Friday, August 07, 2020

Independence Mountain - Day 2

Aug 03, Monday

During yesterday's evening's sunset, I was shooting near the junction of BLM 2504 and CR 35.  CR35 is basically the road which traverses the top of Independence Mountain.

As I waiting for the right sunset lighting conditions, I noted that I was getting 3 bars LTE on my phone!  I was near where I'd seen the Class A parked Sunday morning and yes, it had this good reception there.

I decided to move to this spot this morning.  Woke, broke camp, loaded the motorcycles and off I went up one more hill and on to the new site:




By 8AM, I was all set up, and having my first cup of coffee.  Ah....the view is much better here from the campsite along with better signal without the use of the cellular booster!

Went for a short ride down BLM Road 2504 to check out the Tipi Rings Site:


Tipi Ring

 Views on BLM 2504


Then I did some initial checking out of additional BLM trails located about halfway down Independence Mountain.  Many miles of forest roads to be explored soon.


More evidence of massive Pine Beetle damage

Spent the rest of the morning fixing the recently broken Army folding shovel I carry on the Ural.  I needed to do some shoveling you see.  Apparently,  some tent campers and such who don't have a toilet in their vehicle...feel it's OK to leave their makeshift toilets in the trees....not bothering to bury it or pack it out as they're supposed to!  What's wrong with these people?!

I'd found two white 5 gallon buckets in the previous site, and now, one blue one hidden in the trees perhaps 60 feet from where I set up the URRV:


I'll spare you a view of the contents....

I didn't bury the bucket above, that's probably worse.  I just filled it to the top with dirt I shoveled up from nearby.  I didn't want to chance "smelling it" you see.  Again, what's wrong with these people?!

Some light rain showed up around lunch time and I took a nap as riding in Colorado rain isn't really a warm experience.

Once the clouds moved on, I went out riding along CR 35, perhaps 4-5 miles past the junction with CR 7B.  Found a neat trail that lead out to a set of small ridges:





I then returned to CR 7B and rode it down to CR 6W.  From there I figured I might as well ride CR 7 and about 6 miles later I was at the Lake John State Wildlife Area:

 Lake John SWA

 The Lake John Resort, which includes an RV Park.

 Headed back towards Independence Mountain
on CR 7.  My campsite is basically just shy of the high point

The Golden Hour came and I liked how it was highlighting the young Aspen trees next to my campsite:



Sunset tonight was pretty good, a bit cool once the sun sets but then again I am at 9700 feet in altitude!

Following two pairs of photos are same shot, first in Vivid Mode, the second in Sunset Mode....which mode do you like best?





I liked the rays in this one....

Returning to camp, I spotted something glowing in the grass near the treeline.  Weird.

Turned out to be some sort of solar powered LED light bulb.  It's a bit beat up and damaged but it still works as you can see:

My new "candle" to blog by....

7 comments:

Al Christensen said...

"...riding in Colorado rain isn't really a warm experience." Ugh, that brings back memories of riding in English rain and fog many years ago.

Coop a.k.a. Coopdway said...

Some incredible riding out there!!!

redlegsrides said...

Al Christensen, indeed, though for whatever reason Irish rain seemed OK. :)

Coop, nice riding indeed though I think I’m about done for this part of the state.

SonjaM said...

Amazing scenery, and the sunset colours are stunning indeed.

I really dig the archeological site. Imagine that people have wandered and explored the area long before you parked your camper van there ;-)

redlegsrides said...

I actually tried, SonjaM, to picture myself standing where the Ute stood ... on a windswept hillside, looking for game animals for dinner and watching out for enemy tribe raiding parties. Then a small herd of pronghorn ran by and brought me back to the present.... ;)

CCjon said...

Must be why the Class A moved on, they didn't have a shovel to bury the odor. Now you have to fix your shovel?

Like the fifth photo too. The first couple have details washed put in the white light/sun.

Nice to explore areas that some history to them.

redlegsrides said...

Doubt it was the Class A folks, am sure their rig had a nice toilet! I like historical sites, having been a History Major back in college....