Left home at 9:16 AM, Sunday, and drove via the I-25/US160 route to Alamosa, CO where I tanked up the URRV before heading into the Rio Grande National Forest. The mission was Leaf Peeping.
Turns out it was like 44 miles of dirt road to get to the planned campsite, the Stunner Campground, run by the US Forest Service.
No issues except I discovered that the trailer's left brake light assembly had worked itself loose and fallen off, all I had left was wires dragging along the ground. Sigh.
Got the URRV leveled out, unloaded Scarlett, my 2014 Ural Patrol sidecar rig. As there was no cell signal at all at the campground, I rode about 17 km north on FR 380, towards Grayback Mountain hoping to find a cell signal so I could check in with Martha. I got a signal at the 17 km mark and checked in though all I got was Martha's voicemail.
Heading back towards camp, perhaps 4 km south, I stopped by a couple of guys at a truck and asked if they had any luck finding a cell signal. They directed me back towards the nearby turnoff for Elwood Pass and said there was 3Bars of LTE signal just a little bit in. I checked it out via Scarlett and yep, good signal!
I returned back to camp, grabbed the camera I'd forgotten, then kept on heading south on FR 250 hoping to find the missing brake light assembly. I would end up going 12 miles or 20 km and didn't find it. I turned around at 12 miles because that's when it started raining pretty steadily.
I outran the rain in a few miles and got back to camp with no issues, had caught a glimpse of what must have been a nice sunset, and saw several spots to pose the rig at for Fall Colors tomorrow, if the sun comes out that is.
September 30, 2019
Spent Monday riding up and down Forest Road 250, along with the road to Platoro to catch the Fall Colors and explore the side roads we didn't explore last time I was here with fellow Uralisti.
Some really nice Fall Colors but I got the feeling I was perhaps a week or so early for this area as there were still plenty of Aspen trees that were still green. Still, I think you'll agree that there was plenty of Fall Coloring in this part of the Rio Grande National Forest.
Along Forest Road 250:
On the road to Platoro:
Coming back from Lilly Pond:
Returning from the "town" of Platoro
Along Forest Road 380
Back near the campground:
Cow "Stau" on Forest Road 250 north of Jasper
10 comments:
Cow stau, that's funny (well, if you are German it is) ;-)
Brilliant capture of the seasonal colours, Dom.
Thanks SonjaM!
Very nice fall colors but 44 miles of dirt road for a campsite!?
Yeah, will try and not do that again.....seemed like a good idea at the time I picked it last time I was there.
Gorgeous colors! But yes that’s a long dirt road ride for a campsite. 🍃🍁🍂
Thanks Bluekat, I’ll try the northern campgrounds along US160 next time.
You're catching some good colors this week, Dom. Am a bit south of you and still a week or so before the color change starts in earnest in northern NM. Unfortunately we have to leave this weekend.
Hmm, a bug splattered TW is street cred with all the mud you put on it. Drive thru a good Colorado rain and it'll clean right up.
Thanks CCjon, heading towards warmer (hopefully) boondocking sites today...somewhere near the SE corner of UT or NE corner of AZ
Hi Dom just catching up on your travels. It looks like it's much more colorful than when we were there last month, as good as we figured it would be? and I see they are still moving cattle around. Enjoy your travels
The area is still working towards peak....I was perhaps a week early! I think I’d recommend the campgrounds along 160 next time.
Post a Comment