Colorado Camping Trip: Black Canyon of the Gunnison

We're halfway through our Colorado trip, and I wish we could go right back! There's something about being away and traveling with your family that is so much fun. 

We were staying near Gunnison, Co. and we were about an hour away from the Black Canyon. My grandfather loved going to Colorado, and he always said that the Black Canyon of the Gunnison was his favorite. So, it was pretty cool that my family got to go to a place that my grandfather loved. 

My parents drove over with us, and because of construction it was about an hour drive from the campground. We came in to the south entrance and marked another national park off our list. 

Wow. It really is black.  It's also steep and dangerous! 

There's a river that runs along the bottom of the canyon, and it had to be dammed up, and a tunnel built in order for the city of Montrose to get water. 

There was a great lookout near the visitor center. 

I wish the pictures did it justice, but it does not. 

We visited two canyon's on our trip- Palo Duro, which is very orange, and the Black Canyon.... we really just have to visit the Grand Canyon, and we've probably checked them all of our list. 

The girls brought along their hiking sticks, and we chose a shorter trail that was about a mile long to hike through. 

Our hike was beautiful but it was hot!

There were lots of crystals in the rocks. 

And the flowers along the trails were really pretty. 

After our hike we had lunch, and jumped in the car to cool off and drive around to some of the look out points. 

The Black Canyon is great if you want to hike the upper rim; it's definitely more dangerous if you want to go down in to the canyon, an if you don't hike, then there are a lot of look out spots that are easily driveable. 

Once we finished our drive at the top, we drove down to the bottom of the canyon to see the dam, but fair warning that drive was scary! It was very steep with lots of turns and I was so grateful we weren't pulling our camper.

We drove back to the campsite, had dinner with everyone and stayed up late to watch the stars. I think I counted at least 10 shooting stars that night! 

Camping in Colorado: Adalyn's birthday

After spending time in between Creede, Co and Lake City, Co, we headed to our next stop- Gunnison. 

July 5th was travel day, but it was also Adalyn's birthday!!!!

We woke up and got everything packed and put away. Then we headed out. Driving our trucks and campers through the mountains isn't always easy. Going up is slow, but going down, you have to use your brakes, a lot! 

By the time we reached Lake City, Gee and Papaw needed to let their brakes rest, so we all stopped and hit up a few of the same stores again. I had bought the cutest croteched mountain pillow and after getting it back to the camper, decided I needed at least one more, so I went and grabbed it. 

Then we had ice cream. Again. Because there wasn't much else to do and it was her birthday, so ice cream seemed like a good excuse! 

We passed some time taking birthday pictures! 

And sister got in on some too. 

The girls played at the park, and after an hour or so, all of our brakes were working and we could continue the drive over to Gunnison. 

Gabby was a perfect little road trip campanion. 

We made it to our campground, dumped tanks, filled up with more water, and got settled in. 

Then we loaded up our laundry and headed in to town, which was only about 20 minutes away and spent the next 2 hours doing laundry. 

Thankfully, we made the best of it! 

We had a grocery store run to restock, and it was back to the campsite for fajitas and birthday cake! 

Our campground was near a lake, which was beautiful, and yet again, we didn't have the time to spend the day on the lake. But, all was well! 

Adalyn opened her birthday presents- we bought presents with us from her Pops and Grandma Dee- they gave her an outfit and a huge water bottle for soccer. She also got an ipad from us. 

But y'all she was really excited about that water bottle! 

Sometimes she complains about camping on her birthday, but she's been able to celebrate in lots of cool places and I hope that one day she has found memories of traveling each summer!

 

4th of July in Lake City

Our 4th of July in Colorado was fantastic. It might have been one of my favorite days. We woke up, had breakfast, and then drove about an hour and a half in to Lake City. Okay, here's my one complaint. I want to stay really close to a town, then get up and move to the next town. We sort of stayed in between towns, so the drives were long and it was hard to get up and go do what that town had to offer, but since we went with family, who prefers staying in more outdoorsy- off the grid campgrounds- this is what we had to do. And it was fine. I'd just maybe do it different next time. 

Okay, so we got up and drove to Lake City and our first stop was this gorgeous waterfall just off the highway. Literally you're in the mountains on semi-flat ground, and it's like a canyon just opens up and there's a beautiful waterfall. 

We saw it from the look out, and then we walked right over to the top of it. 

Then we walked further down and looked at the river flowing on the other side. 

Gretchen found some wildflowers and put them in her braid for the day. 

We walked and explored and it was beautiful. A nice quick stop off the road. 

