In The Shadow of Longs Peak
Fruita Colorado Camping and Hiking
13 November 2021 - 19 November 2021
This is probably the final camping trip for 2021. In future years, I would entertain a December trip to Utah or New Mexico or Arizona or Texas but I think I am looking forward to staying home for a bit.
For this trip, our plan is to leave on Sunday, drive to Fruita, camp at Highline State Park, northwest of the town of Loma, Colorado and hike on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. On Thursday we will start our trip back home, stopping first at the Little Bookcliffs area and wild horse preserve near Cameo then on to Glenwood Springs, spending one night there. This will be our cushy hotel stay for this season. We’ll soak and swim in the pool, have some supper. On Friday morning we will have breakfast then another soak before heading home.
Saturday, 13 November 2021
Gary is staying at my house tonight. We loaded the truck in the late afternoon while it was still light out. Compared to other trips this summer, there was not much gear.
We have supper, the new gnocchi & mushroom sheet pan recipe, then watch an episode of Nick Zentner, this one on the basin and range topography of Idaho, Nevada, and Oregon. As it turns out, this basin and range topography extends throughout the Southwest, into Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico.
Sunday, 14 November 2021
We are up early. Our breakfast is leftovers. Then we pack coolers and a few final items.
We drive away at 8:45, 15 minutes early! There is one quick stop to get Gary a Pepsi for the drive. We head to Boulder, pick up CO 93 and head south to Golden, and unto I-70 heading west. Traffic is light. We make a quick stop at Georgetown, then west again. It is only 1:45 as we approach Grand Junction, so we’ve made really good time, only 5 hours from Longmont instead of the usual 5 ½ or 6.
We had gotten a camping reservation so pull into site #4. This is a really nice campground with lots of old Cottonwood trees so its very shaded in the summer. Now, the leaves are mostly fallen which is nice since the afternoon sun is shining in and making it very pleasant. We start unloading and putting up the tent.
Before long, Wes and Lori arrive and do the same. Funny, we both have bigger, roomier tents, not just backpacking tents. And lots of gear! We setup the sunshade.
Once everything is setup, we sit down with a beer and/or cocktails.
We take a stroll around the lake. I take photos. Lori points out birds; We see a kingfisher and a swan, mergansers, Canada or cackling geese, coots. I had my eye out for grebes but did not see or hear any. We all hear a loon which Wes and Lori eventually see the next day. Gary disappears; Wes is way ahead. As dusk approaches, Lori and I head back to camp. Wes reappears as Gary does a bit later.
Next is supper. For tonight, we have homemade gumbo and shrimp and cornbread. An easy supper, my favorite. The most time-consuming part was defrosting and peeling the shrimp. Supper is quite good, and the 2 containers plus shrimp plus cornbread is quite enough, almost too much.
We sit up for a bit then crawl into the tent.
We also hear a great-horned owl which Wes was able to get a photo of on this trip.
There must be a kennel nearby as there are lots of barking dogs. And cows lowing and mooing. This made for a fitful night of sleep. But I must have slept well as in the morning I am quite rested.
Tuesday, 16 November 2021
Today is an easy hike day. We drive over to the Rabbit Valley Exit to hike thru the ‘Trail Thru Time’, a very organized trail with displays showing dinosaur bones imbedded in the rock. Its an easy trail, less than 2 miles, and we take out time. I take lots of photos of the landscape. After that, we drive a bit west on the frontage road which climbs uphill to the north. There is a remote campground up here, with some trees and a bathroom. Might be a good place to stay, though it would be windy unless you could snag a site in the trees, sites 1 - 3. I expect in the summer, there are many OHVs users. We continued driving on the gravel road and eventually reach the old Hwy 6 which can be taken east to Mack though we did not check that out.
We drive back down and over to Rabbit Valley to the McDonald Canyon Trailhead. It takes about 20 minutes, and the road is nowhere near as bad as the road to the Rattlesnake Arches Trailhead. Then back out to check out the Jourflas Campground. It’s been enlarged since we were here last, about 6 year ago. It’s open with hardly any trees. Had we stayed here, instead of Highline, it would have been cold and windy. There is an old 2-track that starts in the campground. This is the road we hiked down on our previous visit to MacDonald Canyon.
Next, we head east to check out the undeveloped campsites. Most are right on the road. There were a few to drive into and be away from the road but we did not check these out.
Then we head back to camp. Pizza is on tonight’s menu, which is a bit hit! Lori brought a couple of those premade salad kits which were very good. I will have to give those a try on a camping outing.
We crawl into the tent. Dogs bark, owls hoot but no cows mooing.
