"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood... And sorry I could not travel both. I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference." --Robert Frost

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Salida, CO - Snow Hiking, St. Elmo & Biking

Salida, Colorado
Boondocking - BLM



We really needed to get new tires on Hoss (the truck).  We use Americas/Discount Tire where we have a warranty program for all of our tires.  That's 10 tires total.  None of the small towns we've traveled through had one.  So we took one day and drove all the way to Colorado Springs.

It was a stormy day and when we got to the top of the pass, it started snowing.
We've been boondocking and in very small towns.  This is the most traffic we've seen in weeks!  I'm sure glad it's in the opposite lanes.  Hopefully by time we return it'll be gone.

Hoss got some new boots!


Fresh coat of paint on the mountains.
 
The Collegiate Peaks: Princeton, Yale and Harvard.  All over 14K elevation.

We headed off one day to hike to Ptarmigan Lake.  Just a 3 mile, high elevation high.  Nice to add to our elevation adjustment.

But once again, DUH, it was covered with very deep snow.  We didn't even get a 1/4 mile in before we knew we couldn't do it without gators and poles.  Even then, it would've been difficult.
 
 
So we dropped down the mountain a bit below the snowline and decided to hike as far as we could handle it up to Yale Peak.  We knew we wouldn't summit, we just wanted to go as far as we were comfortable.

 
Well, we were doing quite well, but once again we got up to the snowline and eventually it was too deep to continue.  We made it to somewhere around 12K.

 
There was also a lot of run-off and we had to cross a few streams.


 

That's Yale Peak in the background.

Tunnels of Aspen.


Hurley had no problems with the snow, but we were sinking up to our knees.  Time to turn around.


After our hike we drove through the Chalk Canyon.  Gorgeous area.  We did a lot of geocaching here during the week.  Today we were heading up to St. Elmo's ghost town.

The most deer we've seen were in this canyon area.

 

 
Friendly chipmunks and hummingbirds.


The town is owned by the very few inhabitants.  They keep it in very good condition.



We wanted to go up to another ghost-mining town, Tincup, but the road was insanely steep, rutted and rocky.  Only a small truck or jeep could get up there.  Certainly not Hoss!

But it was a gorgeous day so we did more geocaching and some fishing.

 
Later in the week we decided to check out the bike trail in Salida which runs along the Arkansas River.  We stopped here and there and tried some fishing.  No good though.

 
This interesting marker came says it was from a survey from the 1821 border between Mexico and the US.  It was in a random area under an overpass.  I wonder what it's all about?

Nice bike trail with some great fishing spots to try out.

We took our bikes up Spiral Drive to the top of Mt. Tenderfoot.  There is a small parking lot from which several bike trails leave.  We biked up to the top to the lookup post.  Insanely windy!
Amazing view from the top.  So much so, that we hid a geocache up here.  The view is incredible at night with all the lights of Salida below.

Hairdo compliments of the crazy wind at the top!

 
The road is a spiral that winds around and around Tenderfoot to the top.  We also found a geocache (R) hidden at this interesting spot where the dead tree was painted green and blue.

Mt. Tenderfoot.

11 comments:

  1. WOW, you have an Awesome Life! What a wonderful Husband you have to support your travel!!!

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  2. Great post. Making a note of these places in CO. Definitely on our list now. Stay cool. Haha

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    1. You and Glenda will love it. This stretch of Hwy 285 is gorgeous!

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  3. Wish we had spent more time in that area. We really liked Salida and the river. Wouldn't have done well in those higher elevations though - I don't seem to acclimate no matter how much time I give it :-( Hurley looks like he's having a ball! Would be fun to own a little piece of history like that, but it must be a lot of work. Great pics!!

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    1. We're back in Salida area now, just love it! As long as we've been here I wonder if I'll ever really adjust to the high altitude (being over 8000 ft) all the time. Hurley loves all these rivers!

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  4. Just found your blog and made me home sick for CO. Actually, we are in Idaho and starting to head back soon to cooler temps in the higher elevation.

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    1. We are SO loving it here in the SW of Colorado! I looked through some of your blog too. Looks like we have a lot in common! We'll be in CO until the snow falls when we'll head back to No. CA for the holidays via AZ to visit family. We'll be in Gunnison next week, Crested Butte and Silverton after that. Not sure where we'll wrap up our time. Maybe back around Durango? Any chance you'll be in those areas?

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  5. Love the tree where you found the geocache!! Very cool!!

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  6. Replies
    1. The ghost town was awesome. If we had a smaller 4 wheeler we could've gone up to Tincup, but the road was just too narrow for our dually.

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