Megan’s Take Today was a longer travel day as we had about 3.5+ hrs of driving from our campground in Glenwood Springs area to Garden of the Gods RV Resort in Colorado Springs. The highlight of the day was stopping at a small but well-known barite mining claim in a very small town named Hartsel. […]
Day 34 – Maroon Bells Scenic Area and Aspen
Megan’s Take Today we got up about 5 am so that we could be out the door at 6 am, driving 1.5 hours to the Maroon Bells Scenic Area. We had a parking pass for the trailhead, and you have to arrive before 8 am. After that, it’s shuttle bus only. I thought it would […]
Day 33 – Traveling to Glenwood Springs
Megan’s Take Today was more of a low-key travel day. We slept in until about 7:45 am, so we must have really needed the extra sleep. We hiked a fairly easy 1 mile trail on Dinosaur Hill near our campground. It was a well-maintained trail with good views of the surrounding valleys, and there was […]
Day 32 – Colorado National Monument
Megan’s Take We had another busy day in the Grand Junction area today. We started at Colorado National Monument so that we could hike the trails before the heat was too intense. We hiked the rim trail, Otto’s trail, and the coke ovens trail, totaling 2.5-3 miles. The kids must have slept well last night […]
Day 31 – Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
Megan’s Take Today was a busy day, starting with rock hounding for geodes near Whitewater CO. I had a tip for an approximate location on BLM land, so we decided to check it out. The hills were very crumbly shale, and the kids and I weren’t finding much when we started to randomly dig. Phil […]
Day 30 – Traveling to Grand Junction
Megan’s Take Happy Father’s Day! It’s always weird to celebrate holidays on the road because we’re out of routine. In any case, today turned out to be a low-key day. We were supposed to stay in Moab until tomorrow (Monday) morning, but we ended up changing our plans. After 2 days in Arches and 2 […]
Day 29 – Canyonlands National Park Part 2
Megan’s Take Today we went to the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands National Park. We hiked the Grand View Point trail (1.8 miles round trip), and Upheaval Dome trail to the first overlook (0.6 miles round trip). It’s hot here, and after over a week in the heat, I feel like I have […]
Day 28 – Canyonlands National Park Part 1
Megan’s Take Today we drove about an hour and 20 minutes to the south eastern “Needles” section of Canyonlands National Park. It is not commonly visited and was much less crowded. It felt like we were in a more isolated, wilderness area driving out to it. Because of heat, time constraints, and the children’s energy […]
Day 27 – Arches National Park Part 2
Megan’s Take The kids either didn’t get enough sleep last night and/or they were worn out from yesterday’s hike, because they were dragging (especially Emmett). Today’s hikes with the kids, using a combination of feet, stroller, and carrier, were Landscape Arch, Pine Tree Arch, Tunnel Arch, Sand Arch, Skyline Arch, Double Arch, North and South […]
Day 26 – Arches National Park Part 1
Megan’s Take Today was our first day in Arches National Park. We had a timed entry permit for 8 am, but we arrived a half hour early thinking that permits were not needed before 8 am. That was not the case. (Permits required from 7 am – 4 pm.) We waited around until we could […]