COLORADO STATE PARKS

After spending over 4 months first as a volunteer and then as a Park Attendant for the office, I have learned the ins and outs of the day-to-day operation of the park. Like the Federal parks, you get friendly people and then you get those that come across to you as very grumpy and Parks and Wildlife. Years and Years ago, they were one, and then separated and became two different agencies. Now with budget cuts and state funding being taken away from them, they are once again merging.

Along with those changes came some other changes. Since State parks will no longer get any state funding and now will be self-supporting. Prices had to change as well. This time they change the prices to the Senior Citizen’s of Colorado. They have a deal for state residents over 64 years of age called the Aspen Leaf. An Aspen Leaf annual pass use to cost only $35.00 and a second one $15.00. You could purchase a lifetime pass for $175.00. Effective July of this year all that changed. Now the Aspen Leaf Annual Pass is $60.00 ($10.00 off regular price) and the second one is $30.00 ($5.00 off the regular price). The lifetime pass went up to $300.00. Now that’s a HUGE jump and I have to agree with the elders of Colorado-it wasn’t fair to raise the prices the way they did. Also if you have an Aspen Leaf Pass-your camping was also reduced. Sun-Thu you use to get almost half price on camping now it’s only $3.00 off camping fees.

Needless to say as hard as the State Parks try to keep the price changes hush-hush so that they wouldn’t get bombarded with the Seniors buying the life time before the price change-I am glad to announce that their little secret got out and the state wasn’t prepared for the rush! At our park I can’t even begin to count how many we sold in the month of June. I know the main office in Denver and Littleton has those figures. All I know is that on the last day of June I sold everyone that was left in the office. Since prices has changed-I have only sold two life time passes….And I have notice that since camping prices changed for the Senior Citizen of Colorado-the numbers did go down on camping as well.

We have traveled across several states-spending most of our times in Federal Parks instead of State Parks, we still learned the prices of the state parks. And I have to say that Colorado is the most confusing one we have seen thus far. We have had several others that have come in and said the same thing. You have your camping fee plus your daily entrance fee-unless you have an Annual pass; then your entrance fee is waived. If you don’t have the Annual Pass this is how the fees will go: A basic tent site, you will pay $16.00 + $7.00 each night equaling $23.00. Electric sites are $20.00 + $7.00 each night; equaling $27.00. And full-hook up sites will cost $24.00 + $7.00 each night; equaling $31.00 each night.

If you should come in after the office is closed, there is self service to register. You have to fill out two permits, one for your daily pass and one for camping. Now if you're thinking of skipping out-think twice about it. One during peak season-they have a ranger on to late and generally that ranger won’t hesitate to get you out of bed to go register and pay for your camping fee, plus he has also written down your license plate number. And if by chance that ranger don’t get you, the state parks have volunteers that also will write down your license plate number and turn it into the morning ranger. If those two don’t get you, I almost guarantee that the morning ranger ( and they do come on early), will get you. Failure to pay for camping and daily pass could cost you more than what it was all worth! We have come into a few with no camping permit and our ranger made sure that they registered before leaving the park and I’m sure those that tried-won’t try again.

Colorado State parks are well kept and hope with all their budget cuts that they will be able to keep the parks beautiful.

GRAND JUNCTION, CO

We have now spent well over 4 months here at Grand Junction CO.  What do we think about it?

My personal humble feeling is this:  although we did meet a lot of good folks here in Grand Junction, I do not think it would be a choice of where I would ever really want to settle down. Why?  Again, we have met a lot of nice folks here, but on the other hand we found it to be not the friendliest places either.  Going shopping, if you smile at someone, they look at you as if you have just done something wrong.  While we spent seasonal summers in Mountain Home AR, if you smile at someone, they would smile back at you and even may say “hello”.

We notice that you also have to be a more defensive driver, because you just might get hit or rear-ended.   Since being here, we nearly missed getting reared in by another driver not paying attention, and there fore causing a chain reaction of cars getting hit, with us just barely getting missed by the car behind us.  One minor injury caused in that accident.  We had another incident where I noticed a truck out my rear-view mirror swerving in and out of cars, nearly hitting us.  If I hadn’t taken the shoulder-he would have hit us.  Again on another occasion a vehicle decided to make a right-hand turn from the far left side of the road-way, almost hitting the car next to us and us!

