Colorado Traveling and Aspen Vicinity

After our post-backpack gluttony (simple things like a shower, a bed, a good meal) in Pinedale, Wyoming, we turned our sights towards better weather in Colorado. We stayed on back roads (which isn't hard in Wyoming), outrunning the weather and taking in the scenery ... big wide open spaces (yes, including more sage brush), curvy canyons, and open roads where passing RV's was easy! Hit the corner of Utah, where we almost went into Dinosaur National Monument ... but it was late in the day, so we opted for a short foray and a picnic (and a plan to return on a future trip). We then pushed on and spent the night in Meeker, Colorado ... a pretty tired-looking town. But the Lonely Planet book really like the Meeker Hotel (Teddy Roosevelt had stayed there) ... so we headed on in. A beautiful old building with lots of wood work, and the lobby walls filled with all sorts of taxidermy ... elk, deer, cougars, etc ... most with plaques indicating the statistics of the rack and the associated hunter!! We ended up with a comfy suite, and had cheap, simple eats for breakfast next door at the Meeker Cafe in the morning.

Mesa near Dinosaur National Monument

Some of the historical figures in the Meeker Hotel

Our path continued a few hours further down through Colorado to our next destination ... Maroon Bells. It is just outside of (ritzy) Aspen, and the main attraction here is a post-card view of some beautiful mountains and a lake. But, it also has some incredible hiking in the vicinity (including an apparent classic backpack ... the 4-pass loop). So, following Karen's trusty research, we pulled up to the entrance gate to try to get one of the very few walk-in tent camping sites (no reservations allowed). As with almost everything on this trip, our timing was perfect (just by chance), and we got the first (and way best) site, with a tent pad offset down by the river. The other sites quickly filled as we were setting up our camp.

We spent several nights there, and got some of the best sleep of our trip (even with a few rain showers during the 1st night). One of the key advantages of this campground is that you can drive into the park (as opposed to having to take the shuttle bus), allowing you to get around much more easily. Tom did multiple short drives at sunrise/sunset up to the "view" parking lot to try to get some good pictures. We also did a couple of significant day hikes (Buckskin Pass in Maroon Bells, and Lost Man Pass near Independence Pass) through some beautiful country up to more killer views. The higher altitude here (between 10,000 and a little above 13,000 feet) definitely made it's presence known on our low-land lungs, but we just slowed things down and did fine. The Aspen groves we encountered were a visual delight, both from afar (intense yellow patches) and as we walked through them. One interesting fact ... Aspen groves contain genetically identical trees connected by roots, and are considered to be a single organism ... kind of like mushrooms. (Who woulda thought?).