Then we drove in to Lake City, which is the most quintessential Colorado town ever. Part of me says I could live in a town like this, and the other part says only if there's a Target nearby. 

The roads were dirt, the buildings were beautiful colors and I love walking in and out of the shops.

There was also a huge festival going on in their town square/park. We're talking 3 legged races, egg tosses, and so many other fun games that anyone could participate in! Adalyn and Megan tossed an egg, but got out in the 2nd round. 

We also brougth some of our 4th of July bracelets and gifted them to people! That was so much fun! 

We stopped for lunch at an internet cafe, and nothing says the 4th of July like a pulled pork sandwich smothered with cheese, and topped with butery toast.

After lunch, we had ice cream of course! 

And more shopping. You can't tell in the pictures, but there was cottonwood blowing everywhere! Which made all of our allergies go crazy, and it looked like snow! 

The Welte girls on the 4th of July. 

These little flower pots lined the wooden sidewalks, and it just screamed old west, right out of a movie. 

There was also a lake in Lake City, which again, if we were closer to the town and had more days, would have been awesome to explore, and there's a lot of trails and 4x4 rides you can take. 

We made it back to the campground and celebrated the evening with a hot dog roast! 

Since we were in a national forest, fireworks weren't allowed.... we could have gone in to a town to watch them, but we didn't really want to drive that far and stay out that late. But I'd say everyone had a great time roasting their hot dogs. 

I think we also played a big game of Family Feud that night and things got heated! Gee was always on the winning team. 

Then, we took Adalyn's "last night as a 9 year old" picture because the next day was her birthday!!!

Colorado Camping: Side by Side Ride

Yes, it is taken me a sweet forever to recap our Colorado camping trip. I'm blaming an error with my google photos as well as football camp and back to school busyness. There's a lot of catching up to do y'all! 

On the 3rd of July, after our trip to Alamosa, the Sand Dunes, and Creede Co, we woke up super early in the morning through on some horribly mismatched junkie clothes and set out for a side by side ride in the mountains. 

Megan and I were in lots of layers. It was cool in the morning and we figured that as we got higher in the mountains that it would be cool too, but we wanted to be prepared just in case. Also, we were prepared to get really dirty or muddy. 

I have to be honest, this was the day I was looking forward to the least! But, it was also a day that was so much fun and one that ended up being our favorites! 

I also didn't know this either, but the roads were super dusty. When we saw other people on side by side rides the day before, they all had bandanas. And they all looked stupid. But, I ended up buying them last minute and I'm so glad I did because they kept the dust out of our faces. 

We were not even 5 minutes down the road and the views were already stunning. 

Eventually we crossed over a little creek. 

And had more amazing views. 

We stopped here to all catch up in our group together. My cousin had driven up with his girlfriend and his two boys. My brother & sister in law, and neice were with us as well. 

It was also at this point that Megan thought eating a dandelion would be a great idea! She ended up eating 6 while we were out on our drive, and I know dandelions are edible and I just assumed that these would be fine to eat since we were in the mountains and they wouldn't have been sprayed with round up........

More driving and more gorgeous views. There were chipmunks all over up here! 

We eventually found "snow"!

We made it to the continental divide, and look at all of the dandelions!!! 

Eventually the pass we were taking was blocked with snow. We had driven over the range all the way over to Silverton, Co- where we had been on our last Colorado trip. We were maybe 10 minutes away just couldn't get through. So, almost everyone walked across the snow to the other side. 

So the road on this trip was one lane, and once we got to the top we had to back down and turn around, which was terrifying! I was just praying we didn't roll off the road and somehow flip. The guys were all like "we've got this" and later admitted they were kind of scared too! And as we passed people, only one vehicle could actually get through. At one point we had to scoot over so far, we were nudged between aspen trees and once their side by sides got through (about 3 of them) we took the tree down with us as we were getting back on to the road. 

There were also parts that were super steep. At one point, our side by side got stuck, and DJ had to put it in reverse, and my brother was afraid we would back in to him! 

But still the views were just gorgeous. 

And eventually Megan convinced all of the girls to eat a dandelion. Adalyn and Gretchen immediately spit it out. Megan continued to munch away. 

We made it back to camp and spent the rest of the day relaxing. The boys took the side by sides back. We layed in hammocks and read. The girls played in the creek, and eventually Megan said she didn't feel good. At first, we all thought she had altitude sickness... until she threw up. Turns out the dandelions she ate didn't settle well with her at all! Tough mistake to learn when you're boondocking in the woods. 

Later that evening, Gretchen was all excited because she got to use Papaw's torch to light our campfire.