Exploring Colorado–days off from Camp hosting.

 

Monday and Tuesday were my days off this week, and come Sunday evening, I was ready to go adventuring.  As I pulled out of the Campground, ol’ SwankieWheels said…
Hey, lets go to Steamboat Springs over Ripple Creek Pass… and we were off.  I felt certain that with the days being so long, that I still had enough daylight to make it there before dark.

At the top of the pass are interpretive exhibits and a interpretive trail… nicely done I must say.

Great view also looking back down on North Fork Canyon of the Upper White River Country…  toward my Campground.

I liked this exhibit as it names the surrounding peaks.

When we went to Trappers Lake, we where between the Amphitheater and Himes Peak.

Yah think?  I am reading the a book by Ricki Buckles right now… A History of The Upper White River Country and it says some of the people had private Elk Herds… and that they had learned to jump seven foot high fences, so they had to add 3’ more on top to contain their herd.

This the public rest room there… oh, yuk.  Since I spend a lot of my work day checking and cleaning the six similar bathrooms to this one… I can tell you OURS never look like this.  I just turned and went back out again.

Starting down the other side, the road was pretty good but as I got closer to civilization again, it go very wash-boardy.  I spotted a group of horses resting in the shade of the Aspen trees.

I’m not sure the name of this mountain, but it’s impressive.  Soon, large houses or lodges begin to come into view.

I liked this one a lot.  Notice how the geological feathers have changed completely.

The road flattens out and seems to stretch on forever.

That’s the Yampa River and I was checking it out and wanting to put my kayak in there.  Need to research it and see what kind of shuttle services are available.  I really want to paddle it.

Wanted to pop in here and check it out, but would have to pay to do so.  I did like the picnic table shelters.  Very nice.  I will have to go back one day and explore more.

Monday morning I popped into a local café and had a big breakfast, while watching the weather news on T.V.  The décor was rather down-homey.  I especially like the photo of this fawn…. it’s called a Calico deer.  I googled “calico deer” and found lots of photos of other Calico Deer, but did not see this one. The waitress told me that people are still seeing it out there… and have taken photos of it full grown.  Hope no one ever shoots it, it is just too beautiful..

I continued on to Hayden and Craig, CO because I did not like Steamboat Springs at all.  When I got to Steamboat after going up and over the mountains, I was very hungry so stopped at McDonalds for fast food.  When I came out, my left rear tire was almost flat.  Walmart in Steamboat does not have a Tire Department, so I drove a block and spotted a Tire Store… and though they were closed, I pulled in to their lot for the night.  next morning they got my tire fixed in less than 15 min, for $15.  This was the screw I picked up coming over those mountains.  I could have changed my tire and put my spare on, but I hate the task so much.

Did some shopping in Craig, CO before heading south on Rt. 13 into Meeker. Checked out more of the Parks in Meeker and there is no place to stay free.  I have spotted a few side streets where stealth parking is safe and picked one of them.  Got a good nights sleep and it was very quiet.

Tuesday, I did laundry, caught up on internet stuff, tried to get my Western Digital Ext. Hard Drive working (without success).  It wants my disk.  I don’t know where it is.  Finally got to the Rec Center and got a long hot shower, then  more computer work, before heading back to North Fork Campground.

It was good time off and fun exploring places I have never been before.  I bought a new printer (cheap one), I bought more magnetic screen doors to use in camp.  I got 3 cases of water.  I stopped and got some Chinese food to go and 1/2 of it after I got back to camp.  Yum.

Days off are a good thing.