Boondocking - National Forest
A new favorite among our boondocking spots is here in Nathrop. Only 2 miles west of Hwy 285 in the beautiful pines of CR270/272. Easy in and so close to endless hiking and bike trails in Buena Vista and not too far from Salida. You can get water and dump at a nearby RV park and there is propane, gas and supplies in town.
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| Our new neighbors |
Plenty of shade and sun for solar.
Great Verizon and AT&T without boosters.
We were here for 2 weeks. Below is what kept us busy during out time here.
Salida Farmer's Market
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| The best cinnamon bread ever! |
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| Our goodies from the Farmers Market |
Some Hiking
There was some geocaching too. One was hidden in a cave. Hurley volunteered to check it out.
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| A small beaver dam. |
A hike up one trail led us to this memorial for a beloved grandpa. Must've been his favorite trail?
We found our 900th geocache on this hike!
A Road Trip
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| Chalk Canyon |
I love cemeteries. Especially old, old cemeteries. We found two today. Iron City Cemetery was particularly interesting.
It's a very tidy cemetery with white picket fencing and old wooden carvings.
There is an index to the deceased with descriptions of where they are from or how they died. Most died working at the Mary Murphy Mine. Most were from Europe.
There was a Children's section where some graves were outlined in fancy wrought iron cradles.
While most died long ago, here is one of the newer burials. Not sure what all the pottery shards were about, but it must be an interesting story.
Not too far away is the Iron City Cabin. It was built by the Browns in the 1800s and can be rented.
On the way out of town we watched some kids learning how to rock climb.
And More Hiking
We hiked this trail from the other end last time we were here. Now were doing it from this end.
Back in Chalk Canyon.
You have to carefully hike over the slide area.
Hurley drinking from his hiking water bowl.
Whatcha lookin at?
Someone was tired after all that hiking.
More neighbors. Pronghorn and the bull that always hung out by the road.
We drove through Browns Canyon and Castle Rock for a little more hiking and geocaching.
The Castle Rock area had these rocky "castles" that jutted up in the gentle grassy meadows. Some of the rocky areas were fenced off to protect nesting Golden Eagles.
And a little Socializing
While we are out and about we love to talk to the local people and meet others who are just passing through. At a local distillery, Deerhammer, we met a young couple who were on vacation.
Mike and Lauren were from Texas. We were having a nice conversation when we all decided we were hungry and headed out to have dinner together.
Well, we ended up having appetizers at The Lariat Saloon downtown, then had pizza at Eddyline Brewpub. What a fun time we all had. We meet the nicest people on the road.
Next Up
Time in Crested Butte