Bob & Cindy's 2009 Travel Web Site
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2009 Colorado Trip - August & September
Los Alamos/Bandelier/Caprock Canyon State Park
Our last day at Rocky Mountain National Park, we went on a 7 mile hike up to a waterfall. The weather started out perfect with cool temps and sunshine but by the time we got up to the waterfall, it was blowing and rainy. Lucky for us we had our parkas and we also found a dry overhang of rock to get under to wait out the storm. The falls were a disappointment but it was a nice hike to finish up our trip. The next morning we woke up to snow and decided to head south in the hope that we could get over the mountain passes. As we drove into the Dillon area and headed up toward Fremont Pass, we ran into an almost total white-out. As the roads got slushy and the temps were falling into the twenties, we decided to take the long way back through the I-70 tunnel back through the outskirts of Denver. Although we got some snow, it was light and the roads were fine.
Whoops! Looks like we overstayed our welcome .. either that or just poor planning on the part of the tour director.
Time to head south out of the campground. Looks like the roads are going to be OK .. we have a couple of high passes to get over.
This is our campground outside of Walsenburg, Colorado. It's a Colorado State Park but also had snow that just finished falling as we pulled in to set up. So we set up the satellite, turned on the heater, and settled in for Monday Night Football.
I would have put a picture of the whiteout we encountered on our way to Fremont Pass but "it's totally white". This is on the way up to the Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70. Beautiful scenery, light snow, and the road was fine.
This is the canyon that is the main area of Bandolier National Mounument, about 15 miles from Los Alamos. It's an area of high mesas and steep and rocky canyons where Native Americans built amazing cities.
Tuesday morning view of the Spanish Mountains from our Walsenburg campground. We packed up and headed on south toward Los Alamos but, as you can see, the snow melted overnight and the roads are fine.
Rooms were built on the south facing side of the canyon and were typically two or three stories high. They also used or widened the holes in the rock face for additional storage or living areas. The small holes in the rock face were used to support timbers that supported additional floors or roofs.
Ruins from one of the areas where Native Americans lived. This was from a time period around 1000 to 1400 AD. Again, no one knows why they left or where they went.
Later in the day we decided to do a 7 mile hike down to a couple of waterfalls and on down to the end of the canyon where the creek runs into the Rio Grande River.
Cindy climbing in to take a look at one of the rooms on the cliff face. Looks like she's getting over her vertical fears .. but looks can sometimes be deceiving!
Waterfall #2. As we got lower in elevation the landscape got drier with much less vegetation .. looking more like typical New Mexico landscape.
Waterfall #1. Lots of steep cliffs on the trail but a cloudy day helped keep the temps down in the low 60's.
The Rio Grande River ... muddy with a lot of water going by. No trees and not exacty what we imagined as a spot to rest in the shade and have a snack.
Looking back up the canyon from the flat area of where the Rio Grande is. I think the dead trees are salt cedars which are being killed to increase water flow. These trees are invasive, crowd out and take over native vegetation, and soak up huge amounts of water. Another misplaced attempt at controlling erosion.
One other thing we did in the area was touring the Los Alamos National Laboratory Museum. This was the primary area where the atomic bomb was developed (The Manhatten Project). The museum is a must-see for the history and explanations of nuclear energy. The National Lab is still in operation and works on a wide variety of projects today, not all of them related to nuclear technology. We had many mixed feelings when we left ... the use or potential use of nuclear weapons, how to store nuclear waste, the incredible pictures of all the bomb testing from 1945 through the early 70's and even the underground testing programs. It's just scary!!!
From our campground, a perfect rainbow to lift our spirits.
Beautiful vistas at Caprock Canyon.
So we decided to come on back to Spicewood but we stopped at Caprock Canyon State Park to do a hike in the canyons. Unfortunately, the weather turned hot (mid to upper 90's .. welcome back to Texas?) and we voted against that plan.
Arriving back in the Austin area, the area was green from recent rains. Totally different from the dry and brown landscape we left in early August. However, the whole area is still in an exceptional drought, lake levels were down another five feet from when we left, and additional water restrictions are sure to be implemented next spring if the lake levels do not rise by significant amounts. We are hopeful for a wet fall and winter to put an end to this problem, but it's going to take some major rains to make it happen.
Thanks for visiting our travel web site .. it was another fun trip to add to our growing list of travel memories.