain passes but had also been closed until just that day because of snow.

Pitkin

Next came a quaint little place that looks like it is straight out of a Hallmark Christmas movie. The owners of the town's General Store also have a couple of rental cabins; their son owns an ATV rental business, and their daughter-in-law has a restaurant that she runs out of a food truck parked at the side of the store. Including the seasonal people who own vacation homes in the mountains of Pitkin, its population would number about 1500 but there are actually only around 80 year round locals. At Christmas, everyone gathers at the one local church.

We enjoyed visiting with one of the locals who came from Kansas many years ago… and stayed. She also said that, due to the altitude (9200 feet), people don’t generally age very well there and end up needing to move away before they get very old (She and her husband are mid-late 70s and hope to be there until they are around 83!)

Up Next: A trek through the Alpine Tunnel