The cashiers at the store makes you feel like you shouldn’t be in their lane checking out and are annoyed that you did check out with them.  There is even one checker at one of the Wal-Mart that will freely give you her opinion; whether you want it or not.  We have learned to avoid checking out with her whenever we see her as a checker.

Now I’m not totally putting down Grand Junction for there are some positive and upbeat to it.  When I needed to get my foot checked, you just don’t call a doctor and get in.  So I ended up going to an Urgent Care Center with Community Hospital.  They treated me well and acted as though I was a human being, not just another sick person or a statistic.  When I was able to get to a foot surgeon, I ended up going to Patterson Ankle & Foot specialist and the Doctor that I had did a wonderful job getting my back on my foot again.  She was awesome and if ever I had to go again-I would go back to her.

We did give Grand Junction a lot of business this summer, with my foot surgery,  to finding a good dentist, going to Midas to fix our A/C and breaks on the car.  Buying a new computer, and  last but not least, buying at the local department stores.

There is also many things to see and do while in or near Grand Junction.  You have the National Monument (which by the way, if you own a dog, they are allowed in the campground, but not on any of the trails) and the Dinosaur Museum is not far from the West entrance.  The Book Cliff mountains and Mount Garfield (which you might find wild horses on the back side) are spectacular to view, the James M. Robb Colorado River State Parks (Island Acres, Connected Lake, Corn Lake & Fruita), Palisade Wineries (That do Peach Festival in August and the Wine Festival in Sept), and don’t forget to take the tour up onto the Grand Mesa where there is over 50 lakes, a visitor center along with resorts, camping and hiking trails.  Also if you plan your trip maybe at the right time, you just might get in on the Country Jam in June or the Rock Jam in Aug that goes on near Grand Junction.

Spring, Summer, Fall, or Winter, it’s a beautiful place to check out and explore and the landscape is amazing.  I wish we would have had more time to do more things, but we didn’t.  So that means sometime down the road, we will need to come back again, but this time to explore more and work less.

COLORADO RIVER AT NORMAL

Since arriving to Island Acres, we watch as the Colorado river rise, putting everyone on alert to flooding.  They feared that the Day-Use area would be the first to go under and then maybe a couple of our campsites.



Then at one of our sister park, the berm broke away while a park ranger was checking for stability, causing for an emergency shut down to any trails along the river banks.  The park ranger was safe and was able to pull himself back up.

Now that the snow run off has stopped and the rain being sporadic, we finally are seeing the Colorado River for what it is, with a constant motion and ripples.  Rocks and boulders are starting to appear once again.  Rafters are back out having a good time. 

water rushing over the rocks as they show their appearance

Great Blue Heron perched on a rock in the Colorado River

The Island where bears have been known to cross over and come over towards us.

Unfortunately the River still continues to claim a lives.  In one incident a down tree was across a big portion of the river, causing many to divert.  Not knowing if the tree was the actual cause of the drowning or not, authorities decided not to take any more chances.  So calling in the bomb squad, clearing the area, the tree became an instant debris field, which has now been cleaned up.

With the river going back down to normal, we have been told that bears will cross over in a couple of sections, so I wonder if I will finally get to see one?

ANOTHER CAMPING EXPERIENCE

A while back we did our first camping trip up on the Grand Mesa.  We tried to get near Bonham Lake, and couldn’t.  Upon finding the “perfect” camping spot it started to storm-forcing us to sleep in our small Chevy Tracker.  The next day we found another camping spot, got set up enjoyed a great lunch, and then comes yet another storm, followed by several more behind that one.  Making our first outing a very wet camping experience.

Knowing that our time is winding down, we still wanted to try again to camp on the Grand Mesa. So packing up on Saturday night, making arrangements to get off work one hour earlier, with thunder head clouds looming close by once again, we took off for our second camping adventure on the Grand Mesa.

The last time we did this trip, we turned into what we thought was a driveway to someone’s home in the Grand Mesa National Forest, but turned out to be the maintenance yard for the forestry and that the road actually comes around to the North end of Bonham Lake.  This is where we found the perfect camping spot.



