July 23, 2026

We were going to go camping later this week again, but there have been storms each afternoon.  Praise the Lord!  They have pretty much knocked down the forest fires that were all around us.  We've received a half inch of rain this week.  We have also gotten a bit of break from the nonstop heat.  But, it's supposedly headed back beginning tomorrow.  Bummer.  Joann's sciatica is doing much better and she can ride more now.  So, we headed up to Crested Butte.  It had been quite some time since we'd been there.  We stopped in Gunnison at Gene Taylors.  It was partly cloudy and not hot at all in Crested Butte.  We walked the whole Elk Avenue and went in a couple shops.  There sure are a lot of strange people up there.  After leaving the zoo of town we turned off at South Crested Butte and headed up Cement Creek.  It was really crowded up there too.  We only went to the campground and turned around.  We then took the Jack's Cabin Cutoff over to the Taylor River and headed up Spring Creek.  Again - lots of people.  It was surprisingly dusty up there.  In fact it was so powdery it was obvious it hadn't rained up there at all in these recent storms.  After going over the pass an hitting the Taylor Park road we were following a downpour.  It was so cool and smelled so fresh and not dusty...it was fantastic...especially since the road was crawling with motorcycles, atv's and side by sides.  There were hundreds of RV's all over the place.  What a place to camp - no peace at all - constant drone of motors.  That's not my idea at all of basking in the quiet of nature.  We stopped at the cafe at Taylor Park hoping to get another great hamburger and bacon cheese curds like last time.  It has new owners now and nothing was the same.  Very blah and yet expensive.  We won't stop there again.  It was a fun day - way too many people, but that's the new normal in Colorado unfortunately.

The Collegiate Range

 July 20, 2026

Today we went camping on the Uncompahgre....kind of.  It was a beautiful day as we set up camp on the Payne Mesa Road.  We camped in the same spot we'd camped at in 2017 when our air mattress went flat soon after going to bed.  We couldn't sleep so sat up by the campfire.  But, that didn't work due to mosquitoes so we got in the truck and finished the night.  After supper and setting up on this trip we headed up the road to Columbine and then wandered down into Tabeguache.  We saw a couple deer.  It was raining and lots of lightning over by Naturita.  On the way back to camp we noticed the sky getting dark.  Lately it's been unusual as the storms have been coming from the east and not the usual southwest.  As we got to camp the wind was blowing and it was raining lightly.  We went to bed and couldn't sleep at all due to the wind and now lightning.  With large aspen trees looming over head there were thoughts that this wasn't safe.  It seemed it was going to last all night.  So, instead of sitting in the 4Runner all night, we just headed home.  On the way the lightning behind us was nonstop over where our camp was.  We were sure we'd hear of new forest fires the next morning.  We got to bed at home around 11:30.  The next morning we headed back up - hoping we'd have a camp left...not stolen or destroyed by the storm.  Surprisingly, it was all in tact and it appeared it had only rained lightly.  And, a couple new fires were started by the storm, but were quickly extinguished.  It was quite the adventure and we were thankful the Lord had protected us before we got out of there.

Abajo Mtns in the background.  The Babylon Fire burned over 100,000 acres there.

 July 19, 2026

After church today and lunch at Mickey D’s we decided to skip the heat again. We went up on the Uncompahgre and headed down Payne Mesa. On the divide it was quite busy and dusty. The dust was a surprise as the last few afternoons it’s been looking very stormy up there. Down Payne we met one SxS. It was quiet and peaceful. We sat for an hour or so under a big ponderosa pine tha was probably 350 years old or more. We didn’t want to come down, but decided that we are going back tomorrow for an overnight camping trip. It’s supposed to be in the upper nineties the next few days and we are OVER this heat. Yesterday was the first day we’ve seen the San Juans clearly since the Gold Mountain Fire started. Also last night was the first it’s not been choking smoke. We even put cellophane wrap ever our master bath vent as the smoke has been filling the bathroom every night. Praise the Lord. It seems the rain up there is taming that fire. Panasonic G97

 July 16, 2026

Today on a whim to get out of the heat and smoke we headed up to Last Dollar Road. It was quite busy up there but lots cooler than here - like 25 degrees cooler. We drive to the top and turned around as we didn’t want any part of the Telluride zoo and as little of that highway as possible. At the top we could see it was pouring rain to the south. We got sprinkled on a bit. It was a grand way to beat this relentless heat for a bit. Panasonic G97. 

House in the movie True Grit

 July 8, 2026

Today we took off to Salida to escape the heat and smoke.  We went over Cottonwood Pass on the way over there.  It was beautiful, but lots of traffic as usual.  There is nowhere in Colorado anymore where there is not lots of traffic.  Anyway, we are staying at the Silver Ridge Motel.  We stayed there on an anniversary trip a few years ago and enjoyed it.  Two years ago when we were here we stayed at the Loyal Duke next door.  Both are nice.  We definitely made the right choice on coming over here.  No smoke and 10-20 degrees cooler.  We roamed around town this afternoon and made the usual thrift store stops.  I got a couple shirts and Joann got one.  Very reasonable and like new stuff.  This evening we ate supper at Highway 50 Burger.  We then went down to the Frantz Lake State Wildlife area.  It was a beautiful evening and stunning sunset down there.  Surprisingly, there were very few people and no mosquitoes.  We hiked around one of the lakes and then headed back to the motel.

