A Legendary Start to Our Month in Colorado

The transition from New Mexico to Colorado on highway 25 is not subtle. After driving across miles and miles of wide open plains, moments before entering Colorado you rise into the mountains and are enveloped in a forest of green as far as the eye can see. Colorado, how we love you!

Settled at Trinidad Lake State Park for a few nights, our first excursion was a driving tour: the Scenic Highway of Legends. We happen to be hot on the heels of our friends Steve and Mona Liza and you can read Mona Liza's story of their drive, just a week before ours, here.

The southern end of the Highway of Legends happens to be right at the entrance to our campground, so we headed North towards the snowy peaks intending to loop back on highway 25, a round trip of about 120 miles.

This highway was the first scenic byway in Colorado and it is a beauty. I just wish the state would put in more scenic view turnouts so you can really stop and enjoy the majesty all around you. Often, the only place to stop was right underneath a massive rock formation, but nowhere to stop to admire it in its entirety from a distance.

Coke ovens outside of Cokedale, CO.

Cokedale was a booming coal and coke producing town for 40 years (till WWII).
Large piles of coke byproduct (the big black pile above) can be seen along the Southern portion of the Highway of Legends.

The snowy peaks of the Sangre de Cristo Range of the Rocky Mountains provide a gorgeous backdrop
to the small towns lining the Purgatoire River.

We drove a couple of miles up the road to the Bosque Del Oso State Wildlife Area
and saw a new looking beaver dam on the South fork of the Purgatoire River.

The House on the Bridge.
The bridge was part of the original road from Trinidad to Stonewall.
After the road was rerouted in 1918 the land owner built a house on the bridge.

Can you imagine being in that house during a flood?!

The tiny town of Stonewall is named after the massive Dakota Sandstone walls that traverse the area from North to South.
Here, a sandstone wall juts out of the ground, providing an impressive backdrop for an old cabin.

The Devil's Stairstep is a dike formed between 25 and 27 million years ago.
We were excited to see a group of Big Horn Sheep along the dike...

There were at least eight sheep hanging out on the hillside, here are three.

What do you think he is saying???

Another view of Devil's Stairsteps.

The valley we drove through near Devil's Stairstep was gorgeous!

Looking back at Devil's Stairstep marching across the hillside on the left.

Profile Rock.

The Spanish Peaks look surreal behind Profile Rock.

Leaving the Highway of Legends and heading East on hwy 160, our drive brought us to Lathrop State Park in time for lunch and a hike. Lathrop has two lakes, a couple of trails, 103 campsites and looks like a fantastic place to stay. The Spanish Peaks dominate the view in these parts and should be visible at every campsite. We hiked the 2.5 mile Hogback Trail, which took us up on a ridge and offered glorious views.

The Spanish Peaks as seen across Martin Lake at Lathrop State Park.

Granite boulders near Pinon Campground at Lathrop SP.

Atop Hogback Ridge.

The view from Hogback Ridge was expansive.
The lakes in the foreground are in Lathrop State Park.

View of the campground from Hogback Ridge. The park was pretty full on a Saturday.

Cooling his belly in the shade?

The last stop on our loop drive was Dodgeton Creek Brewing just North of Trinidad, CO. This is a young brewery, opened late 2014, and the beers need some refining, but we found the darker brews (milk stout, porter) to be the best of the bunch (we tried them all in their 10 beer flight). Best of all a local was there with his 9 week old Jack Russell puppy...I was in heaven!

Craft beer and a puppy...does it get any better than this?!

Black and White Photo Challenge Day Four. Today's photos come from an excursion to the Fossil Ridge Wilderness outside of Gunnison, CO in 2013. These old buildings set among an aspen grove were interesting in color but perhaps even more intriguing in black and white.

Today I invite Gay of Good Times Rollin to take the challenge! Gay and Joe and their four pups have been on the road for almost four years and Gay is an amazing photographer, check out her blog!

The only rules of the challenge are:

1. On five consecutive days create a post using a recent or past photograph in black and white.

2. Invite another blogging friend each day to join the challenge.

Snakes! and Day Three of the Photo Challenge

Las Vegas, NM was our last stop in the "Land of Enchantment". This small city sits in the shadow of the Sangre de Cristo mountains to the West and on the edge of the Great Plains to the East. We spent two nights at Storrie Lake State Park, just North of town, and managed to pack quite a lot into our short stay.

Las Vegas was established in 1835 when a group of settlers received a land grant from the Mexican government. Those settlers laid out the town in the traditional Spanish Colonial style with a central plaza. When the railroad came to town in 1880, the railroad company established a separate New Town one mile East of the plaza. Though the towns eventually merged, separate school districts still exist and locals still talk of the town feeling divided.

The central plaza of West Las Vegas.

There are lots of historical buildings in Las Vegas.
The Plaza Hotel has been in several movies.

Love the intricate details!

At the Old Town Drafthouse you can drink beer brewed in Las Vegas, NM!

Just South of town is Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge, it's a stop on the Central Flyway for migrating birds. Fall and Winter is the best time for bird watching, so with very few birds on hand we were happy to find the Gallinas Nature Trail. This short trail takes you across an expanse of grassland and into a beautiful rocky canyon full of ponderosa, juniper and pinion pine.

From the trail head we can just see the rocky walls of the canyon we'll drop in to.

On the way we saw our first snake, a bull snake, non venomous.

Approaching the canyon the plains abruptly end.

The red rock ruins of a stone cabin sit atop the canyon edge.
Below the rim old stone walls are remnants of cattle ranching in the 1920's

The landscape changed dramatically when we dropped into the canyon,
small springs provide a welcoming habitat.

Bald Eagles nest in the craggy rock walls of this canyon in the winter.

Returning to the trail head we came upon another bull snake!

Looking across the plains towards Las Vegas, Hermit Peak is the double humped mountain just right of center.
That is a hike we'd like to do next time we're in the area.

Here's another look at Hermit Peak.

After our hike we drove a few miles West of Las Vegas to the tiny hamlet of Montezuma. In the 1880's the railroad built a spur line and a castle to capitalize on the natural hot springs located here, creating a luxury resort destination.

Today the former castle (the third one, the first two burned down) and 100 surrounding acres belong to United World Colleges. The castle was restored in 2000 and can be toured during the school year on Saturdays. The hot springs are accessible from the highway and are free and open to the public; the area is policed by the college, who own the property.

A variety of hot spring fed pools dot the banks of Gallinas Creek.

Gallinas Creek.

Montezuma Castle from the hot springs.

Possibly an old power plant along Gallinas Creek.

Montezuma Castle.

Back at Storrie Lake we took an afternoon walk with the intention of circling the lake. Clouds were building, maybe we'd get a shower...the lake could use more water!

Fishing is popular here because you can drive right to the water.
Someone had dropped off a covered wagon on the shore, I think it looks more appropriate than the cars!

The bridge over the creek entering the lake was dilapidated and impassable, thwarting our desire to circle the lake.

But a trail continued up the creek, and what a creek it turned out to be!
We learned later this is a man made route using water diverted from Gallinas Creek to supply Storrie Lake

The THIRD bull snake of the day!

This guy was quite unhappy that we wanted to walk past him!

The upper end of the water channel. A fence kept us from continuing.

Storrie Lake State Park was a peaceful place to spend two nights. Half the sites are water/electric, half are dry. During our stay the water was still off for the winter and the dump station was closed as well. We had good Verizon signal.

Site 11 at Storrie Lake.

Today is Day Three of the Black and White Photo Challenge and today's photo is actually current! This is a second stone cabin that we saw on our walk at Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge.

Next up: Colorado!