Colorado National Monument and More Weather!
Forecast: Warm weather, sunny skies - for some of us
Our next camping stop brought us to Grand Junction, Colorado, where we were to meet my sister, Debbie, and her husband, Rick, who were coming from Colorado Springs. They had a tough time getting to the campground, as they had to wait for a snowplow to clear roads through the Rocky Mountains.
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| Photo credit: Debbie |
However, Dave and I, coming from the west, arrived with time to go to a camper supply store and get a fuse to fix the camper's hot water system. We also found a dog park for Trooper, who had been in the truck for 6 hours. Don't feel bad for him. He loves travel days when he can sleep the whole time.
Colorado National Monument
The next day we hiked at Colorado National Monument. This is yet another interesting geologic park with a drive along the rim of at least 4 canyons, lots of hiking, and an educational visitors center. We hiked to Devil's Kitchen, and were rewarded with amazing views. We could even walk into the rock formation and see it from the inside! Here is the website - lots of good information here. www.nps.gov/colm/index.htm.
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| Debbie climbing inside Devil's Kitchen |
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| Nice view from the "kitchen window." |
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| Dave enjoyed seeing twisty trees. |
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| Looking down a canyon to the valley and mountains beyond. |
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| A canyon within a canyon. The lighter gray at the end of the green canyon is another canyon. |
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One of the fun things about rock formations is |
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| "Kissing Couple" at Colorado National Monument |
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| A wave crest? |
We
also enjoyed learning about some of the specific formations. Here is
Fallen Rock. This entire rock structure fell off the cliff side. Instead of
falling forward, as many boulders do, this one slid down on it's
backside.
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| "Fallen Rock" |
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| Da Boyz trying their hand at disturbing a natural feature. |
Palisade, CO is nearby, and is an agriculture area where pears, peaches, plums, cherries, vegetables, and grapes are grown. We tried two different wineries' offerings, and purchased a few bottles. Debbie commented that they love buying delicious Palisade produce at farmers markets in Colorado Springs.
Soon it was time to pack up camp and head for Howard, CO, where we would assault yet another national park, Black Canyon of the Gunnison. However, after consulting several weather apps, all agreed that the 90% probability of 10-12 inches of snow in that area was a no-go. Even for the Coloradans. We re-routed to Denver, then on to Colorado Springs.
Forecast: Slight chance of rain changing to snow
After
dropping our camper at the Air Force Academy campground, Debbie and I
traveled 2 hours south to Rick's Cabin in the southern Colorado woods.
Rick and Dave followed in Rick's RV, hoping to get it garaged before the
rain began. The weather front held off just long enough - mission accomplished.
Early the next morning about 4:00 am, Trooper decided he needed to go outside. I turned on the porch
lights and was amazed to see 3 inches of snow on the tree branches and
ground, and still coming down. Troop loved it! But I was in no mood for Snow Zoomies, so once
he did his business we came back in. Awakening again at 7:00, I was
stunned to see 10 inches of snow on the trees, deck, railing, and
ground! I was also surprised to discover that the power was out. Yeah. The cabin uses an electric pump for water and the furnace is electric, too. At least the wood burning stove
kept us warm.
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| Dave gathered snow from the deck and melted it on the wood burning stove. At least now we could flush! |
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| A picturesque snowy scene. |
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| Rick attached a small plow to the front of his ATV to clear the driveway. Trooper was a big help! |
The
power company could not give an estimate on electricity restoration so
we decided to head back to Colorado Springs and hang out at Debbie's and
Rick's home. Since being here in COS we've had sun, rain, snow, warm
days, and cold days. Borrowing the meteorologists' term, I will call it a
Wintry Mix.
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