July 9, 2026

Today we had breakfast at the motel.  It was a very good free breakfast...biscuits and gravy, sausage, eggs, pancakes, waffles, and cereal if you wanted.  Then we headed down to Royal Gorge.  Joann had never been there and I hadn't been there since I was a kid.  It had changed a lot.  We took the gondola across the gorge and then walked around to the bridge and walked back to the main building.  It was pretty hot.  There really weren't that many people there - which surprised us.  On the way back we took a detour through the mountains on dirt roads and went to Westcliffe and DeWeese Reservoir.  It was blowing hard at the lake so we didn't get out.  We saw a few pelicans and lots of geese.  We then headed back to Salida and went to the Stone Bridge State area.  It was very nice and shady.  We walked by the river on the trails and even got sprinkled with rain a couple times.  Again, nice and cool and no mosquitoes.  An added plus - no people.  Then we headed over to Hecla Junction in the Brown's Canyon National Monument.  We hiked on a trail by the river a couple miles.  We went to the end of the trail at Siedel's Suckhole Rapids.  We only saw two people on that trail.  It was later in the evening, and cloudy so it was not to hot and not too cool. We had supper at a place in Poncha Springs - turkey sandwich and fries...it was good!  It was a wonderful day the Lord blessed us with!

July 10, 2026

Today we headed over toward Buena Vista and went up the road past Clearcreek Reservoir.  Sadly, it was nearly dry.  We then went on up the road toward Vicksburg.  We saw a group of mountain sheep alongside the road climbing on the hillside.  There were several little ones in the bunch.  It was fun to watch them climb the rocks.  We then headed on up toward Vicksburg, but had forgotten how rough that road is and how busy it is.  We decided to turn around as we'd seen all that before.  We then went on over to Twin Lakes.  It also was very busy.  So, we decided to head over Weston Pass.  It was busy too, but the road is rough enough that people can't go too fast.  Lots of people just driving and camping up there.  We saw a cow moose and her calf.  Others were going so fast they didn't even see them.  If you look closely at the cow moose you can see a stick that is stuck in her neck on the left side.  It didn't seem to be bothering her.  Instead of going into Fairplay, we cutoff over to Hwy 285.  What a zoo that road was back to Buena Vista.  People in a major hurry and lots of them.  It was not a fun drive on that road at all.  We then went into town to get some pizza.  We ended up at a pizza place down by the river.  It had good ratings - but, the pizza was probably the worst we've had.  We bought three pieces and ended up giving one of the pieces to a hippy guy sitting next to us listening to the live music.  When I asked him if he wanted it, he said yes but asked that we remove the pepperoni.  He was a vegetarian.  I asked if he minded if we pulled it off with our fingers as we didn't have any forks.  He happily said it was no problem as he was a hippy.  haha  Nikon Z50II, Iphone15 Pro and Panasonic G97

 July 5, 2026

Another blessed day at church today. It’s very warm still and very smokey. The Ferris, Gold Mountain, and Babylon fires are still raging. And they all send smoke our way. This afternoon we decided to ride over into Sanborn. We saw a few elk and a couple deer. Two calves were in the road and their mothers were across the fence in the fields. We stopped and watched them run up and down the fence. One finally got through but the other didn’t. We finally got tired of waiting and started driving toward him. He took off running up the road and ran about a half mile and finally found an open gate. He was definitely tired after that. Nikon Z50 II

 July 2, 2026

When we got up this morning the smoke was so thick you couldn't see but a few blocks away.  It was burning our throats and noses.  I went with Allen up Dave Wood and just a ways up there it was blue sky and much clearer.  We then went over the divide road to Hwy 90 and then went over to the Hauser Cow Camp road and stopped for lunch.  While we were eating lunch the wind came up and we were quickly engulfed in smoke.  Due to the wind direction, we assumed this smoke was from the Babylon fire in the Abajo Mountains that has exploded up to 80,000 acres.  We drove down the very dusty Hauser road a ways and then came back and headed back home.  When the wind didn't blow up there the flies were nasty.  They weren't biting but were very annoying.  There were lots of campers already up there I assume for the upcoming July 4th weekend.  As we came down the mountain we could see several smaller fires out in front of the Gold Mountain Firs - likely caused by the wind blowing embers out in front.  We got notice while on the road that the P77 road we know and love is under pre-evacuation notice.  They are also closing Ridgway lake to boaters as they will be using scoop planes to get water.  When will this fire mess end?  Please Lord send rain.  Nikon P950

 July 1, 2026

We are being shrouded in smoke and heat, so we decided to try to escape somewhere for the day.  Joann's sciatica is doing better so we took off toward Gunnison.  We branched off onto the Sapinero Cutoff and then went on into Lake City.  We walked around town a bit - it was only 73 and the sky was clear and blue.  We then drove up on Slumgullion Pass and stopped at the viewpoint.  Uncompahgre Peak was clear out to the west and the Gold Mountain Fire was raging behind it.  It was quite the scene - one we wished we didn't have to view.  We then proceeded on up the pass and turned down the road to Deer Lakes and Cebolla.  All the roads were very dusty and we were surprised at the amount of traffic on a weekday.  We only saw a few deer - no moose.  As we went further north we got back into the smoke.  We decided to go to Mickey D's in Gunnison for supper and then came home.  It was a great day to get out on a longer journey again.  We still are pleading with the the Lord for rain.  It's supposed to be over 100 next week and dry.  Panasonic G97