tshelfer
0
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2009
- Messages
- 13,467
- Reaction score
- 2,822
- Location
- Centennial, CO
- First Name
- Tim
- Last Name
- Shelfer
The wife & I took a nice – and much needed – vacation to Colorado. We imported relatives to stay in the house & take care of my mother. And about noon on a Wednesday, off we went.
Driving into the late afternoon New Mexico sun.
By Thursday, we were camped at Beaver Lake, an old favorite NF campground on the Cimarron River, southeast of Montrose, and situated on a dirt road 8 miles from Owl Creek Pass.
Here’s Beaver Lake.
A trip up & over Owl Ears Pass. The road’s not bad east of the pass. On the west side (toward Ridgway), it gets pretty cruddy. But the scenery is magnificent.
Look familiar? In John Wayne’s “True Grit”, the gunfight scene was filmed right here at Chimney Rock.
Our second day there, I was bopping down the dirt road and encountered this accident that had happened just a minute earlier. A fellow on a KLR was steaming too fast around a curve, and met a motorist coming the other way. There was no collision, but the rider lost control and took a nasty fall, gashing his left leg up something awful. Had he been wearing proper riding pants, it probably would have been just a bruise instead. ATGATT, fellow.
I took this pic through my windshield right after I had picked up the bike and moved it out of the road.
The bike’s nose cone was gone & the handlebars were pushed out of place. But with a bit of work, it was actually quite rideable.
While others tended the rider (who couldn’t move), I drove down the road and found a rancher who could place an emergency call. It was an hour after the accident before the Montrose EMTs were on scene.
Then a Colorado state trooper arrived. I was looking at him….. and darned if he wasn’t the same guy who gave me a speeding ticket near Montrose back in June!
But back to the fun stuff. Here are some critter pictures from around the lake. Dragon fly.
Red winged blackbird on the fly.
Some kind of thrush, I think. Calling Meriden for proper identification….
Circling hawk.
Your basic campground scavenger.
Then we moved on to a longtime favorite spot, Cement Creek NF campground near Crested Butte. I’ve been coming here since 1961 when I was a kid.
The view from the campground is sensational. I took this selfie of Jan & me standing right in front of our campsite.
Here’s a shot of the creek.
When we got home yesterday, I was chatting on Facebook with Rob Vaughn. We were both surprised to realize that, while we were at the Cement Creek CG, Rob & his wife were in a guest cabin a mile down the road from us. I should put a TWT sticker on the Jeep.
Along the highway toward Crested Butte.
We drove up past Crested Butte and took the road over Ohio Pass, and down to Gunnison. Drew, sorry I got confused & turned us around when were here back in June. Next time you & I go, I’ll carry a map.
The Jeep gets stinky gas mileage (14mpg when towing), but is otherwise a nice tow vehicle, and definitely a get-anywhere vehicle when we decide to go exploring.
All pictures were taken with my almost new Nikon D5300 camera and Sigma 18-250mm lens.
Driving into the late afternoon New Mexico sun.
By Thursday, we were camped at Beaver Lake, an old favorite NF campground on the Cimarron River, southeast of Montrose, and situated on a dirt road 8 miles from Owl Creek Pass.
Here’s Beaver Lake.
A trip up & over Owl Ears Pass. The road’s not bad east of the pass. On the west side (toward Ridgway), it gets pretty cruddy. But the scenery is magnificent.
Look familiar? In John Wayne’s “True Grit”, the gunfight scene was filmed right here at Chimney Rock.
Our second day there, I was bopping down the dirt road and encountered this accident that had happened just a minute earlier. A fellow on a KLR was steaming too fast around a curve, and met a motorist coming the other way. There was no collision, but the rider lost control and took a nasty fall, gashing his left leg up something awful. Had he been wearing proper riding pants, it probably would have been just a bruise instead. ATGATT, fellow.
I took this pic through my windshield right after I had picked up the bike and moved it out of the road.
The bike’s nose cone was gone & the handlebars were pushed out of place. But with a bit of work, it was actually quite rideable.
While others tended the rider (who couldn’t move), I drove down the road and found a rancher who could place an emergency call. It was an hour after the accident before the Montrose EMTs were on scene.
Then a Colorado state trooper arrived. I was looking at him….. and darned if he wasn’t the same guy who gave me a speeding ticket near Montrose back in June!
But back to the fun stuff. Here are some critter pictures from around the lake. Dragon fly.
Red winged blackbird on the fly.
Some kind of thrush, I think. Calling Meriden for proper identification….
Circling hawk.
Your basic campground scavenger.
Then we moved on to a longtime favorite spot, Cement Creek NF campground near Crested Butte. I’ve been coming here since 1961 when I was a kid.
The view from the campground is sensational. I took this selfie of Jan & me standing right in front of our campsite.
Here’s a shot of the creek.
When we got home yesterday, I was chatting on Facebook with Rob Vaughn. We were both surprised to realize that, while we were at the Cement Creek CG, Rob & his wife were in a guest cabin a mile down the road from us. I should put a TWT sticker on the Jeep.
Along the highway toward Crested Butte.
We drove up past Crested Butte and took the road over Ohio Pass, and down to Gunnison. Drew, sorry I got confused & turned us around when were here back in June. Next time you & I go, I’ll carry a map.
The Jeep gets stinky gas mileage (14mpg when towing), but is otherwise a nice tow vehicle, and definitely a get-anywhere vehicle when we decide to go exploring.
All pictures were taken with my almost new Nikon D5300 camera and Sigma 18-250mm lens.
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