There was only two downfall to the spot we choose, but we soon learned to live with those minor imperfection.  One was chasing cows away from our site.  The other downfall was we were down winded from the maintenance yard where apparently they use it and run a generator from 8-4. 
Even though we had looming thunder heads close to us, we only got a sprinkle late the first night after we went to bed.

who was ever in this spot previously was gracious enough to leave us some cut down wood and along with what we brought, we had plenty to keep fires going for the two nights and to warm our bodies in the mornings.

So, after setting up camp, we walked around and talked with a fellow camper who brought their 5th wheel in.  It was then time to start a fire, only to learn that the matches we brought with us had a bad striker and could not get a matches to light!  Brian even tried to get the match going by using the cigarette lighter in the car and it still wouldn’t stay lit.  After several failed attempts, he finally walked down to our fellow campers to see if they had some “good” matches.  While he was gone, I got the cig lighter going, ran over to the campfire, lit the match and manage to get the wadded up paper to finally light!  So when Brian got back I had a wonderful camper fire going and was doing the “dance”.  I was really proud of myself!



We ended up with several unwanted guest towards dusk and had to chase them away-cows!   They were invading on us and it was time to head them in another direction.  An hour later, here came another group of cows.  Our campsite must have looked appealing to them, and once again we had to chase them away.  Did I mention I hate cows?….

We were awoken the next morning to first a bird called that sounded like a puppy crying and then those dump ole’ cows mooing and bawling.  It was very chilly and a camp fire was needed to help warm our bodies while the coffee was being brewed. 
Upon going for a morning stroll, we looked back at our nice camp site and once again the cows were coming up behind us.  We walked back and decided that they were far enough behind and didn’t they would invade our site while gone. 
We took the hiking/OHV trail for a mile or two and then decided it was time to head back before we did get ourselves lost.  We were surrounded by combinations of Aspen and Pines. 



Upon returning back to our campsite, those cows were getting very close to us once again.  So Brian went to chase them away, however one bull was going to stand his ground and I was beginning to wonder who was going to win.  Brian blew the air horn and I guess the bull didn’t like it-so he turned around, leading the rest  of the herd to follow him.  We no longer had anymore issues for the remainder of our stay with the cows.

With the weather being perfect and the sun out bright we decided to take the canoe out on the lake.  This would be Leah’s first time in our canoe and we wonder how she would do.  She kept hanging on the edge, trying to bite at the little waves we created.  I was so worried that she would jump out.  We took her leash and strapped it the middle seat.  Brian told me to let her go and if she did jump in, he would rescue.  sure enough before long I heard a loud splash and as I looked back she was swimming in the cold water!  Brian scooped her up and for the rest of the ride, the canoe felt it was hitting bottom as she shivered.  I bet she doesn’t do that again!

For the remainder of our time, we did have thunder clouds loom by and some really loud thunder, but never any rain and our trip was spectacular and the most enjoyable camping experience we had thus far.



We did forget some vital essentials like; paper plates-we ate cannibal style and loved it.  We forgot our suntan lotion and got burned like a lobster.  We forgot knives-fingers worked great (clean ones-mind you).  The worse were our matches-but other campers came to our rescue.

Who could have asked for anything better?  We hiked, canoed, sat by a wonderful camp fire, cooked on the fire and just enjoyed each other’s company with no TV, cell phone or computer.  I think more couples should do this….

TRIP TO THE ROCKIES-Part Two

After turning back around at the Georgetown exit, it was time to head towards Breckenridge, where we will try to find us a camping spot for the night.  The descend downwards was a long haul and the road construction made it even harder-specially to truckers.  We actually had one trucker just ahead of us that had to use the runaway ramp.  We think he was having more engine trouble than brake trouble.
We couldn’t help but laugh at the signs on the Interstate that stated something like this:  “Lost brakes?  don’t take the exit, the road ascends just ahead…”  I know it’s really not funny, but just sounded funny.  The other sign that caught our eye was:  “Truckers don’t be fool, descend for another (number) of miles.”

We decided that we will have no trouble taking our  motorhome through the Rockies.  the worst descend for us will be in the heart of Denver-or so we are told, but I think we will be just fine.  So now comes some fun time…..

