Sept. in Colorado: a month of dry camping & boondocking

Great job, well done. Always enjoy your well informed posts, Dan. I have backpacked extensively through this state and nearby Wyoming for over 40 years, and I can say there are some amazing places to find yourself lost in. I am equally blessed to have worked my career for the State of Colorado in a dream job, in my posting. I often thought I should have paid them! Well, maybe not . . .

Look forward to your future trips documented here and on your blog.

b

Mike, Durango is just a day's drive from you! And with your rugged rig, there are hundreds of boondocking sites available in the high country. When Arizona and Utah get too warm for camping, a ten thousand foot high Colorado campsite can be nice and cool!

Dan, all I can say is, WOW!! You outdid yourself with these trip reports and photos. Colorado is still on my bucket list. I think we'll have to do it next year.

Love the Silverjack/Cimmaron area. Discovered this area in 2000. Have boondocked the middle fork many times. The stars at night are the most amazing I've seen. That first picture on owl creek pass with chimney rock in it and the meadow to the right of your trailer is where John Wayne's True Grit took place. Rooster Cogburn takes on Ned Pepper after being called a one eyed fat man in a six shooter/winchester joust. Classic line "fill your hands you son of a bit#$" Be careful on owl creek pass in a rain storm. That dirt turns to mud and gets slick...

kfp, thanks for the kind words. But I am morally obligated to note that my wife took some of the photos, and she helped me spot and frame others. Plus, although we posted about a hundred photos of this trip on the blog, we took several hundred -- hurrah for digital cameras and the delete button!

Finally, to finish the mandatory disclosures, all of the photos were edited with Lightroom, which is sort of Photoshop for Amateurs. I never added anything to the photos with the software, but I did correct the lighting -- for example, when you shoot into the sun, the foreground is often in silhouette while the background is washed out. Lightroom contains simple tools that enable you to lighten up the silhouettes and darken down the washed out areas, so that the whole image looks better. It ends up looking like what our eyes actually saw in real life, which is my ultimate goal in every shot.

Beautiful! I have not yet read your entire story but the pictures are incredible!! You are a very good photographer as well. Thanks for sharing!

profdant139 wrote:
Big Whitey, I completely agree about Aspen itself. But the area east of town, up Highway 82 toward Independence Pass, was really great -- lots of hiking above timberline, which is a rarity for us. In the Sierra, it usually takes a very long hike to get above the trees to see the "big sky" views. In Colorado, there are lots of roads (both paved and not) that lead up to the high country, and Highway 82 is one of the best for that purpose.

Just don't take a big trailer past the huge "Trailers Turn Around NOW" sign, about five miles east of town on 82 -- they really mean it. We saw several semi truck drivers getting tickets, and the sign says it is a $1500 ticket. Ouch!

Agree about 82 and Independence Pass,it was a gorgeous drive.

I was actually out in TP to ride my ATV with a small group, so we do end up on some pretty extreme trails. I don't mean to make it sound like all the trails in TP are that way because there are plenty of mild offroad trails/roads to. Just a great place to go exploring as there is a lot of abandoned and historical buildings in the area from the many, many years of mining that has taken place in CO.

But, to give you an idea of the expanse of the area, I was out there a couple summers ago and there was a big Polaris Rzr meet going on with about 300 Rzrs expecting to show up. They are mostly staying at the Taylor Park Trading Post cabins and RV park. We were not entirely happy about the meet but to be honest, we only ran into people on trail a handful of times. We still had a great time out there.

We do take the Tacoma offroad, but not on the really serious Jeep trails -- it is not equipped for real boulder-hopping. It has the off-road package with great clearance, but the skid plates are not very beefy -- I would hate to land hard on a sharp rock and puncture the crankcase. We trundle slowly along on the forest roads, mostly to get to and from trailheads and campsites. And when those serious Jeepers come roaring up behind us, we pull over asap! ;)

There is some great exploring one can do in the TP area... not sure if you take your Taco on offroad adventures as there is a lot of it in that area. Just be certain to have adequate maps that give an overview of the trails as many of those trails can get very advanced 4x4, 50" wide or smaller, most smaller trails are gated... but point is to be prepared with equipment and experience as some of those trails can get extreme. There are many mild 4x4 roads/trails too.

Crested Butte is an awesome area you will enjoy it. You seem to have a similar attitude about crowds as I do... I like to avoid the crowds as it takes away from the natural beauty of the area.

Was interesting reading about your Maroon Bells experience. I haven't been back there in some time now but in the early 90s, summited North Maroon peak. Hiked in from the parking lot and camped overnight at Crater Lake. Woke very early the next morning and did the summit. It was a pretty grueling experience and we were prepared with climbing equipment, ice axes, overnight equipment in the event it occurred. The natural beauty of the area was absolutely amazing!