Dolores, CO

We have friends who have a home on the Dolores River outside of the town of Dolores so we spent Monday traveling south through the mountains and then westward past Durango to spend a couple of days with them. The drive was really pretty as the aspens are really starting to change. One hillside looked as if a painter had taken his brush of gold paint and slashed it across the green pine hillside. The southern part of Colorado has not seen as much of a change as around Breckenridge, but the signs of change are obvious.

We arrived at our friends' home around 5 PM and had a lovely evening of wine, food and conversations. Tuesday dawned bright, sunny and warm so we climbed in their Jeep and drove up into the mountains. It was so pretty and peaceful. We had lunch at a small cafe in Rico. The afternoon was spent visiting and playing horseshoes, then we had dinner at the local brewery and pizza joint. When we got back to the house, the stars were beaconing to be watched. So we got out the binoculars and star charts and tried to find Orion, the north star and Mars. We were not very successful but enjoyed the endeavor.

Today, after a leisurely breakfast, we started toward our grandsons in Norman. We drove as far as Santa Rosa, New Mexico and pulled into a state park campground for the evening. Pam got real excited about seeing this spider -- is it a tarantula??

Lazy Day and Sunday

I would not let John set the alarm clock so we slept in until 7:30 AM! Late breakfast, washed the Jeep, went shopping at the outlet mall and then had lunch in Frisco. We got the bikes out and rode up to Breckenridge and strolled around town for most of the afternoon.

We invited two other couples to join us for dinner at the Mother Loaded Restaurant in Breckenridge. It was mother's-home-cooking, good beer and great company!

I don't know why, but we are tired after this gloriously relaxing day.

Mad Irishman

We're watching MU get beat by OU! Might as well blog.

Today was an easy day off-roading as there were only 4 Jeeps going out and we are tired and ready for something different to do.

We drove on paved roads to Montezuma (we think this must be a haven for old hippies) then the road to the right to get on Deer Creek which led to Mad Irishman and the tops of Teller Mountain and Glacier Mountain. Pretty easy drive with a few challenges thrown in but it is really neat to be driving on the tops of these mountains. We guess we're at about 12,000 feet elevation. We think we saw an eagle on the ground but it was hard to tell since he didn't have the white head yet. The views on top are so awesome. It's hard to capture the feeling of grandeur and our insignificance.

We were back at the RV by noon so after lunch we joined another couple and rode our bikes into Frisco and part way around Dillon Reservoir. John and I stayed in town to shop and have a coffee before heading back up the hill. It wasn't too bad a ride but I struggled with the hills and had to walk some. We rode about 17 miles.

I got our laundry done while fixing supper and now the disappointing football game. Nice evening!

Mt. Bross

We drove to Alma to start our adventure and found what we thought was the right road but it was closed for repair work. Fortunately our leader knew the name of one of the construction crew and that got us through even though it will be closed all day.

Paris Mill, which the Forest Service is trying to restore,was neat to see but we couldn't go inside due to toxic chemical residue. So as we were walking around the building I looked up on the mountainside that was looming over us and spotted some buildings high up on its seemingly sheer face. This one of the many old mines that fed into this mill. It is amazing how anyone could ever build something that high up or on that steep a slope!

We traveled up Dolly Varden Road and came to a small lake where we stopped to take in the view and walk around some. On up the road, which was getting pretty steep, we came to a good place for lunch under some Bristlecone Pine trees. Some of these trees were over 1000 years old. Those found in California of the same variety are over 4700 years old (before the pyramids were built).

13,850 Feet Above Sea Level

Now comes the exciting part of the day - climbing up Mt. Bross along the shelf road, zig-zagging back and forth, and running over some snow drifts left from last winter or possibly from last week! We were unable to reach the 14,000 ft summit because the snow got too deep and the road was pretty narrow and had very loose rocks. But the view from where we were was fabulous!

Going back down, we realize that we could not exit off the same road we came up on so we had to find another road that crossed over to one we knew was open. We got on one we thought was right and it was confirmed by a motorcyclist that we were on the right road, but then the motorcyclist turned and we didn't! With 7 Jeeps following each other, we got kind of messed up but eventually we found our way and was it lovely. The road was a single lane, tree covered route. It was covered with golden aspen, sometimes green, fragrant pine and sometimes both.