You could easily see that the town of Breckenridge was not only a college community but also a richly ski resort community.  You saw no run down homes, and again all carried the Swiss Alpine looks.
After carefully reading the instructions to the Lower Chrystal Lake, and taking only two wrong turns, we finally found our destination and found it-disappointing.  According the directions and usage guide-it stated “mildly busy”.  To us we would think a few cars, and some hikers-NOT!  The parking lot was over flowing.  We put the car into 4-wheel drive and went just in a little ways deeper into the Crystal Lake area.  Found a camping spot, but wasn’t totally sold on it.
Time to grab a snack and then hike further on up-maybe in hopes of finding the Crystal Lakes and maybe another camping spot.





As we walked, we kept ascending, making our breathing a little labor.  We only went so far and decided that this just wasn’t the spot for us.  time to look at the map and maybe find another camping spot.  It wasn’t quite noon-so we still had plenty of time to find something.

We continue farther down on HWY 9 with intentions of taking a loop cross country on 4 wheel drive.  I knew we would find a camping spot along the way that would be remote and quiet for us.
As we kept ascending up hill we wonder what we were getting ourselves into when we came upon Hoosier Pass on the Continental  Divide!  I was so excited to be on the divide and wanted to explore the area a little.

As we walked around, we found the perfect campsite that would suit us just fine.  It was time to set up camp for the night and hunt down some wood.  Wood finding was easy, for many fallen pine tress were on the ground-dead from the beetles.



Now it’s time to hike up the Continental Divide and be in the heart of the Rockies.  What an awesome experience!!!



The view was so breath taking that I had to stop and take constant pictures.







As we walked, we kept climbing higher and higher, and decided that our lungs and heart needed a rest, so back down to our campsite we headed.  Sure wish we had more time to spend in this area, but we would need our bodies time to rest for the height of the elevation that we were on.



After finishing cutting our wood, starting a campfire it was time to get something to eat and just sit back and relax.  As we are relaxing, I finally realized I had lost my watch.  The watch meant a lot to me, since Brian bought is special for me over 17 years ago.  But I think when I picked up Leah, the clasp must have come undone and therefore was lost at the Continental Divide.  There was no way we were about to climb back up to find it.  So it was a sad time for me…

As the evening went on, my breathing started to get more labor, my sinus completely shut down and my face started to swell a little.  Brian said I was getting paler by the minute and then I started to feel sick.  If I got up, everything would spin.  It was decided that I was getting altitude sickness and we would need to get to lower elevation.  Thinking our camping trip was done and we would head back home, I really felt sad that this had to happen.  Poor Brian had to pack everything back up on his own and we had to head on down.

As we got down to Lake Dillon, about 1000 feet lower, I was already feeling better.  I told Brian I would feel fine if we would spend the night at lake Dillon.  I would rather camp there than try to drive all the way back to our park in the dark.  So we found a nice spot at Lake Dillon on the White
I think if we would have more time at the higher elevation and rested before exploring,  I would not had that trouble.  But we were on a short time schedule…

Part Three will continue on our saga heading back on I-70 Westbound-homeward bound.

TRIP TO THE ROCKIES-Part One

It’s Sunday afternoon and been a bit of a stressful week for me, I’m so ready to get out and go adventuring,  Our first plan was to head out early Monday morning, but instead we finished packing and headed out Sunday afternoon.

First stop was to the Wal-Mart in Rifle to get just a few groceries for our little trip.  As Brian is getting supplies, I looked at the map and found maybe a possible campground near exit 133 off of I-70.
Our first night out was near a place called Dotsero,Co.  I know a weird name for a town or rather a very small community.  Anyways we got off onto a dirt/gravel road that at first we thought was all private land.  Then we crossed a cattle guard and now we are in the White River National Forest with pull off campsites.  We saw the first site, but it appeared that we would be camping right on the roadway, so we moved onto another spot. 

the site we choose was big with many shade trees surrounding us.  First order of business was getting the tent set up and getting supper.  Brian sets up the tent, while I cooked burgers and fried potatoes over our camp stove.  Leah’s job was to alert us of any unwelcome visitors that may happen by-since we were in bear country-her job was very important.



After getting set up and filling our tummies, it was time to explore our surrounding.  We had a rushing creek very near to us and it would lull us to sleep that night.



