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TR: Part II Onward to Glen Canyon, Black Canyon and CS

anutami
Explorer III
Explorer III
In case you missed Part 1 of our 2 week trip

Part I Clicky

We made it down the hair raising switch backs of the Burr trail


watch out for the resident Yeti at the bottom.


We headed south to check out Lake Powell


there is so much to check out you want to stop every mile or so, you could spend a week exploring just this area


we reached the viewpoint to Lake Powell and the Bullfrog marina


Wolfy II did great on the washboard roads it was Bretts Tooth that jiggled loose


some more amzaing scenery along the way: each layer represents how many years again?


we pulled into Stanton Creek Primitive campground.


and found a pretty sweet campsite, again we had the place to ourselves


It was about 70 degrees and the kids got right to work


perfect day


we hit the road on the 276 to the 95 and continued South/East totally out of the way towards our final destination in Colorado Springs






Decided to head down the Moki Dugway






set up camp at goosenecks state park


another geology lesson






and then a geography lesson


from four corners we headed into Durango and back to civilization and checked into a hotel to regroup and eat at some restaurants. I have been a hilton honors member for about 7 years and have never used my points. After 7 years of staying in Hilton hotels I had 85,000 points but it cost 35,000 points to stay at the hampton inn in Duragno!


to try and take the longest way possible we headed north on the 550 to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National park, since we brought all the snow gear we were hoping to encounter some of the white stuff


it was nice at first, but soon turned extreme and it started to snow harder and harder


no guard rails! lucky we had a lead blocker in front of us


Snow Storm Video Clicky

amazing town of Oury


and now we pause for this commercial break...
My new Torklift tie down system is the bomb, I love my fastguns, so easy to adjust when needed. I feel very safe with these things holding my camper on. I only wished I brought a rubber mallet to knock off all the ice! I must have added several hundered pounds of ice to my rig.




It pretty much snowed all the way to Black Canyon NP, the snow is a bit different on the feet than so cal beach sand. I still had my flip flops on and my DW went out barefoot for this pic. The kids were the smart ones and stayed in the truck


we scrambled to to get our winter gear and found the campground




we were the only ones in the campground and notice the sign "no fees in winter" ๐Ÿ™‚






this is what all the other campsite looked like


it got down to 8 degrees and despite keeping the furnace at 70 degress and the wave 3 on high the entire time we still had the condensation freeze up




the thermal pane windows worked great, someone needs to invent thermal window frames, still trying to figure out how to handle the condenstaion issue with 4 people in an 8ft camper.



we lounged around in the snow for a few days burning about 2 gal of propane per day then headed east on the 50 to Colorado Springs for Thanksgiving




seeing this sign before Monarch Pass was a bit disturbing


all was well no avalanches


we made it into Colorado Springs depsite the major wind gusts for some family fun, horseback riding

Air Hocky, (don't let the name penny arcade fool you in Manitou Springs, Air Hocky cost $1)


and some hiking around the garden of the gods




It is crazy it took us over a week to get to CS but one day to drive home. We left CS at 6am and arrived home in SD about 11:30pm. What an epic trip! Can't wait for the next one ๐Ÿ™‚

Nolan
2001 Ford F350 LB Diesel 4x4 CrewCab Stick
2015 Wolf Creek 850 Thermal Pane Windows, Oven, Reinforced Anchor Bolts, 200w Solar, Torklift Tie Downs, Fastguns, Stableloads
32 REPLIES 32

hedge
Explorer
Explorer
no idea how I missed this thread, really makeing me jealous for some camping.
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c_traveler2
Nomad
Nomad
Excellent adventure for your family, braving a little snow did make your trip special!
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GoinThisAway
Explorer
Explorer
An excellent trip and an excellent trip report! The photo of the condensate freezing inside the camper reminds me of winter camping with the family in our old Franklin. Ice would creep up the inside of the door and the dinette cushions my DS and I were sleeping would freeze to bolts connecting to the outside. Good memories!
2008 Dodge 3500 DRW 4x4
2008 Bigfoot 25C10.4
Torklift/Fastguns/Hellwig/StableLoads

btggraphix
Explorer
Explorer
Nice trip, what great fun it looks like you had! We've been doing some of it in reverse during the last week. The weather has been remarkably warm considering where we are. Nice tip on the Black Canyon CG being free. We stayed a couple of nights at Curecanti National Recreation Area on Blue Mesa Reservoir ($12/night for electric) and were the only ones in the entire campground, then 3 nights at Ridgeway State Park where we were one of 4 campers in the whole campground. Soaked in the Hot Springs ($12) in Ouray one of the days too.....that's well worth a stop in an amazing little mountain town.
2006 LanceMax 1191 - loaded and well-used
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kohldad
Explorer III
Explorer III
The things you saw because you braved a little snow makes the trip and report extra special. Thanks for sharing it with us.
2015 Ram 3500 4x4 Crew Cab SRW 6.4 Hemi LB 3.73 (12.4 hand calc avg mpg after 92,000 miles with camper)
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dakonthemountai
Explorer
Explorer
Great photos and video! Glad all went well and the family enjoyed! That snow video was a bit disconcerting to me also. Been there and done that and wondered "will this turn into a white out?"... but you have no choice sometimes and just keep on truckin'!

