2 Parks and a Monument - A Four Day Road Trip in Colorado
- The Structured Nomad
- Jun 1, 2018
- 10 min read
Apparently, I'm really terrible at updating a blog. The beginning of 2018 was a whirlwind. Busy would truly be an understatement. Somehow I managed to squeeze a quick road trip for me and man-half to Colorado in March to celebrate our anniversary. (There are some other trips that perhaps I'll be adding sooner or later.) The previous year we enjoyed the sights and sounds of Rocky Mountain National Park, our favorite spot to hangout when we use to live on the Northern Front Range. We enjoyed a day hike up towards Chasm Lake, just east of Long's Peak. I wanted to reconnect with Colorado once again and enjoy some of the off-peak season excitement of our public lands and national parks with a trip to places we had never been before. Now before you cast judgement of "you use to live there and you didn't go places" - just shut your face! Being a poor grad student doesn't lend itself to traveling much or having a lot of free time if you are trying to graduate on time and not lose your sanity. So, this trip was going to make up for some of the missed opportunities. In total it was a 6 day trip with 4 days dedicated to park hopping. Our trip really began
as soon as some of my job-related responsibilities ended in Denver. One morning we woke up and then drove into the interior towards Glenwood Springs. We stopped to check out the scenery, go shopping, and grab some food. Shopped in Silverthorne and then headed towards downtown Glenwood Springs for the food. I would comment on where we stayed and the food but neither was remarkable or worthy of commenting on here. Same pretty much goes for every other stop. Pretty much your basic hotels and standard food.
Day #1: CO National Monument
Nestled to the west of Grand Junction, Colorado National Monument is perhaps an overlooked NPS stop compared to some of the other more infamous and highly-visited locales of Utah. For some reason I wasn't expecting this place to be quite as awesome as it turned out to be, but it is definitely worth a stop if you happen to find yourself on the western side of Colorado. Upon recommendation of someone we know, we opted to start our journey at the southern entrance and begin with the "hikes" in morning rather than in the afternoon.
Our first hike in the morning was a quick loop on the Devils Kitchen Trail. It was a short 1.5 mile trip with some amazing scenery. This short hike set the scene for an enjoyable day. The trail was full of high desert along the way before the trail became a more vertical than horizontal hop up the side of canyon.
When we arrived at the main event - the Devils Kitchen - we were surprised to see a photo shoot going on. No doubt this place was pretty enough for some models and a photographer to lug some equipment, makeup, and an entire wardrobe up. We took a few minutes to soak in the main cathedral before rambling on to our next trail - the Serpent's Trail.
The Serpents Trail is listed as the longest of the recommend short day hike trails. The trail is 1.75 mile one-way with a 700 ft. elevation change over the course of 16 switchbacks. There are two entry points - one at the bottom (near the entrance/exit) and one at the top.We opted to start at the bottom because it's better to walk down hill to get back to your car and we were already parked to walk the Devils Kitchen Trail.
The Serpents Trail was originally used for visitors to drive to see the sites. For the the trail provided some good exercise with some amazing views. The road seen below is what would take visitors further into the park towards some killer vistas that include views of Independence Monument, Coke Ovens, and the Kissing Cousins.
Driving along the monument's main visitor road there are plenty of opportunities to stop on the side of the road to take pictures. We took (well I mean I took) so many pictures. The scenery is nothing but continuous.
We eventually made it to the visitor's center and took a quick loop on the Alcove Nature Trail to see some native vegetation and a canyon. We then did a quick loop on Canyon Rim Trail. I really enjoyed the Alcove Nature Trail. It probably isn't on most folks to do list because of some of the other hiking trails. Yet, this was a nice retreat if you like learning about plants and want to play in a small canyon. As for the Canyon Rim Trail, it was a super convenient way to see Independence Monument in all of its glory without having to get on the super crowded Otto's Trail.
I think we ended up having such a great day that I wasn't quick sure how our next stop would measure up. As the sun was setting, left the monument to head towards Montrose to get some sleep.