A third mile up the road we found a fairly new vault toilets and a huge area where it appears they use to load and unload horses.  We also discovered that the road did a few switchbacks that climbs higher up the ridge above us.  We also found a trail that we did not take-due to it becoming dark and not safe to be out on at that time of the evening.  So it was time to go back start a campfire and enjoy a few drinks and each others company.  But most of all-time to RELAX and ENJOY mother natures beauty.

We did have one visitor-human nature.  Some road construction guys wanted our spot to camp at for they were going to be in the area working.  Brian told them they could have it the next morning a we would be moving on.  They were cool with that and apparently found another spot for the night.
After a very restful sleep and using our new air mattress, it was time to tear down camp, brew some coffee and head on down the road on I-70.  First stop for the morning was at rest stop to feed Leah her breakfast and to fill our tummies as well.

We found the drive on !-70 from West to East to be spectacular with views of the Rockies.  It was hard to try not to constantly take photos of the scenic drive.  What amazed me the most was the ski resort towns and communities.  One in mind was Vail Colorado.  The town was banked up against the Rockies on both side of the Interstate.  When traveling through most towns and cities along any Interstate, usually gives you exits about every mile or so-not so with the towns in the Rockies.  You were lucky to come to an exit about every 5 miles.  So could you imagine that you live on one side of the Interstate and then have to travel a ways to cross over to the other side-specially during the winter time when snow is the heaviest?  All the ski resort communities along the Interstate remind me the homes and business that one would see in the Swiss Alps.

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There were several scenic pull offs that we took to stop and take some photos.  The air was refreshing and the view just awesome! 



At one point we were ascending, but it appeared we were descending and I thought we were having transmission trouble.  After pulling over to have Brian check on our engine, he stated that even though it looks like were going down hill, we actually were not.  Then it was time to head through the Eisenhower Tunnel.

We traveled as far as Georgetown before deciding to turn around and head back towards Lake Dillon.  Our plan was to stay out on National Forest once again.  I had found a place near Lower Chrystal Lake where we would make our camp for the night and do some hiking in hopes of finding some old mining camps.

Part two of our trip coming up next….

CARVING ON ROCKS

As we travel across the great American land of ours, we meet so many interesting and talented people along 0ur route.
There is one in particular that really has caught our interest.  He works seasonally here at the Colorado River State Park/Island Acres and is in maintenance.  His name is Tim and several years back he had broken his esophagus-laying him up for months on end with nothing to do but sit, sit and sit.  After several days of twiddling his fingers, he decided he needed something to do.
We have seen many folks that paint on rocks as a hobby, but never have we come across where someone has carved into a rock like he does.  Not sure what had inspired him to try carving on rocks,  but he gave it a whirl and has come up wit some magnificent carvings!  He uses a Drummel wheel to do the carving.   Now, not just any particular rock will do, it has to be one in particular and only can be found between here and just inside the Utah line.  The rock is called oil shale or Green River Formation Rock.  It’s basically flat with layers after layers of sediment and is fragile.

Tim does this strictly as a hobby and nothing more.  He sits in the evening or on weekends, whenever he has a spared moment along with his loyal corgi at his feet and carves on the rocks.  Here are some of his work that he has shared with us.

A CAMPING ADVENTURE-#1

Several years back we tried tent camping and it just didn’t work out for us and so we gave it up with a vow that we would never try that again…

There are areas that we really want to adventure onto, and not a place that we can take our motorhome.  So once again, we bought another tent.  We also wasn’t so sure how our little Min Pin-Leah would take to sleeping in a tent.  She likes to prowl at night when she hears noises outside.  So this was going to be very interesting-least to say.

On top of the Grand Mesa lays the Mesa National Forest with many different Forest Service Roads and ATV roads.  there are also over 50 lakes to explore as well.  You have your pick to popular resorts to a desolated out of the place where few will travel.  The latter was what we were looking for.  It would be easy for a person to get lost with all the forestry roadways.  But with the help of a park ranger and maps, we knew approximately where we were heading.  So off on to our first Camping Adventure we go.  Right after work one day we took off, with thunderclouds licking on our heals, If  luck was with us, it would just be a quick thunderstorm, and be over and we would be able enjoy the rest of the evening.