Thanks for sharing your trip with us! ๐Ÿ™‚

Dak
2018 GMC Denali "Extreme" and 23' EVO 2050T Travel Trailer
Escapee member #224325-Since 1992

delosholly
Explorer
Explorer
What a great trip you all took. I cannot wait to show this post to my wife. We rode over 550 this summer, but it sure did not look like that!! Thank goodness!!
Delos & Holly
2013 Camplite Truck Camper 10.0
2014 Ram 2500 Reg SRW LB
2012 Burgman 650

Bill_T
Explorer
Explorer
Great trip wasn't it! Loved your pics.

We were at Gooseneck and had planned to spend the night there, one look over the edge and the DW said no way. lol
Bill and Debbie
2007.5 SILVERADO HD DA CREWCAB LTZ 4X4 ARE CAP
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anutami
Explorer III
Explorer III
whazoo wrote:
Just got home tonight and had to give this another look on the computer instead of the iPhone. Missed part 1 but just looked at it too. I appreciate the planning and execution of the trip there Dad, a big round of applause is coming your way. This one has everything! Including tooth removal by bumpy road, that has to be a first. The marathon drive back to San Diego from Co. Springs?! Let's see, that's 2 Five Hours, a couple of Monsters and a Red Bull for me plus a nap somewhere in there. That's some driving I have to say. If there was one, and if I could do it, I'd nominate this one for first place trip report of the year. Wishing you more trips like this one to come.


Thanks for the kind words, used the old skool paper maps with a highlighter for trip planning. Tried the monsters and red bulls last year for the 1 day drive home but killed me For several days after so just stuck with coca cola, water and thanksgiving left overs kept cold in the TC fridge, and felt like a champ the next day. Wished the dw felt comfortable drivinfg an f350 diesel stick shift. Those dang iphones are nice, played pandora most of the way (hope i stayed under my data usage).
2001 Ford F350 LB Diesel 4x4 CrewCab Stick
2015 Wolf Creek 850 Thermal Pane Windows, Oven, Reinforced Anchor Bolts, 200w Solar, Torklift Tie Downs, Fastguns, Stableloads

anutami
Explorer III
Explorer III
joeshmoe wrote:
We used to live down the street from Garden of the Gods. Spent a lot time there. Beautiful park. The whole area is gorgeous, but early to mid Fall is amazing.

Too bad you couldn't come during Halloween. Manitou really gets into it. Lots of spiritual mysticism and pagan beliefs surround the area. Nothing that we ever got involved with, but we knew of people who evidently "communed" with spirits. Creepy.

I regularly fished for and brought back Trout dinner from the Rampart Range Reservoir which is directly behind the G of the G's.

Nice report, dude. Do you have friends or family in the Springs?


Aaron, my wifes aunt actually lives in manitou springs in a gated community west of garden of the gods in between the garden of the gods and rampart range road! They drive through the garden of the gods everyday! And the view out her kitchen window is of pikes peak.
2001 Ford F350 LB Diesel 4x4 CrewCab Stick
2015 Wolf Creek 850 Thermal Pane Windows, Oven, Reinforced Anchor Bolts, 200w Solar, Torklift Tie Downs, Fastguns, Stableloads

anutami
Explorer III
Explorer III
WVbassmistress wrote:
Keep it coming!!!! Reading these TR is how I escape the reality of being at work!


Funny that I re read my own trip report when I am back at work to re-escape and wish I was doing it again....it goes by way too fast!
2001 Ford F350 LB Diesel 4x4 CrewCab Stick
2015 Wolf Creek 850 Thermal Pane Windows, Oven, Reinforced Anchor Bolts, 200w Solar, Torklift Tie Downs, Fastguns, Stableloads

anutami
Explorer III
Explorer III
profdant139 wrote:
Very entertaining! With so much snow on the ground, how did you get into your campsite??


There was only about 12" of snow on the ground and no ice so we plowed our way in with 4wd. Wasn't too bad even for a so cal rookie snow driver.
2001 Ford F350 LB Diesel 4x4 CrewCab Stick
2015 Wolf Creek 850 Thermal Pane Windows, Oven, Reinforced Anchor Bolts, 200w Solar, Torklift Tie Downs, Fastguns, Stableloads

anutami
Explorer III
Explorer III
hikerdmb wrote:
Awesome Nolan. How was Gunnison? Part 1 of the trip was great too.


David, the gunnison was amazing considering we were literally the only ones there! The park ranger was starved for tourists he entertained us for quite some time :)I am jealous you are moving to Colorado! I was tempted to PM you and ask you if we could camp in your driveway and check on your cabin.
2001 Ford F350 LB Diesel 4x4 CrewCab Stick
2015 Wolf Creek 850 Thermal Pane Windows, Oven, Reinforced Anchor Bolts, 200w Solar, Torklift Tie Downs, Fastguns, Stableloads

joeshmoe
Explorer
Explorer
joeshmoe wrote:

Nice report, dude. Do you have friends or family in the Springs?


Sorry, I didn't see part I. Answered my question.
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