TR - Colorado Trip-2016'

Wife and I just got back from a 4 week adventure to western Colorado. We towed our Jeep in order to explore the backroads of the Colorado mountains. We first stopped at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon for a couple days then on to Monument Valley for a day.

Our campsite at the North Rim

Angel's Window at Cape Royal

Cape Royal

Sue & Peanut underneath the arch behind our campsite in Monument Valley

Crying Woman Arch in Monument Valley

North Window at Monument Valley


We headed to Ouray Colorado from there for a full week of Jeeping, hiking and sightseeing.
We Jeeped to Yankee Boy Basin, Governor Basin, Mineral Creek, American Basin and Black Bear Pass over to Telluride. We also hiked on the Blue Lake Trail just outside of Ridgway, we got within a mile of it and had to turn back because of the rain, thunder and lightening! It was quite the beautiful trail and highly recommend it if you are in the area. We also did some of the museums in Ouray and soaked at the hot springs. Ouray was probably our favorite spot!

Governor Basin

Jeep at the top of Yankee Boy Basin

Mineral Creek

Black Bear Pass

Ingram Lake on Black Bear Pass

Sue & Peanut on Black Bear Pass with Telluride in the background

Bridalveil Falls just above Telluride


We went to the Gunnison area after leaving Ouray, staying in a campground by the Blue Mesa Lake. We jeeped the Paradise Divide trail by Crested Butte, took a back road to Lake City one day, then traveled to the North Rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, onto Crawford and Paonia and traveled on CR 12 to Crested Butte from there, that was a long day!

Emerald Lake near Schofield Pass by Paradise Divide

Jeep road on Paradise Divide

Back road to Lake City

View from the North Rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

Aspen views along CR 12 to Crested Butte

Taking time in Crested Butte for appetizers and refreshments after a long Jeep ride


From Gunnison we traveled to Nathrop which is just south of Buena Vista and stayed at a campground with a site right next to the creek. We jeeped to the towns of St. Elmo and Tincup, going over Tincup Pass and Cottonwood Pass, really neat to see these old ghost towns that have been revived!

A couple old buildings in St.Elmo, the Miner's Exchange is still an active business

Tincup Pass

Old general store in Tincup

We had lunch at Frenchy's Cafe in Tincup so had to buy a souvenir tin cup

Sue on her rock lounge at Cottonwood Pass

View coming down Cottonwood Pass


From Lathrop we traveled to Leadville and stayed at a little campground by Turquoise Lake. We took the Leadville train up the mountain towards the Climax Mine. We took a tour of the Matchless Mine and we also went to the National Mining Museum, it was very interesting. The next day we jeeped up Mosquito Pass over to Alma and then to Breckenridge and over to hwy 91 to return to Leadville. Mosquito Pass is suppose to be the highest 4wd pass/road in North America.

Leadville train overlooking highway 91

Sue posing with the engine at the turn around point

Historic Matchless Mine

Mosquito Pass, the highest 4wd road in North America

Sue enjoyed exploring through the remains and rocks of the London Mine

Sue & Peanut enjoying the view at Turquoise Lake


From Leadville we journeyed to Aspen going over Independence Pass. We kept seeing signs warning that no vehicles were allowed over 35' in length with warnings of a $1,500 fine. Not knowing whether that length included our tow vehicle we decided to disconnect just so not to take any chances. I know we could have made it up and back down alright but it was much easier being disconnected, plus not being worried about getting a ticket or worse yet, having to back up! We camped at a little National Forest campground by the Maroon Bells area. This way we were able to drive to the Maroon Bells area without taking the shuttle bus. We poked around Aspen one day, but it was definitely another level above my pay scale! The second day we went to Maroon Bells there was a couple moose in the water, which were fun to photograph.

Maroon Lake at Maroon Bells at sunrise

Maroon Bells area

Moose in Maroon Lake at the Maroon Bells

Moose in Maroon Lake at Maroon Bells

Our campsite at Silver Queen Campground


From Aspen we traveled to Carbondale, staying at a campground south of Carbondale. The first day we went to Glenwood Springs, checked our dog into doggie day care so we could go hike the Hanging Lake Trail. This was another really nice trail to a beautiful lake, but be forewarned it is a very popular hike and there was a lot of people and we weren't there on a weekend! We rented bikes one day and biked the Glenwood Canyon trail, it was scenic and a great bike path! The next day was our Jeep trip to Crystal Mill with a stop along the way to see the little town of Redstone (a really neat little town)! After Redstone we drove to Marble and then the bumpy trail to Crystal Mill! After photographing the Mill we continued a short distance to the little town of Crystal where Sue bought a book from the local author about the history of Crystal. We drove back to Marble where we stopped, aired up the tires and had lunch at the local BBQ restaurant, it was awesome!!

Hanging Lake by Glenwood Springs

Sue at Spouting Rock which is just above Hanging Lake

Crystal Mill

Crystal Mill


Carbondale was our last stop in Colorado and we sure hated to leave but our next stop was Hite Utah. I always wanted to see the head waters of Lake Powell, so off we went. Well there was bound to be some bumps in the road and I knew it was going to be a little warmer, but our campground that I reserved, the electricity wasn't working and it was in the nineties. We decided to spend that night and head to Natural Bridges National Monument the next morning. We drove through Natural Bridges the next morning and looked at each other and decided it was time to head home, a couple days early!

Sue and the rig at Hog's Canyon between Hanksville and Hite

Hite Utah

Bridge over the Colorado River in Hite Utah

The beginning of Lake Powell, Hite Utah

Hite Utah, our campground was in the shadow area in about the center of the photo


We sure are happy with our new camper the AF811, the slide out made a significant difference in comfort for us!I hope everyone enjoys this trip report and I apologize in advance if the photo uploader doesn't size the photos to the proper size, I'm not very experienced at posting photos.