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.

TRIP TO THE ROCKIES-Part Three

After a somewhat restful sleep at Lake Dillon, we got up and headed out.  I slept ok, but Brian was worried about me, so he didn’t sleep very good.  Anyways when we woke, the temp had to be near 40 degrees and tearing down camp became very cold on our hands.




In our haste the night before, Brian accidentally spilled what coffee grounds we had, so we had no coffee to help warm us up until we got to a gas station.  After fueling the car and our tummies with hot coffee, it was time to adventure on back home.  My breathing went back to normal and the wheezing had stopped-but I still felt low key and low energy-but I wasn’t going to give in.

As we headed westbound on I-70 the temps slowly warmed up.  It was time to shed the jogging outfits and put on shorts, and finally put more than coffee into our bellies, oh and of course-feed Leah.

We made a stop at a rest area that also was the entrance to the Hanging Lake Trail.  We had all good intentions of hiking on this trail.  However, first sign we saw said no dogs allowed on the trail!  Well that sucked, for we obviously could not leave her in the car either!  So the trail would have to wait for another time….We do understand why and the reasoning why dogs are not allowed on the trail, and therefore will by by the rules.

So back on the Interstate heading homeward bounds.  Next rest stop and pull off was fascinating to us.  We discovered where they put in for rafting on the Colorado River and was fun to watch them get ready to head down the river.  This was called Grizzly Creel Rest Stop.



We had to laugh at this one poor guide.  He was trying to get those on the right side of the raft to start paddling-and all they wanted to do was wave at us while I took their pictures.  The river guide had to do everything from keeping them from going in constant circle with no help from his crew mate!  It was funny, and they did finally headed downriver-in the right direction.

Next stop was back to Rifle where we picked up a pizza and headed towards Rifle Gap to rest and eat.  After a rest, we headed to Rifle Falls where we finally was able to hike a little and even taken our little girl with us.






Wished we would have grabbed our flashlights our of the car.  We knew there were some caves, but not sure how far they really went in and without flashlights and having Leah with us-we didn’t explore any farther than the entrance to the caves.

After walking a while, I was once again feeling not so good and it was just time to head back home.  I think with the elevation I may have developed a sinus infection.  We will do this trip again, when we have more time to allow are bodies to adjust to the elevation.  It’s trip well worth and hope that others enjoy the beauties of the Rockies as we sure did!

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.