As we got closer to our destination, we also could see the ominous dark clouds heading towards us.  We just hope we could get our tent up and settled in before it hit us.  Bonham Lake was our destination and as we came upon the first section to check out we liked the area.  However, to place our tent in just the right spot, we would have to be at least a 1/2 block to a block away from our vehicle and being in bear country, we weren’t sure we wanted to be that far away for the first time.  All the nice secluded spots were already occupied.  So we went farther down the road.

We came to a split with yet more options for other lakes.  We came upon Neversweat Lake and really liked it  even found a few spots that would suit us.   We did have to put the car in 4-wheel drive just to get up on the little hillside with the perfect view.

In the meantime, that thunderstorm was finally upon us with intense lightning and thunder.  We try to first set up a shelter for out tent with a tarp.  Brian was tying the tarp over our heads to trees and to our car when all of a sudden a bolt of lightning hit closer than I would have cared for.  I screamed and jumped into the car with Brian right behind me.  As the storm pounded us with lightning and thunder, and then pea size hailed started to rain down on us!  The tarp didn’t get tied down all the way and it started to flap in the wind-hitting the car on my side making a horrible noise.  At one point Brian try to go out and secure it, but with the wind and rain he was soaked in seconds.

Hail on the Ground

Brian trying to attach the Tarp-with no luck

We had no choice but to sit in the car until the storm passed through.  When it finally let up and we could get out, the temp had plummeted and it was very chilly.  We manage to get out our stove and warm up can soup to help warm our bodies.  As we looked around we were surrounded with mud and water.  It was decided that we would shift things around in our car and sleep in the back for the night.  Mind you that we have a 4-door Chevy Tracker with not much room, but we would make due for the night.

Lake Neversweat-after the storm

The next morning, after a very rough and cramped night, we got out and first thing first-make coffee!  Then it was time to explore a little to see if we really wanted to stay in this spot or move to some where else.  We came across our first problem of the day…we were on this little “island” and couldn’t get off without driving!  The small creek that we crossed to get to this hillside was now twice as large as the night before.
After being wet and muddy, we knew that Cottonwood campground was just a few miles away and although we really didn’t want to be in a “developed” area,  we decided at this time that was our only option. Driving just a few miles on the Forest Service Road, we found another small lake and a nice little area that we could put the tent and salvage the rest of the day.  The lake we choose is named Kitson Reservoir according to our Delorme Topo.

View from the one end of the Lake

Finally we have our camped set up and ready to go!  Now it’s time to hunt down some firewood.  We found this old dead pine tree that about a foot was sticking in the water.  We hand sawed it off, wrapped a rope around it and then dragged it back with the car.Now it’s time to cook a hearty lunch; Chicken cooked over charcoal, with fried potatoes…mmmmgood.  Oh no not again, another storm once again heading our way.  It’s a good thing dinner was just about done, but now we have to hurry to eat and get things cleaned up and put away before it hits us.  Thank goodness it wasn’t as bad as the one that hit the night
before.

Snow still lingers in areas

mmm-smell those potatoes frying

Rain lets up, it’s time to try and keep our campfire going.  Brian re-arranges the rocks, hand saws the dead tree in half and gets a good fire going.  As we try to put the rock barrier back around the log, I didn’t know that one of the rocks was used for cooking the chicken, so upon picking it up I managed to burn 3 of my fingers on my right hand….
Storm number 2 (or is it three?) builds and again rains down on us.  I don’t know how he did it, but Brian manages to keep our campfire going through all the storms.  In the meantime I’m keeping ice on my fingers-it’s the only thing that is soothing the pain.  Upon investigating it appears I will have one good blister on one finger and small ones on the other ones.  It’s not as bad as it could have been….
Storm lets up, sunshine at last…so it’s time to take a small hike and a little adventure.  But as we walk, we notice once again storm clouds building-time to head back to camp-bummer….For the rest of the day storms continued on and off making us dodge in and out of our tent.  And yet, the campfire keeps on burning.  I soon learned Brian’s secret-lighter fluid.

Brian adding fuel to keep the fire going

Our one and only visitor

The next morning upon rising, we see once again that we are between rain-after a little better night sleep, we decided to give up on the camping for this trip.  So we packed up early morning, without coffee and headed towards home.

We have decided with all the rain and mishaps, that is still was a nice adventure and we defiantly want to come back again to this area to explore.  We will just make sure that there is no rain chances the next time!  As for Leah, our Min Pin, she was on her best behavior and a true champ through all of this!  When we got home, all she wanted to do is sleep, sleep and sleep, as well as we did!