Radical Jeeping

Today started out with the prospect of driving 5 different trails. We were down two Jeeps due to work obligations and water leak in an RV so only 7 Jeeps.

Our first trail was up the Middle Fork of Swan River which is considered a moderate trail but was pretty steep and very rocky. Some of the rocks came from dredges found in this area. The trail led up to the former site of Swandyke, a mining community of around 200 people. The unique thing about the mining in this area was that the ore was near the top of the ground so they did not have to dig deep. This was a get-rick-quick mine. One of the Jeeps developed a gas leak, we thought and shortly after that he got a flat tire.

We continued up to an elevation of about 12,800 feet, over some pretty difficult road. At one point we had the option of going straight up or going around on an easier climb. Of course, John chose the challenge. This was a climb that if for any reason you stopped, you would have to back down and that would be almost as difficult as going up. Woo Hoo!! We made it! A short distance later, at the top of the ridge we reached Radical Hill.

But before we descended we got to interact with a small herd of mountain goats. They were very curious and came quite close to the Jeeps. Later, one followed us down the mountain to beg from our lunches.

Radical Hill lived up to its name of being a radical drive. It was a steep descent on a very narrow shelf road, with tight switchbacks and some very large rocks to go over. By the time we got about half way down, it was time for lunch and then the real fun began. We have some very experienced drivers in this group so when they start bottoming out, you know its bad! In one spot the men had to pile up some rocks to lift up the Jeeps so they wouldn't hit bottom. Another area required a spotter to guide us over the boulders. Then the next curve held another surprise and then another surprise of large rocks, deep ravines or narrow road. The bottom of the trail took us through a quiet pine forest sprinkled with Aspen and along a small river. This was a needed respite from the rough ride.

We decided enough was enough for today and headed back home around 4 PM. We had a fun and laughter filled group dinner going over the days events.

Waldorf, CO

You won't find this city on any map of Colorado because it no long exists. All that is left are some mines and rotting wood. But from the spot where the city used to be are two roads to the top. Argentine Pass at about 13,285 and McClellan Mountain at about 13,132 feet elevation.

We left at 8:30 but some delays caused us to reach Georgetown, CO at about 10 AM. We drove on newly paved road for about 3 miles and then turned off onto gravel. The first mile was pretty steep with some tight switchbacks before straightening out for an easy climb. One section of the road went thru an Aspen forest. The trees are starting to change to their yellow, gold fall colors and with the sun shining thru them, the air was a glorious golden color. And then, just like that, we were out of Aspen and into pine forest and then above the tree line.

We divided the group in half and one went up Argentine and the other up to McClellan then after lunch we switched sides. Argentine had some technically challenging rocks to climb but at the top the view was pretty awesome. We could see mountains all around us and valleys on both sides of the pass.

The drive up McClellan was quite different. We had several tight switchbacks and traversed the side of a rocky mountain side. But, again, the view from the top was awesome. And so was the wind! It must have been blowing 40 - 50 mph!

The trip back down seemed to take forever and by the time we got to Georgetown it was pretty much closed up for the night. Oh, well, we were tired and ready to relax.

Colorado Caravan on Mosquito Pass

The caravan of 8 Jeeps and a Toyota 4 Runner took off at 8:30 AM and headed south to Alma and then west toward Mosquito Pass. In the 1870's, this was the shortest and quickest way to the Leadville mines. Eventually travel moved from the high pass route to a lower but longer low pass route which we returned on to Alma. But before we even reached our turnoff to the pass, one of the Jeeps came up lame and had to be abandoned until we could return later in the day to get it repaired. The driver and his wife shared rides with others in the caravan.

Mosquito Pass is rated as a moderate route but it had some interesting areas where we had to tackle the rocks and narrow road with some finesse. The views from the top of the pass at 13,185 feet altitude were so awesome. John and I really like the mountains. We are separated from the noise of civilization and surrounded by peace, sunshine, wind and friends. I try to imagine, quite unsuccessfully, how anyone could ride up these roads in a stagecoach pulled by horses and not get shaken to death. I also can't imagine how long a trip like this would take. It took us two hours to travel eight miles in a Jeep. How long pulled by horses??

Leadville was famous for silver mining and by the 1890's it was the 2nd largest city in Colorado. At the summit was a headstone commemorating Father Dyer, the "Snowshoe Itinerant." He was a Methodist minister who started out by ministering to the miners in the area and eventually started carrying mail and gold across the pass, sometimes making the trip twice a day.