Day #2: Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
On day two of our tour de Colorado, we headed towards the Black Canyon. I'll be honest here - I had no effing amazing this place was gonna be. Like seriously amazing. Like more surprised amazing that I was with Colorado National Monument. I don't know why I was only expecting it to be anything but a quick stop. There were limited to-do activities since we were visiting in the winter. To top it off, the park has two entrances (only one open in the winter) and appeared to be mainly just a drive thru park. The anticipation of getting there was striking. Montrose just seems like an endless flat vastness nestled in the Rockies. As we drove along to the park I kept wondering where this canyon was going to magically appear. It became slowly apparent that we were, in fact, driving an incline and would come to the very cold and still snow packed park.
We spent a brief moment at the South Rim Visitor's Center before taking off to walk the road to the stop off points. We ended up borrowing some snow grips for free from the center. I had no idea that they offered the borrowing option and cannot verify for how long or if they still do. We didn't need them for our hike (as we discovered) but it was nice to know that we could get grip if we needed to. Our first stop was at the Pulpit Rock Overlook followed a longer pit stop at Chasm View. Along the way there wasn't much scenery of the canyon. There was plenty of signs, however, of local inhabitants.
It was at the Chasm View stop that I developed a stunning appreciation for what exactly I was seeing in terms of the canyon. This canyon was deep. Like super deep. There was something slightly unsettling with seeing so far down and not somehow fully recognizing the depths of the canyon. Not gonna lie about having instant vertigo and somehow wishing that maybe I was somewhere else. I'm not a huge fan of heights normally.
We kept going after the bout of dizziness stopped. We opted to temporarily skip over the Painted Wall view and go for a lunch-time picnic at Cedar Point. It turns out that we would have the park to ourselves for the rest of the day. Beyond the Paint Veil pull off was a no man's land. We happened to trek across untouched snow after a slight up hill walk. The picnic worked out great since at one point I ended up knee deep in a snow pile. I got to air my feet out and let some of the moisture dry out.
After an hour of eating and relaxing we packed back up to head out. The full stomach seemed to help quite a bit for us to stop at the Painted Wall overlook. As a matter of fact, my fear of heights seemed to completed disappear after eating. Here you can see me taking shot after shot of stupid poses. Totally worth it! My fear of heights seemed to have been cured and the ability to enjoy to depths was enhanced.
So how deep is this Black Canyon? Why did it freak me out so bad? At Chasm View it is 1,820 feet deep. At it's largest, the Painted Wall, its 2,300 feet. That's deep enough to stick the Empire State Building down the canyon and have lots of extra space. The depth is UNREAL. So unreal that the reason for the canyon's name comes from the fact there are parts of the canyon that get no to little light everyday. Life still finds a way to survive in the canyon, but it isn't an easy existence.
The Black Canyon experience was a total A+++. This was and is by far one of my favorite parks now. It was a totally unexpected experience and view. It was also a day followed by monster burrito to help fill my very empty stomach.
Day #3: In Transit
The first couple days of our adventure were action packed. I was then excited to have a regular day of site seeing as we drove the 4 hours to Alamosa, which is the closest city to the Great Sand Dunes. Short of camping in the park (which wasn't an option during our visit), Alamosa is about a 30 minute drive from the park and would give us an excellent launching pad.
To get to Alamosa, we drove through and pit stopped at Curecanti National Recreation Area (with several spots having restrooms -- because gas stations are hard to come by in that area), Gunnison, Monarch Pass, and Poncha Springs. Monarch Pass was a quaint stop with amazing views. The pass is similar to other spots in the Rocky Mountain Range where you can see and experience the Continental Divide.
After landing in Alamosa, we discovered that a clear night with a new moon was ahead of us and you can actually see the galaxy and stars from Great Sand Dunes. The park advertises this as something to do. So in the middle of the night we headed out to the park. As a warning, I almost broadsided an elk going 70 mph. Make sure to take your time and have your bright lights on if you plan on heading out there at night. Once we got there we discovered we were one of four cars of people that were trampling along in the sub-freezing night. I downloaded a stargazing app that allowed us to walk around the dunes and look up to see what stars and constellations we were looking at. We then hung out in the car to stare at the sky after freezing our asses for a couple of hours and then getting freaked (really it was just me and not man half) by the sound of coyotes nearby.