Collbran down under all those clouds

We will adventure again up on the Grand Mesa again for there is just so much to see.  Whether you like being alone or being around folks, there are many options to sight see  and explore up there.
so what’s our next adventure?  Will be in a couple of weeks as we want to check our Rifle Falls and Rifle Gap.

A FAMILY SEPERATED

Up early and adam as we started our day on one fine Wednesday Morning.  As we are checking campsites to see who is staying and who is leaving, we started in our B loop; which is the tent area.  One of our tenters comes up to us and said he just seen a cub bear walking on the burm trail.  We asked us to show us where the cub at. 

As I walked up on the burm, sure enough there was a cub walking on the trail as if nothing was amidst.  He did look back once to see if anyone was following me, and then just kept on going.

As volunteer and workers of the state park our first protocol was to get a hold of a park ranger.  Being it was very early in the morning and no park rangers were on as of yet, but maintenance was, we approached the maintenance guy and then he made the necessary phone calls while we went back to track the direction the cub was going.

the cub got chased up a tree at one point by barking dogs, came back down, and once again headed towards our B loop; which was still loaded with a group of overnight campers with lots of young kids.  Not wanting to have the kids chasing the baby, we tried our best to divert the cub away from that area, but he would have no part of it.  He looked at us as if he was in charge, and actually-he was!

 Although the pics are blurred, they are my first pics of  a baby cub!
He’s running away from us and right into the paths of lots of kids!!


We eventually lost track of him in the tall grass brush, so we had no clue as to where he actually was.  Then another one of our campers informed us that there was not just one cub, but two!  They had played hours prior to the chase in front of his camper.

The next question that everyone had…if we have cubs in the park, where is mama?  That kept rangers and us on edge through out the day.  The rangers had to contact the Dept. of Wildlife.  He came out and talked with us about the cub.  At first he thought it was last year born and wasn’t an actual cub-until he looked at my picture that I manage to get.

As the day turned to night, we advised campers that there are bears in the area and to keep their site clean of food.  As we went around later that night checking on the park, and talking with campers, one lady came up and said that there is a bear on the other side of the river pacing back and forth.  We later learned that it was mama to the cubs.  All of tenters were awaken through out the night with mama crying for her babes.
Almost of a week later and other than finding bear scat back near the water treatment area, there has been no more sighting of mama or the cubs.  We hope that somehow they have been re-united and have gone back to their homeland, away from the campground.

So what happen to separate mama from cubs?  We are all thinking that somehow upstream the babes fell into the river, after maybe a bank collapse from the raging rushing water.  They swam went downstream, ending up on the opposite side of the bank and landing near us.  Now if somehow we can get them to continue down river for another 2 miles, then maybe cubs could cross over at the Cameo bridge and get re-united with their mama.  Just so long mama doesn’t cross over to our side in the meantime.

By the looks of the scat, the cubs appear to be eating some vegetation, but they are a little on the skinny side-they need their mama back for proper nutrition.

COLORADO RIVER A RISIN’

The spot that we have chosen to park in for the season here at Island Acres, normally does not allow us any view of  the Colorado River because of the Burm that was built.  But because of it’s rapid rising-we actually can see  the river  from where we sit.