We had a picnic lunch on the shores of Turquoise Lake before returning to Leadville for an ice cream cone and then on to Weston Pass to return to Hwy. 9 back to Breckenridge. Weston Pass was a popular route for freight wagons and stage coaches as it was only 11,921 foot elevation. It was an easy drive with some very pretty scenery.

Colorado Adventure 2011

We got the RV fixed after two trips to the repair shop. They had to replace much of the wiring in the coach, move the inverter and wire it with a breaker fuse which had this been installed initially all of our problems would not have happened. We had to rob a bank (not!) to pay for it all. We got home with the repaired RV only two days before we left for Colorado to go off-road Jeeping in Breckenridge.

We left Sedalia on Saturday, September 17 and drove to Burlington, CO where we spent the night because of a severe weather. We got to Breckenridge about noon on Sunday. Once we got settled in, we rode our bikes from Tiger Run RV park up to the town of Breckenridge where we discovered Octoberfest in full swing! What a great way to start a vacation -- with beer and brats.

Today we took an unofficial off-road adventure with four other Jeeps. Our caravan leader's two sons couldn't wait for the official start on Tuesday, so we followed them up to Georgia Pass on the Continental Divide at 11,585 feet altitude. On the way up, we took a wrong turn and drove a very challenging dead end road. Not a bad way to get lost. We came down off the pass and drove to Fairplay and then back toward Breckenridge thru Boreas Pass at 11,481 feet altitude.

We're Home!

We left Cheyenne early on Tuesday morning (Aug 9th) but started experiencing some electrical problems so we stopped near Denver and John crawled under the RV trying to, unsuccessfully, find the problem. The power kept going off and on in the coach but not in anyway that he could identify as the problem area. So we drove on.

We stopped for the night about three hours outside of Oklahoma City somewhere in Texas. We ran the generator all night so we could use the air conditioner - the first time it was used this whole trip. Wednesday morning we got going around 8 and about an hour later we pulled over for a short potty break and that is when we smelled something burning! John frantically went around unhooking all the batteries while I followed with the fire extinguisher! No smoke or flames, just a smell of melting plastic. After more crawling around under the coach, John found melted insulation on the wires from the generator to the inside of the coach. He determined that the inverter was shorting out so he bypassed that and we drove on into Norman, Oklahoma. About every half hour I made a sniffing tour of the RV.

We were able to plug into electricity at the campground and turn on the A/C without any problems. Eventually we'll have to get all the wiring replaced.

We had a nice visit with our grandsons (and their parents), we flew to FL for the wedding with lots of flight delays and we got back to Norman on Sunday night Aug. 14. Monday morning we got the call that our daughter-in-law was in labor and our third grandson was born on August 15 at 12:23 PM!

We got home on Tuesday, Aug. 16 and raced to the hospital to hold our new grandson. Liam Harry Lindstrom was ten days early but weighed in at 5 lb. 14 oz. and 19 inches long. What a great way to end our Alaskan Adventure!

We were gone 12 weeks and put 9,870 miles on the RV.

Heading Homeward

We are currently in Cheyenne, WY with a destination of Norman OK to see the grandsons, fly to FL for a wedding, back to see the grandsons and then home!

We left Banff on Sunday morning and drove all the way to Billings, MT, arriving around 9 PM and staying in the Cabela's parking lot. We stopped early in Cheyenne on Monday so that I could get some laundry done and we both used the wi-fi to get caught up. Tuesday and Wednesday will be spent driving, trying to avoid the heat as long as possible.

Banff

The mountain next to our campground is called Castle Mountain because it looks like a huge castle but it is more of a long ridge.

Because of the crowds we visited the Upper Hot Springs first but decided against trying them since we had a lot to see and do today. Once we found a place to park and get on the bikes we traveled along Bow River to the Bow Falls. Not as spectacular as the Athabasca Falls but neat none the less.

On up the hill we came to the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel and biked the road that circles the golf course. We enjoyed looking at the different holes on the course as I wished we could play a round, then rode back into the woods toward Spray River then looped back out by the golf course. We spotted a wolf, we think, crossing the road in front of us.