Wednesday, 17 November 2021
Today’s destination is McDonald Canyon, which is a nice hike but non-eventful. There is a deep slot that we bypass by following a cairned route though I do not remember this bypass from previous times; could be that the canyon has washed down some over the years. The alcove at the bottom has 2 pictographs. We never do find the 3rd which I think I have a photo of from a previous visit. It could be that we needed to walk up to that slot and investigate that area.
Monday, 15 November 2021
Today is the one and only long outing day. Our destination is Rattlesnake Arches via the high trail.
Years ago, the first time we paddled the Ruby Horsethief section of the Colorado River starting at Loma, we camped at the mouth of Rattlesnake Canyon and attempted to hike up to the arches. We ran out of time. Another time, Gary and I attempted to backpack to the arches from Pollack Bench, but it was a really hard hike with lots of exposure and we were carrying all our water. I did not last long and we had to turn back and ended up only spending one night out.
There is a four-wheel drive road that goes to the upper trailhead for Rattlesnake Arches. The distance is about 15 miles or so from start to finish. It starts as the “Black Ridge Road”, about 10 miles up the main Colorado Monument Road via the entrance south of Fruita on CO 340. Black Ridge Road is a turn-off on the west side of the road and is well marked. We take it. It points the way to the Rattlesnake Arches ‘upper’ and ‘lower’ roads.
According to the description, the lower road is open August 15th – February 15th. And the upper is open April 15th – August 14th. The lower road is about 1 ½ miles longer than the upper.
We take another spur, not too bad, but also not an all-weather road. After 5 miles or so, we dead-end into another road with points to both the ‘upper’ and the ‘lower’ road. We take the lower. The first couple of miles are nice all-weather gravel. I expect this is a teaser and do not expect it to last long. It is a teaser and after a couple of miles, there is another fork. The nice all-weather gravel fork on the right continues to an array of radio & communications towers.
We go left, passing a gate with a sign indicating this is the lower road. It twists almost immediately downhill and is rugged. But the description says it is a high-clearance road.
We persevere. Wes is in the lead and waits for us as we go along. The road is not bad in some places but quite rough in others. It takes at least an hour but finally we are at the junction of the ‘upper’ road. The Rattlesnake Arches trailhead is further down the road to the right. There is a Subaru parked here. We turn right and continue.
Then the fun really begins! This section is only suppose to be 3 km, just under 2 miles but it is twice as rough. About ½ mile from the trailhead there is a steep, rocky section. We do not see the bypass and pull off and park, pack up and head downhill. It takes less than 10 minutes to get to the trailhead.
The view is amazing, but we do not see our destination arches. We head down what feels like a very steep trail, but it soon turns and flattens out. We can peek into Rattlesnake Canyon but still, no arches to be seen.
The trail is well defined and soon we are at the junction for the upper and lower trail. We take the upper. Still no arches come into view.
After a bit longer, I turn back as it seems like I am going slow and slowing down with each step. The others continue.
I head back. Hiking back up to the trailhead and the truck is not the ordeal I imagined so that is good. After an hour or so, everyone else has returned. They do not see all the arches. Next time we need to take the lower trail. Gary is already interested in coming back.
It takes about 75 minutes to drive back out to the main road.
On the way back, we stop at City Market for charcoal. Steak & Ale pot pies are tonight’s supper along with Gary’s pie. Ymmm-ymmm.
We crawl into the tent. The dogs bark, the owls hoot but I do not think the cows were mooing.
Thursday, 18 November 2021
As promised, it got quite cold overnight. We are packing up and leaving this morning but take out time getting up. By noon we are heading away.
We get off the I-70 at the Cameo Exit and drive north to The Little Bookcliffs and Wild Horse Preserve following directions I printed off from a website. We find the trailhead, get out and start hiking. The trail is well-defined, goes up to a saddle and down the other side where the trail is narrow and feels really exposed. We do see a half dozen horses, which I attempt to photograph.
I dread the return trip since the trail is narrow, rough and exposed but all goes well. Going uphill on this kind of trail is always easier then downhill.
We saw a herd of mountain sheep that are still there on the way out and we stop and take photos. It will be interesting to see the results of either the horses or sheep.
Next stop is Glenwood Springs. We check into the motel, find our room and head to the pool for a soak. What a treat and instant relief on my knee.
A cushy end to yet another retirement outing.
Friday, 19 November 2021
It is amazing that a night in a warm soft bed along with 2 soaks in the hot springs and breakfast cooked by someone else leads to such a spiritual rejuvenation!
We got home at 4, unloaded, had a drink, then unpacked. Things are now laid out and drying.
A good outing.