Last Days in Colorado and Moving on to Utah

 

We spent our last couple days in the forest near Mancos, CO hiking up Madden Peak Road and biking on the old railroad grade. The weather was pleasant and the fall colors outstanding.

The old railroad grade road made for a very nice bike ride since there isn’t a lot of elevation change.

One day we drove several miles up Madden Peak Road so we could hike at a higher elevation. Debbie drove her own car with her two dogs and we parked when the road got too rough for her low clearance car.

She let Rupert and Elliot off leash since there was no traffic and no one else around, and they had a blast running through the woods, although Rupert kept trying to chase these cows.

We stopped  to eat a snack and head on back down the road when Elliot came running out of the trees transformed from blond to brown. Unfortunately for Debbie his entire back was covered in cow manure. When we got back to the cars she wrapped him up in a blanket and held him in her lap on the drive home.  We were so glad we took separate cars! It happened to be her birthday, and we got a good laugh out of the fact that she had to spend part of it cleaning up the mess. He was so happy with himself it was hard to get mad at him, though. Good thing he’s so cute!

It was time for shopping and laundry again, so we decided to spend a night at the Walmart in Cortez, CO to get our chores done. And Debbie and I both ended up getting our hair cut since there was a Great Clips within walking distance. Although we didn’t finish up until almost 6pm, Jim and I decided to take advantage of his Silver Sneakers membership again and check out the Cortez Recreation Center. Free for him, $4 for me. It wasn’t quite as nice in the one in Durango but we got in a good workout, showered, and grabbed a Domino’s pizza on the way home. Those kind of days are always tiring, but even with a little medicinal help I barely got any sleep in the noisy, bright-as-daylight parking lot. And there were some sketchy looking people hanging out there. It’s not a place we would intentionally stay again, although it served it’s purpose. I feel much safer parked out in the middle of nowhere than in a busy parking lot like that.

The next morning it was on to Utah, with a stop at the free city of Cortez RV dump. They also have a coin operated potable water station which cost us $1.00 to fill our tank. We made one last stop at Country Gas to top off propane and before we knew it Colorado was in our rearview mirror and the red rocks of Utah appeared in front of us.

Our home for who knows how long is a beautiful spot off Needles Overlook Road about 35 miles south of Moab.

Quite a view.

Yesterday we took a hike into a nearby canyon. No trails, just walk wherever you choose and scramble up and down rocks. Our favorite kind of hiking.

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Jim’s jacket fell out of his pack somewhere but he didn’t realize it until we got home. It may be down where he took this photo, as Debbie and I couldn’t figure out how he got down there. We’ll have to go back and look for it another day.

 

Suzanne joined us yesterday afternoon, and last evening we took a drive out to the Needles Overlook, which gives you views into the vast Needles District of Canyonlands National Park. It wasn’t the best sunset due to a storm forming to the west, but still worth seeing.

Mark and Bobbie and Laurelee should be joining us in the next few days. Looks like there will be lots more red rock hiking coming up over the next month.