Back into Banff and across the river, there was a trail that was supposed to be easy that went around Tunnel Mountain to a viewpoint of the Hoodoo Rocks. But we took a wrong turn somewhere along the trail and ended up on the difficult trail. Even though the trail was only about three miles long, it took us over an hour to travel and we walked the bikes up and down some really steep, rugged and narrow terrain for at least two miles of the three. I was pooped by the time we got to the top so we cruised back down on the road into Banff without seeing the rock formation. In all we rode 17 miles So after lunch we drove the car up the mountain to see the Hoodoos. Was it worth all that effort? Not for me!! But the view at the top was pretty. We have put over 150 miles on the bikes this trip.

Tomorrow we start our homeward trek!! Yeah!!!

Lake Louise

The morning dawned cool but promised to warm up a lot. Yesterday it got up to 75!

We loaded the bikes onto the Jeep and drove up to the town of Lake Louise and then on up to Moraine Lake. This beautiful aquamarine blue lake- 'the jewel of the Rockies' -- is surrounded by 10 peaks on a sawtooth ridge. It was pretty awesome to look up and see all those spires. This view used to be on the Canadian $20 bill. We took a short walk along the lake to a small but noisy cascade at the far end of the lake and enjoyed the quite solitude of the forest except for the noise of all the other hikers. This is a very popular spot to visit. All the signs say "Limited Parking 10 AM to 4 PM". We arrived at 9:30 AM with only about a dozen spots open.

We then drove down to the train depot and got on the bikes to ride up, and I do mean UP, 5 km to the actual Lake Louise. It was on an old tramway trail that was used back in the day of mules and wagons. The lake is fed by the glacier on Mount Victoria (over 10,000 ft). We ate our lunch while admiring the scenery and watching the mobs of people walk by. We then toured the fantastic and elegant Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. Of course, the ride down was easy.

After naps and showers we headed into Banff for wi-fi and a fancy french dinner.

Icefields Parkway

From Jasper in the Jasper National Park to the town of Banff thru Lake Louise inside Banff National Park runs the Icefields Parkway. This road runs down the spine of the Canadian Rocky Mountain chain. There are icefields all along the west side of the range. The largest icefield is the Columbia Icefield at over 241 square kilometers in area. Although none of the icefields were totally visible, we could glimpse parts of them peaking between far off mountains and ridges.

And speaking of mountains, there were a lot of them to see as we drove past. Most were over 9,000 feet in elevation. The tops of the mountains and ridges were mostly snow covered. Some snow fields looked like someone with a knife had sliced off a large chunk leaving a straight line of snow and ice. Along the foot of the mountains glaciers melted into numerous lakes and rivers giving them their brilliant blue or aquamarine color. Waterfalls were abundant, stark rock walls hovered over our heads, lush green forests covered the foot hills, and cars lined the highway. It is a vacation destination in Canada.

The pictures show the Stutfield Glacier, Sunwapta Canyon with Mount Kitchener, Athabasca Glacier, and North Saskatchewan River with Cirrus Mountain.

As we drove in to Banff from our campground we came across two elk. I rushed the pictures so it isn't very good. We also spotted an eagle on her nest atop a bridge.

Jasper National Park, Alberta

Yesterday was another long travel day with not much to see or tourist stops to make. Except about 50 miles west of Jasper in British Columbia is Mount Robson. We had been seeing mountain peak for awhile but when we rounded the corner and headed east there was Mount Robson looming over us. It was just breathtakingly beautiful! Sheer rock walls covered with snow standing almost 13,000 feet high and framed by closer mountains, it just begged to be photographed!

As we approached Jasper National Park in Alberta, the traffic picked up as this is a huge tourist destination for Canada. Jasper National Park abuts Banff National Park to the south and is within a days drive of five other national parks and several provincial parks. On top of that, the highway we were traveling on is a major east/west corridor thru the mountains. That said, Jasper was very busy and we haven't seen that many cars for weeks!

Just a short drive south of Jasper was one of many campgrounds in the park that we stopped in. It felt so good to get out of the car, build a fire, take a walk along the river and put our feet up for the night.

Today we got a late start to hike one of many trails in the Jasper area. The hike took us over a steep, rocky moraine then into the upper-subalpine forest and up into the alpine meadow. We walked about 4 miles with an elevation gain of about 1500 ft. that took us about four hours including a stop for lunch and a nap. The wild flowers were so pretty -- Indian Paintbrush, white and pink heather, daisies, lupine, goldenrod, yarrow, fireweed and many more I could not identify.

