Motorhome Makes it Over 11,000 Foot Pass

At Flagler Reservoir and State Wildlife Area, Flagler, CO

Colorado has some high passes…some very high passes.  We had three choices before us…go through the National Park, which has an elevation of 12,183 feet, go through Berthoud Pass on US-40, which has an elevation of 11,307 feet, or head west on US-40, south on highway 9, and then travel east on I-70 with an elevation of 11,158 feet, and is 40+ miles longer than the Berthoud Pass route along US-40.  Going through the National Park was out immediately…going up 12,000 feet on a two lane road, and then going through Estes Park, Boulder, etc…just was not going to happen.  Going over Berthoud Pass, on a two lane road…well, it was doable, but just not the wise thing to do in my opinion.  So we took the longer route through Silverthorne, which is located where highway 9 and I-70 meet.  Once on I-70, we had 10 miles of incline…going as slow as 30 mph at times, but no real curves to negotiate, and three lanes of Interstate roadway.  Just put it in 2nd gear, and slowly made the climb up and up and up…and then into the Eisenhower Tunnel, where a slight decline starts, and then a near constant decline all the way into Denver.

   

   

Fall was definitely arriving fast at Lake Granby.  On Monday we went into town to do a bit of grocery shopping to hold us over until we reach the Kansas City area, and we both noted the colors on the trees which we had not noticed when we arrived two weeks ago.  We had a few nights down in the 30s while we were there, and a month from now the highs will be in the 50’s, lows in the 20’s.  It was time to move on regardless…and Sunset Point will shut down before the end of the month, although a few of the parks do have a few camping spots available during the winter, mainly for the hard core hunters and fishing fanatics. 

A small portion of today’s travel was along US-40, going over the same ground that we took to get to Lake Granby.  Just west of Hot Sulphur Springs, is Byers Canyon, a short gorge cut out by the Colorado River.  Told Marcia that when we left Lake Granby, she would be in a better position to take some pics…and she got some good ones. 

    

The rock formations along the walls of the canyon are wonderful, now if only we could have had a train going along the tracks which run on the other side of the Colorado River from the roadway….

Goodbye US-40, and the great Colorado River.

Between US-40 and I-70 along highway 9 is the Green Mountain Reservoir.  In previous posts about Lake Granby I mentioned the tunnel that takes water from the western slopes and moves it to the eastern slopes where 80% of Coloradans live.  Well, Green Mountain Reservoir was completed before all of the other reservoirs that help divert the water from the west to the east because environmentally minded folks wanted to be sure that the water was replaced that was taken away.  This time of year, the water level in the lake is very low due to this diversion.  It has a capacity of 153,000 acre feet.

 

  

Going the route we did, we entered highway 9 at Kremmling Colorado, elevation of 7,300 feet…and exited onto I-70 at Silverthorne Colorado, elevation 9,000 feet.  In between, besides the Green Mountain Reservoir, is some fine ranch lands, and the highway department has provided large fences with crossovers above and below the highway for any wildlife that needs to cross.

Soon we were in Denver…

And once through Denver, and the lighter than expected traffic, and a quick stop for the dogs to use the plush green grass, something they had not seen for awhile, we were headed east along a fairly straight, fairly level I-70, and I finally was able to use cruise control.

After another stop in Limon for gas and propane (those 30-40 degree nights tend to eat up the propane even when you have the thermometer set to 63 degrees), we got closer to our destination…Flagler Colorado.  Just a dozen miles away, and low and behold…a storm.  Thank goodness there was a rest area just down the road from when this picture was taken, where we sat out the storm for about an hour.

  

Weren’t we surprised to see a Pink Caddy up in the air at our exit…right in front of I-70 Diner, an old Kroll's Diner out of North Dakota.  The owner bought it, shipped it down on 6 semis, and after they acquired the land, had it open within two months.  600 people came to eat on opening day, July 4, 2007.

   

I was looking for a place to stay near the border of Colorado and Kansas.  Came across Flagler State Recreation Area on Google Maps, and found that it’s real name is “Flagler Reservoir State Wildlife Area “, and one can camp here for free.  We took a chance, and no one else was around other than a car or two checking it out.  The lake is fairly dry this time of year, and we have seen nor heard from any animals (outside of Skruffy and Bubba).

As dusk neared, this little trailer pulled by a car went around to the other side of the lake, then came back and parked way down from us.  Other than a farmer or two driving by, and a natural gas truck making a delivery, we have not seen anyone else.

A panoramic view of the sun going down behind another thunder storm.  We have not had rain as of 8:00 pm, although there was a storm warning about 20 east of us, but that expired.

This is what it looked like to the east…warning said there was hail, and the storm was not moving…I guess it played itself out.  We have seen some flashes of thunder, but I think everything is settling down now.  Tomorrow we have our eyes set on a Cracker Barrel.  Sisters Sandy and Patti tried to take Mom and Dad out to the brand new Cracker Barrel in Sacramento for Sandy’s birthday last week…the wait was going to be at least 90 minutes so they went somewhere else.  I don’t think we will be having that problem…I am just hoping we get to stay the night.