It was VERY strange to show up to the dunes in the night and not know what was in front of you. I'm assuming that some of the other folks there knew what was in front of them. We watched many a groups with a flashlight in hand stumble out and over the vastness that was in front of us.
Day #4: Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve
Our day at the dunes started early. We quickly cruised along to the park and got to see the magic of the dunes slowly coming into view. This was something we missed the night before in the pitch black expansiveness.
We lucked out in some respects with the timing of the visit. The day was set to be in the 40s/50s - so our feet wouldn't be on fire and we could go barefoot. No rain was in the forecast, too. The Great Sand Dunes has been on my bucket list for quite some time. In particular, I've always wanted to go sand sledding or boarding there. No rain = total ability to do this. Cooler temps = barefoot living. Another key "yippie" moment was the realization that the snow pack was melting and we would get to experience the start of the Medano Creek flow.
The bad news about our day was the wind...OMG the fucking wind. There was nothing enjoyable about getting sandblasted. Yes, it is a needed and natural part of keeping the sand dunes built up. The creek washes sand out and the wind returns the sand to the dunes. Yet, this cycle caused quite a conundrum in finding a place to sand board or sled without getting whipped in the eyes or face.
Upon arrival that day we quickly slipped into the visitors center to see the displays, buy some stuff, and use the only heated facilities. We then headed out to the main parking lot and field entrance only to discover the wind would whip our ass as long as we were out there. We had a goal to climb Star Dune, but the conditions were just way too miserable. There was no way to find a good sledding dune AND climb Star Dune. Instead, we hopped back into the car and drove to another lot and hiked further east to find a less windy spot to fulfill by my bucket list goal.
Moving further east, as it turned out, was an excellent decision. The closer we moved towards the mountains, the more we got to experience the creek. The walk to the dunes was a bit longer and filled with plenty of prickly cacti but we got to see the creek. This year the creek flow wasn't really expected and likely wouldn't be there for the busy season in May and June. The snow pack was terrible, which is the whole reason the park gets an annual creek. We walked through to creek to avoid getting sandblasted quite as hard. The water seemed to provided a lovely buffer. We also got to see signs of wildlife just as we had seen at our other stops. Along the creek bed were fresh tracks of an elk and a mountain lion. Clearly the mountain lion was just trying to get a meal, and I'm grateful that we didn't run into either one of them.
Our selected dune provided a nice view of the creek and the mountains. Buffered from the wind we were quick to wax our boards and start the ascent to only later slide down. There are a number of companies that rented sand sleds and boards nearby. You will, however, need to know what
weather to expect as some companies will only rent in dry conditions (like ours). Sand sledding was much easier than boarding but still just as exhausting. Unlike skiing, there are no chair lifts. The longer you wanted your trip to last the higher you had to hike. Busting tail is also the name of the game (at least for us). I can't remember how long it had been since we sledded or boarded. It took about six attempts before I was finally able to get up on the board and not faceplate or butt bump. Sledding was easier. It took two minor corrections to figure out the higher the nose comes up the front the quicker you will fly down hill.
Our day at the dunes concluded with a quick hike up to the overlook on Sand Ramp Trail. It took just as long to find the trail head as it did to hike upward to get a view of the oncoming storm.
All-in-all the Great Sand Dunes did not disappoint. I wish we had more time here and better weather. Perhaps we will be back when the weather is warmer, the winder is less gusty, and the creek is flowing yet again.
Heading Home...
We left mid-morning the next day. A winter storm had graced us with some snow and slick conditions. The drive back to Missouri was l-o-n-g. There isn't much to see or do through southern Kansas. As Colorado's driveway, the southern route brought us to large wind turbine fields and quick pit-stop in Dodge City. Other than that...it was completely uneventful return for an action-packed road trip adventure.
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