Summer of Colorado, Week #2

Our second week in Colorado is in the books. It actually feels like we've been here much longer as we've seen so much already. It really is an incredible state and seems to amaze us every day with its beauty, mountain scenery and incredible boondocking opportunities.   

We started the week in Colorado Springs (known by the locals as the Springs) with a couple days out of the van at an AirBnB. The Springs is a great little city with incredible views of Pikes Peak from almost anywhere in the city and an extensive trail network that's great for walking, running or biking around town. It also has what has to be the most amazing city park in country (Garden of the Gods) with these unreal red rocks in every shape you can imagine (see photos below). We were mostly there to check on our rental properties and were a little nervous about that considering two of the properties we had never seen in real life. Fortunately, our property visit well exceeded our expectations. All of our tenants seem really responsible and are taking great care of the properties. We noted a few small repairs but all in all, the properties were all in great shape and we even thought about moving into one or two of them. So with everything under control, we'll just carry on being the same absentee landlords that we've been all along!




After the Springs, we headed west on Highway 50 up over Monarch Pass and down towards Gunnison. We found a great BLM site to spend the night south of Gunnison called Hartman Rocks which has tons of mountain bike trails and wild camping opportunities. See photo of me below admiring the double rainbow at Hartman Rocks.   


The next day we drove north into the mountains to visit Crested Butte for the holiday weekend. We spent a few hours wandering around the idyllic mountain town before heading out of town to find camping for the night. Since it was the holiday weekend, most sites were already taken but we lucked out by snagging the last site at a campground a few miles from town. We were really impressed by the the many trails and beautiful scenery all around Crested Butte. See photos below of one great trail and our tasty breakfast sandwiches after one of our morning hikes!


Yesterday we visited Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park which has to take the prize for the most ridiculous national park name of all! What's wrong with just Black Canyon National Park? Despite the mouthful of a name, it is a remarkable canyon to see and can probably be best described as a miniature Grand Canyon but with black rocks instead of red and orange rocks. See photos below from our visit to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison! BTW, Gunnison refers to the name of the river that carved out the Black Canyon - perhaps that's why they decided that it warranted a mention in the national park name?  




Now we're in Ouray in the San Juan Mountains and I'll be starting the first segment of the Colorado Trail (CT) tomorrow. The CT is a 480 mile trail that runs from Durango to Denver and is often referred to as the "most beautiful long trail in America". I'm super excited to hit the trail and see what all the hype is about.  Ginny's planning to join me for some segments of the CT but is planning to ease into it as the elevation and rigor of the hike is no joke. The frequency of these posts will likely drop off some as I will not have any reception while on the CT but will periodically post updates when I come off the trail to resupply. Happy trails!



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