Tuesday, March 7, 2017

2016 Travels, Vedauwoo Campground in Wyoming and Bicycling the Rio Grande Trail in Colorado.

It's September 24 and we're in Wyoming heading into the Rockies. We camp for a night at Vedauwoo Campground in the Medicine Bow National Forest between Cheyenne and Laramie along I-80. Vedauwoo is just the perfect campground for our Sprinter. The sites are no-hookup with vault toilets and water available at taps. The cost is $10 a night, $5 with the Senior Pass. The campground has several paved loops of sites set in between ridges of beautiful fractured boulders. There is even a loop for tents only. This gorgeous campground offers rock climbing, miles of hiking trail explorations and solitude. If you're traveling through southern Wyoming this is the place to stay.

Our campsite at Vedauwoo.
One trail is paved for handicapped accessibility. We rounded a bend and came upon a moose and her calf. They were quite the surprise. We had no idea there were moose in Wyoming. We watched them for a while than went back the way we came not wanting to disturb them and their peaceful munching on aspen leaves. Besides, they were right at the edge of the trail and you don't want to upset mother moose.

A paved handicapped accessible trail.

Mother moose and calf munching aspens along the trail.
We spent the afternoon following other trails that wend through these scenic boulder canyons and enjoying the fall colors. These trails would be beautiful in all seasons.

Fall color at Vedauwoo.
Weather is starting to move in and our hike is brisk and solitary. Great boulder walls rise up around us and the air is filled with the sweet scent of fall.

Distant vistas along the trail.

The bones of the earth poking into the sky and painted with lichen.

The hiking trail into the boulders.

A mushroom rock.

A trail leads into a chasm between boulder ridges.
While we're having dinner we watch a group of climbers ascend the rocks in the face of winds and fast moving clouds.

We watch rock climbers from our campsite.
The weather changed over night and we woke to snow in the morning. It's time to head south. We're going to take scenic, very winding backroads along the west flank of the Rockies to Glenwood Springs. From Laramie we go south on Highway 230 which becomes Highway 127 at the Colorado state line. At Three Way, CO we take 125 south to Walden and than continue southwest on Highway 14. When 14 junctions with US 40 we turn southeast onto 40 and go to Wolford Mountain Reservoir. From the reservoir we turn west onto Highway 134 and take a very scenic drive over Gore Pass. When 134 junctions with Highway 131 we turn southeast and end up at Wolcott on I-70. Got all that? In western Colorado there are no direct routes but they are always gorgeous drives. 

The height of fall color in Colorado.
We're in time for the height of the fall color. Here are some photos from our drive along the Rockies.

Photos from the window.

Aspens come in all colors from reds to yellows.
The storm that recently moved through added more snow to the Rockies.

First snows on the Rockies.

Aspens at Gore Pass.
We follow Highway 134, climbing through a corridor of golden aspens, to Gore Pass at 9572 ft.

Aspens at Gore Pass, 9572 feet.

We follow Highway 131 south to Wolcott, a little blip along I-70, than take I-70 west to Glenwood Springs and the end of the road for our long day of scenic driving. We came here to ride our bikes on the Rio Grande Trail, a paved Rails to Trails that runs from Glenwood Springs to Aspen. We couldn't find any camping in Glenwood Springs so we went up Highway 82 to Carbondale and decided to start our ride from there.
The Rio Grande Trail.
The Rio Grand Trail isn't named for the river but for the railroad. It climbs at a steady railroad grade from Glenwood Springs to Aspen, a total of about 44 miles one way. From the Carbondale trailhead where we start our ride, it's 29 miles, a round trip to Aspen of 58 miles.

A perfectly sunny day for biking on the Rio Grande Trail.
The early fall weather is perfectly wonderful and all we need are long sleeved jerseys.

Goats at work.
Along the way we encounter goats at work. Mesh construction fences and "Goats at Work" signs are put up along the road and trail shoulders and the goats are turned loose to devour the summer weeds. Better than mowing and everyone does their part. Aren't they adorable. Occasionally there's a little hanky panky.

Munching the weeds.

Fall color and mountain scenery along the Rio Grande Trail.

A few of the old Rio Grande Railroad cars are placed along the trail.

The mountains are snowcapped near Aspen.
In Aspen we get lunch a at pizza and sandwich pub and people watch from the deck. You can imagine all the fancy cars going by. It's not what we see in our little town.

A buffalo sculpture made with car bumpers along the river in Aspen.
The sandwiches we had for lunch were big and wonderful and delicious and it's a good thing it's down hill all the way back to our Sprinter.

The trail follows the Roaring Fork River from Aspen to Glenwood Springs.
We race back downhill along the Roaring Fork River.

Signs point the way when the trail does some zigs and zags.

A group of young gals take and afternoon ride.

Jim on the bridge across the Roaring Fork River.

Looking down into the Roaring Fork River from the bridge.

Shadows start to creep across the trail and river before we get back to the trailhead.
We highly recommend the Rio Grande Trail. The tail surface is excellent, the grade is steady and the scenery is wonderful. Maybe next time we'll ride the trail up from Glenwood Springs.

The Carbondale-Crystal River KOA.
We also recommend staying at the Carbondale-Crystal River KOA. It's along the Crystal River, very peaceful and not too far out of the way. Sites are shady and they have great shower facilities. We took a no-hookup site for $21 a night. They have full-hookups, dump station and water.

Looking up at the mountains from our site at the Carbondale-Crystal River KOA.

The Carbondale-Crystal River KOA

Nice big trees at the Carbondale-Crystal River KOA.

The Crystal River flows by the KOA so you can fish if you wish.
In our next post we'll be heading west to Grand Junction. We'll camp on top of the Colorado National Monument and ride the River Front Trail between Fruita and Palisades, CO.

Join us and learn about another great trail and outstanding place to camp in Grand Junction.

Till next time.
Jackie



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