Southern Colorado
Days 10, 11, 12
As one drives into western Kansas and eastern Colorado, the signs of civilization become few and far between. We drove a main road into Colorado, US Route 50, but took the 70-mile, Colorado Route 10 to meet up with the southern road through Colorado. For over an hour we drove without seeing another town, not even an intersecting road. We only saw the occasional watering hole for cattle and the fences to keep them in.
We had an adventure driving across the prairie of Kansas and Colorado. A large bumble bee flew in the car and smacked into Yuri, awakening later to sting him on the arm. We were also stuck behind a large, open-topped tractor trailer overflowing with dead cows, their upright legs bouncing up and down as the truck motored down the highway. Be glad you weren’t there to smell it.
Colorado Prairie
Colorado prairie.
Prairie road in Colorado.
Yuri posing beside the scrubby Colorado landscape.
Yuri with a cactus in Colorado.
Great Sand Dunes
Campground near the sand dunes.
Our campground in the morning.
Great Sand Dunes in Colorado.
Yuri at the Great Sand Dunes.
Water runs beside the Great Sand Dunes.
Wolf Creek Pass
Along Route 160 beside the Southern Fork of the Rio Grande.
Road to Wolf Creek Pass.
Valley below Wolf Creek Pass.
Yuri, showing off his bee sting.
Wolf Creek Pass panorama with Yuri.
Uncompahgre Gorge
Me, and my sunburn, alongside the road in Colorado.
View along Route 550 in Colorado.
Red Mountain with the switchbacks on US 550 near sunset.
Yuri in downtown Ouray.
Camp hell, a family campground.
Road to Utah
Mountain view along Colorado Route 62.
Me along the road headed to Utah.
Red sandstone begins to appear along the San Miguel River in Colorado.
San Miguel River in western Colorado.
Paradox Valley in Colorado.
Route 90 through the Paradox Valley, close to the Utah border.
Climbing out of the Paradox Valley.