Always in view was the Cavell Mountain and Glacier. As glaciers go, this was not a huge one. As we walked we could hear cracks and thunder of the glacier breaking up and some pieces going into the Cavell Pond at the base of the mountain. We did not get to see any break off. We did see marmots, chipmunks and pikas. We were told there was a caribou up near the top of our trail but we were tired and ready to head down.

Before we went back to the RV, we stopped to see the Athbasca Falls. I'll let the pictures tell that story! They were awesome!

Travel West and South

Today was a travel day. We drove about 10 hours from Stewart to Prince George, BC. In the first two hours on the road we spotted one deer and 4 black bears. Then later in the evening we spotted one more black bear. The drive was uneventful but we saw some beautiful scenery as the clouds lifted and the sun shone down. The landscape changed from mountains to rolling hills and meadows. We did stop a few times to stretch our legs and look at visitor centers, farmers market, and an historic old town.

The night was spent in a Walmart parking lot.

Stewart, BC/Hyder, AK

Our drive to Stewart/Hyder was eventful! We saw three black bears along the road and I think I saw one off on a hill. We also saw a fox running ahead of us.

Stewart is a town of about 700 people on the western edge of British Columbia that was started as a mining town. Hyder was more of an access and supply point for the miners. Today the economy is driven by forestry, mining and tourism. Both towns are at the head of Portland Canal and the US and Canadian border goes between them. During prohibition the folks in Hyder would walk over to Stewart for a drink or two and then walk home.

  

Late this afternoon we took an auto tour up to the Salmon Glacier on Glacier Highway (20 miles of very bumpy gravel). We saw evidence of several mines, Tongass National Forest, Salmon River and Salmon Glacier. Also on the tour is Fish Creek Wildlife Viewing Area where we saw one black bear & one eagle after stopping in there three times. We were led to believe that we would see lots of grizzly and black bears since the salmon are spawning, but it was just did not happen today. The Salmon Glacier is the fifth largest glacier in Canada and is over 7 miles long. Just above the glacier is Summit Lake. This is a self dumping lake. "In 1961 the lake drained under the glacier, raising the level of the river and filling it with ice bergs. This resulted in catastrophic flooding along the Salmon River valley. The lake then began a cycle of filling and draining, flooding the Salmon River, causing damage to the road and bridges along the river. The event now occurs almost every year." (Taken from the auto tour brochure.) We saw evidence of ice chunks on the gravel bars along the river.

Cassiar Highway

The Cassiar Highway is an alternate route to the Alaskan Highway. It is suppose to cut about 130 miles off of the Alaskan Highway route. Many people drive this one way coming or going. The scenery is pretty -- pine forests, Cassiar Mountains, rivers and lakes. Two reasons to come this way: 1. Its a different route that we haven't driven before; and 2. Stewart, BC/Hyder, AK is along here. This destination will ensure that we see bears fishing for salmon (we hope!).

If we drove straight thru to Stewart, we wouldn't arrive until after 8 PM so we stopped at Kinaskan Provincial Park on Kinaskan Lake. It is so beautiful here. I built a roaring fire after supper and we thoroughly enjoyed warming our knees by a crackling and popping fire while listening to the sounds of nature around us. One of those sounds is the family of four next to us talking and laughing as they prepare for bed in their tent.

We saw another bear along the road today as well as a group of Stone Sheep as they were preparing to cross the road. A bird was on the road but I'm not sure if it was a grouse or a ptarmigan.

Skagway, AK

I know we have been here before but I sure didn't recognize any of it! About 10 years ago we took an inside passage cruise of Alaska and one of the port-of-calls was Skagway. It has changed -- and grown -- a lot! It still has boardwalks but many, many more souvenir shops and jewelry stores. For some reason, Skagway is the center of the Alaska jade, tanzanite and gold jewelry trade. We finished up our souvenir shopping for family and friends and then started our drive to Stewart, BC/Hyder, AK.

Its a 12 hour drive and we didn't get started until after lunch so we stopped at a turnout for the night about 9 pm. Along the way we saw a small black bear and a really cool porcupine crossing the highway. We had a car on our tail so we were not able to stop to take a picture. Darn!! First time I've ever really seen a porcupine! This turnout is very big and next to a stream. It must be a popular spot for campers as there are several fire pits. It rained most of the night.