4th of July Camping/ATV

WOW - a 4 day weekend!! Glenn said he could take Friday off and my boss said I could take off Friday morning (we close at noon anyway on holiday weekends!!) So it was pack, pack, pack on Thursday evening after work!!

We even got up at 4:30 to we could head out of here by 5:00 - the camper was all packed - the ATV was all loaded - we were off!!

At our first stop in Buena Vista to fill all the gas cans for the ATV, Glenn forgot to put the gas cap back on the ATV - oops!!! Luckily a baggie and rubber band took care of it for the weekend!! I had forgotten to buy marshmallows (I really think I left mine in Jaime's camper the last time we camped and forgot all about it!!) AND international coffee - darn - the gas station had marshmallows (for a pretty penny of course) but not the coffee - oh well, my own fault!!

We headed over towards Gunnison which meant we had to go over Cottonwood Pass!! Since we're SO DRY in our area, I never thought about the high mountains getting so much snow this past winter but they did!!! Take a look at this picture I took out of the pickup as we're heading up the pass!!

Coming down the other side of Cottonwood Pass (which is gravel by the way) I could see these huge low clouds covering the basin!!

The road was horribly bumpy and dusty to get back to where we were going and we were sure hoping we could find a spot to camp!! I couldn't believe all the campers we saw going in that were already set up for the weekend!! But we DID find a very nice spot in a place called Italian Creek!! It was in the trees with a nice flat spot and the roaring stream (from all the snow run-off) was below us - yet we could hear that stream running like crazy!!!

We quickly set up camp and packed the bags in back of the ATV with our picnic lunch - Glenn said he wanted to take the ATV book on that area AND a huge foldout map that was also of the area so they went in the pack also!!

After heading out on the ATV, I decided I needed my heavier sweatshirt on so we stopped and I went to get it out of the bag and noticed we hadn't zipped it shut when we left - but of course didn't think a thing about it!!

Glenn wanted to head up Taylor Pass - it's a 4WD trail and at the top you can virtually see for miles - we've actually been on the OTHER side of that pass when we camped over by Aspen so we were both excited to see it!! It was rocky - it was steep - and I wasn't impressed at all with the trail - but I hadn't seen anything yet!!

Part of the trail has the stream coming down it which we were aware of - but when we turned the corner to see it, this is what we saw!!!

No, this isn't the stream, this is OUR ROAD!!! Like I said, the runoff from the snow was amazing!! Well, we started up it - it wasn't super deep but it was more than 1/2 way up the tires and you couldn't tell where you were driving over those slippery rocks because it was running SO FAST!!! I finally said we had to turn around as by this time, I'm practically having a heart attack it was so scary!!! I figured the ATV would stall out in that water and then what would we do????

There was a turnoff a little ways back so Glenn reluctantly backed it up and we got out of the water - I was shaking by that time and I'm sure Glenn was too!!! So it was back down the mountain - so much for getting to the top of Taylor Pass!!! And just for your info, we talked to some bikers the next day who told us they weren't even going to TRY going up that pass with all the water!!

We took another route and saw some beautiful scenery!! Glenn decided he needed to look at the map then so we stopped and I went back to get the maps - they weren't there - I was SO upset and figured they must have blown out when we had that bag unzipped!!!

The trail below was a much better trail although it had some rough spots in it!! We stopped to talk to this guy who was working on a small log cabin that he owns - I can't imagine getting to it very often!! We had more water to cross but it wasn't too deep - I always lift my legs up when we go through water to spare the shoes!!!

When we got up to this old mine shaft, we could see 3 other ATV's just sitting there - we decided to go ahead up this MUDDY trail to continue our journey but that's all the further we got - there was a huge snowdrift blocking the trail - probably 3 or 4 feet deep!!! So much for that trail!!!

Just to prove that I DO go with Glenn on these trips, I had him take a picture of me!!

With no fire ban in effect over there, we could have campfires every night and boy those marshmallows tasted good!!!

Oh, I almost forgot - when we got home, I decided to get a coke out of the ice chest - and guess what was in there - yup, the ATV book and the map!! Boy, I must really be losing it........ To be continued............