Since the burm has been built a few years back, they have not had a flooding issue here at the park, but then the river hasn’t reached flood stage in a very long time.  They are looking for us to crest at 15 feet above normal.  With this burm-the river shouldn’t flood the campground-but the park rangers are a little nervous-not knowing how much this burm can actually up hold with the river rapidly rising and the rushing flow.  I guess by now, the park would have been flooded at various areas like the day-use,  the B-loop which is the tent area and a portion of A-loop.  So we all are sitting on the edge waiting to see what will or will not happen.
 You can see how close it’s getting to the Burm-this is in the Day-Use area
 This is just before the B-Loop and it’s start cut inwards.
This past Sunday Brian had to go for a special meeting.  I guess with the rising of the Colorado River, very few folks like to come out just up river from us and ride the roller dam down; which causes what they call a Big Surf-like a big wave in California.  If they are crazy enough to try it, then they may have to be rescued.  We as volunteer/worker, may need to assist park rangers where ever we will be needed.   They also briefed Brian on evacuation procedure-only if that should arise….
This is not a person, but a part of a tree that is floating downriver…
Also with the rising of the Colorado River, means road closures.  Yesterday they had to start diverting traffic on I-70, to lighten the traffic load over the bridge just past the town of Fruita & Loma and into Utah.  Now this morning they will completely shut down east bound traffic of  I-70.  That part of the Interstate rides low and when the river rises to the flood stage, debris tends to get trap under the bridge, making water to come over onto the interstate and creating a very unsafe driving conditions.  I feel for the truckers, for I-70 is the only Interstate east to west across CO & UT, now making the drive unto very dangerous roadways, creating truckers to get behind on their loads. 
They also may need to close down the Cameo exit, which is the next exit just past us, again, because once exiting off, it drops downward.  There really isn’t much off that exit other than a power plant, which isn’t in use right now, and a single ranch just down the road a ways.  many folks will take that exit to get back into the canyon where the wild horses are known to hang out.
All of this is caused by 200% snow coverage in the Rockies and high elevation this past winter, and warmer temps right now,causing a fast meltdown, creating flooding  not only in the Colorado River, but other small rivers and streams to go over their banks.
The good news to all of this, is that it eventually lands in Lake Mead; which may finally bring that lake back up to normal pool  level for the first time in years.
This year has been a crazy year not just for us in Colorado, but for others that have had to deal with other flooding in the Midwest,  deadly tornadoes, and raging out of control fires in Arizona.  Let’s just hope that the rest of this summer season gets better and not worse.

RAIN vs. WIND

Coming from and spending the majority of our lives in the Midwest area, it  is almost a given that rain is part of a holiday weekend.
As we worked the federal parks, when campers checked in with us, the first thing they would ask is it going to rain?  We would always put a smile on our face as we respond to them with this answer “of course-it’s a holiday weekend!” 
Sure enough sometime during the course of the weekend, a thunderstorm or just rain would pelt them and get everything all wet.  The worse would be on the Monday they would have  to leave and the rain would come-soaking everything as they try to pack up.  To a camper it would be frustrating, but to us gate attendants and cleaners, it would be glorious-for we could get the park back to shape early.
When we worked one of our parks where we had to clean as well as run the booth, we would almost pray for rain on holiday weekends or Sundays.  When rain was a threat on Sundays or holiday weekends, campers would pack up early and head out, instead of hanging out for the rest of the day, playing on the water or doing whatever.
As we are finishing up the first holiday to kick off the summer here in Grand Junction, we did have a slight chance of rain.  But rain wasn’t the thing that had campers scampering in the middle of the night for safety, it was winds.  We had  several campers in tent that ended up either sleeping in their vehicles or finding elsewhere to finish the remaining of the night out on Saturday Night.  Come Sunday morning as we walked around, fighting the high gust of winds, we found several tents completely destroyed.  We even found one tent that appeared to have flying lessons and ended up in the brush near the river.
We had sustain winds between 25 to 30mph with gust exceeding 55+.  Let me tell you, we felt those gust as they literally about blew you off the road!  Island Acres State Park is situated between canyon walls, so it creates more of a wind tunnel.  The winds started to kick up late on Saturday night and got worse throughout the night and all day on Sunday, letting up just a bit through Sunday night into Monday morning.  Yet the winds still can be felt as I’m still typing this.
By Sunday morning, even our own camper was rocking sideways.  As I said earlier, many tenters tents were either flatten or poles had snapped and broke.  As the day went on, the winds seem to get worse and now the pop-up campers were starting to feel the effect of the wind.  One of them received damage and had to move sites for more protection from the high wind gust.
As one of our rangers went out to due park check, she looked over the Colorado River and saw where the wind had created what one would think as a water spout.  She told us about it and she was amazed by it.
As the afternoon went on, we started to get some very frazzle campers coming off the interstate that just couldn’t handle the winds traveling anymore.  I was glad that the State Park here was able to accommodate these folks.  By late afternoon, the sun was under a cloud of dust, and as you look out, all you could really see what a thick cloud-all dust….
So if asking me whether I would prefer rain or wind, I would actually have to say if the winds are like what we saw the last 24+ hours, I will take the rain.