Hey all you campers out there, traveling around and having fun in the great outdoors!
I hope that you are out there having a wild and wonderful time an being safe and healthy at the same time.
So this is the camping trip that simply started off one night driving from Aspen to home in in El Jebel and my ex saying hey, how would you like to go up and check out the Ruedi Reservoir and have a BBQ for dinner? https://www.uncovercolorado.com/activities/ruedi-reservoir/
In this edition, I'll show you the photos and tell you the stories of this awesome adventure through just one amazing part of Colordao- Reudi Reservoir up to the peak of Hagerman's Pass.
After spending hours zooming along the entire mountain back and forth on google maps to identify the landmarks in these photos- I thought to myself...there's got to be a better way.
Wouldn't it be nice if I actually wrote on the back of them like mum used to do. So I decided to check and nearly fell over, cause there you go, there it all is in ink. I do suprise myself sometimes...
Now don't forget that these are photos taken by an old Automatic (I think Kodak) camera on 35mm film back in 1998 as as such, printed on paper which has been detoriating, so I have spent quite a few hours scanning and putting these through photoshop to rub out the scratches, bump up the saturation and play with a few other tools to make them look so much better- just like they were in real life- or as close as I could anyway. And I'm not that good on photoshop, so please forgive the look...
But this is for you as much as me, as this is one of the most majestic trails that you will ever see and I am so privileged to have been able to see it and have these photos of a reminder of an extraordinary time far too long ago and one that won't be coming around again for me- probably...😞
Anyway, LET'S GO CAMPING...! 😃😃😃😃
And it was definitely a wonderful drive up there with such breathtaking scenery as we drove from the valley, slowing winding our way up, ascending up into the mountains.
With full intentions of just stopping at Reudi Reservoir for a couple of hours to cook that BBQ for dinner- we kinda missed it....but I got this beautiful sunset shot...
I really don't know what happened either. I just remember driving along the perimetre of the Reservoir and seeing a gate and just beyond that gate an old abandoned rail road track going off into the bush in the distance.
Next minute we were though that gate and into another universe it seemed.
As as we drove on up into the incredible mountains....taking in the breathtaking scenery, we found somewhere to stop and set up camp for the night.
(Unfortunately I am missing SOOOO many packets of photos of this trip...)
We kept heading East, I think really having no idea where we were going- not really knowing even if the road kept going to somewhere, but there was a road- if you could call it that...I know I didn't.
And this is how our blue van, nicknamed The Girl, got her official name- Twinkletoes....
Because I called it the old dirt track and it was, old and as rough as guts. Narrow, potholes, big boulders, loose gravel, corrugations, streams running across it, steep drop off on each side.
You name it, that road has it....and according to all of the website that's I've been on in the past couple of days...they still call it....
Hagerman Pass, a beautiful but not an easy drive in Colorado...
Expect a rough road surface; mud and sand are possible but will be easily passable. The road has occasionally been blocked by fallen trees. Do not try this unless you have 4x4, many drivers have gotten stuck heading up to the trailhead. 2WD vehicles are not able to reach the summit, due to rocky terrain and multiple stream crossings.
https://www.dangerousroads.org/north-america/usa/938-hagerman-pass-usa.html
But we had a van full of fuel, water and and esky full of food...(no clothes though. I think we only had 1 or 2 pairs of clothes each...) but everything else we needed was in the van anyway (except for the clothes...lol...and sooo lucky it was summer and I all needed was a pair of shorts and singlet anyway...)
But it was all so worth the effort when we were able to checkout such stunning places like Ivanhoe Lake with it stunning array of wildflowers and gorgeous lake down the bottom.
https://www.uncovercolorado.com/activities/ivanhoe-lake/
Which reminds me of this absolutely magical looking meadow chokkablok full of a massive variety of colourful wildflowers on a downhill slope from the road that we were driving on somewhere between Reudi Res and Hagerman's Pass and what struck me as very unique was the fact that on the topside of the road was a big house back in amongst the trees in the distance- which I thought was totally bizarre being right out there in the middle of nowhere...
It had NOTHING to do with the storybook style MASSIVE red mushrooms dotted with white spots on top that were growing alongside the edge of the road...😁
https://www.uncovercolorado.com/wild-mushrooms-in-colorado/
We got home 3 about months and about 7 states later after passing the top of the stunning Hagerman Pass and that's we're I saw another completely stunning and random sight...which is a story for the next edition of this amazing camping trip.
https://vymaps.com/US/Hagerman-Pass-T15089408/
Although I don't think I wrote on these at that time cause I have noticed that some of them say Aug and other say Sept, so I think I wrote on them in retrospect and got a little confused...but either way- I'm pretty sure we left late August and got to Leadville early September....
Mind you, I did really enjoyed the 'driving' along google maps though and checking out a multitude of websites...and seeing it all 23yrs later...
And I wholeheartedly recommend you check these website out so you can plan your journey- which as much as a spontaneous journey is great, planned ones are sometimes better cause then you know where you can go, what you can see and do rather than just winging it and sometimes missing out on some of the best spots- as I know that we did. But still....A great time was had by all....😃
https://www.aspentrailfinder.com/hagerman-pass-road/
https://www.aspentrailfinder.com/hell-gate/
https://www.aspentrailfinder.com/sellar-meadow/
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Well, thank you all for reading and putting up with my rambling tonight and if you did make it this far, you are absolute champions!
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And unless otherwise stated- ALL photographs, are all (definitely) my originals taken by me sometime in the past few decades or so somewhere in my travels and as such, ofcourse they are subject to all international IP and copyright laws and I may have already used them for my own commercial purposes here https://www.redbubble.com/people/CHOCOLATESCORPI/shop And here https://fineartamerica.com/art/chocolatescorpi, So please ask first if you want to use any of them as we wouldn't want you getting into trouble. Thank you 😊
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