Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0

Well, today finds us a little closer to Ft. Collins, a little further down the highway through Pouder Canyon. The mountains are very close on both sides of the road, but I believe that the Rockies are about to become history for me. I had been dreading going over them for so long that to actually be about done with them has become somewhat anti-climatic.

The bugs continue to be non-existent. I just don’t understand why they were so much a bother on the West side of Cameron Pass and no problem at all on the east side. I’m not complaining, but it is a mystery to me. The river continues to cross under the road every so often.  I don’t know how many times I’ve crossed it, but I suspect it has to be at least ten times. The scenery continues to be spectacular, and the road continues to be narrow and windy.

We went through the town of Rustic today and walked by a burned out restaurant. There is another one about a hundred yards away and now they are doubly busy. It’s quite a sight to be walking among these towering hills and come upon a nice upscale, though in a rustic setting, restaurant. We have passed a lot of small primitive campgrounds that dot the road and each of them seems to be busy also. We know we’re getting close to the weekend.

I walked through a short tunnel today and it is carved out of solid rock. While walking through it I looked up and wondered what keeps the rock up there. I didn’t dilly-dally. Tomorrow, I should be walking out of the mountains and into cell phone territory. The pictures below are along Hwy 14.

Miles Covered: 15
Total Miles: 1,305
Money Found: $0.43
Total Found: $40.36

We continued on down the Pouder Canyon on Hwy 14, mountains all around us. We are currently 36 miles from Ft. Collins and should be there by Friday. The Pouder River continues to meander from one side of the road to the other. The river is getting wider and in some places swifter. I’m sure it is getting deeper too. I stuck my hand in it today, and it is definitely cold.

The moose, elk, antelope, and deer have all but disappeared. I’ve noticed a couple of other oddities too: Once I crossed over Cameron Pass and started downhill, the mosquitoes and flies stopped bothering me. And the dead Lodgepole Pines have almost become non-existent. On the West side of the pass the dead trees covered whole mountains. On the east side, they are just here and there. Now this is only where I’m walking along this particular highway. I don’t know about other areas.

Miles Covered: 17
Total Miles: 1,290
Money Found: $0.00
Total Found: $39.93

We passed over Cameron Pass today and started our decent through Poudre Canyon toward Ft. Collins. The Cache La Poudre River flip flops from one side of the road to the other. It is a National Wild and Scenic River and it is constant white water along its path. The river is very full and I was told it is at about 42 degrees. It is a treat to see it as the Indians Native American saw it hundreds of years ago (except for the road).

The weather today was very good with a short shower around 5:00 pm. The pics below are of that moose I saw, some young bulls I tried to get friendly with, and three lonely cowboys herding cows along a far away ridge. It was really neat to see this.

Miles Covered: 17
Total Miles: 1,273
Money Found: $0.00
Total Found: $39.93

Today we finished up the second of the gravel road short cuts. It took us over Owl Mountain and then we hooked up again with Hwy 14. We walked through Gould and past the state park where we spent the weekend. We spent last night along the side of the road just east of Gould. Valda saw some moose and yelled at me to look. They might have been moose, or cows or maybe a couple of St. Bernard’s looking for some wayward skier. They were so far away I couldn’t tell. But she said they were moose, so they were moose.

I want to thank Deb and her crew at the Moose Visitor’s Center for getting us hooked up with the campsite last weekend. I also want to thank Jeremy for the nice note he left me under the rock along the side of the road. Yes, I did find it and it was the first folding money found along the walk. Thanks! 😀

Also thanks to Bucky and Jodi R. of Ft. Collins for their donation to Gateway For Cancer Research. It is much appreciated!

We are moving very nicely through the mountains. We plan on taking a couple of days off and will be visited by Chris and my two brothers, Don and Ron from Indy.

Miles Covered: 18.75
Total Miles: 1,256
Money Found: $1.00
Total Found: $39.93

Nokhu Crags on the left, Colorado State Forest State Park (image courtesy of Sangres.com, Creative Commons)

I just made it up to the top of Owl Mountain on County Road 27 between Rand and Gould, CO. This is a gravel road and on Saturday I faced either climbing to the summit or taking the evening and next day off. Guess which I did. We had a good day off yesterday, but we were in an area without phone service or broadband. So, nothing to do but watch some movies and have a campfire for a few hours. It was very relaxing.

Moose Visitor Center, Colorado State Forest State Park (image courtesy of Sangres.com, Creative Commons)

We stayed the last two nights at the Ranger Lake Campground in the State Forest State Park near Gould. There are supposed to be about 600 moose in the area we are now in, but we haven’t seen one yet. We aren’t holding our breath on that. If seen, I’m sure Valda will get a picture.

I may not have broadband tonight, so we will blog when we can. We will be heading for Cameron Pass on Hwy 14 today and the the Poudre Canyon on the way to Ft. Collins.

Miles Covered: 15
Total Miles: 1,237.25
Money Found: $0.00
Total Found: $38.93

Faced with either climbing to the summit along a gravel road or taking the day off, guess which I did?! We are in an area without phone service or broadband. So, nothing to do but watch some movies and have a campfire for a few hours. 😀

Today I was on County Road 28, another gravel road from near Coalmont to Rand, CO. It is a fairly flat road, ten miles long and winds its way through ranch fields full of cattle. We’ll spend the night parked along side the road and tomorrow I’ll get up and walk to the bottom of Owl Mountain. That road is a complete opposite of the other road, it climbs up one hill and down another. The road from here on the top of the mountain to where it connects to Hwy 14 near Gould is fairly flat and makes its way through fields and stands of trees. The state of Colorado has been hit hard by a beetle that is killing the Lodgepole Pine tree. It attacks the bark and kills the tree. They have dead trees standing all over the state and now they are posing a fire threat. It is really sad to see a mountain full of dead brown trees.

I may not have broadband, so we will blog when we can. We will be heading for Cameron Pass on Hwy 14 and then the Poudre Canyon on the way to Ft. Collins.

Miles Covered: 18.5
Total Miles: 1,222.25
Money Found: $0.00
Total Found: $38.93

I crossed the Continental Divide today and by all that I ever learned in school about our geography, I should be walking downhill until I reach Pennsylvania. But, I’m not betting on it. 😜

Actually, I only have one more pass to walk over, Cameron Pass on Hwy 14 just north of RMNP.  It misses the Divide by less than ten miles. It is over 10,000′ high though and that makes it the highest pass I will cross.

We finally made it over Rabbit Ears. This picture is of Rabbit Ears Peak where the summit name comes from. The peak is about two miles north of the highway and I’m glad I didn’t have to walk over it. We are now on Hwy 14 and in a couple of days will be near Gould. It is then about 80 miles of mountains to Ft. Collins and then the prairie states. The terrain I’m in now is mostly gently rolling hills and the mountains I just walked over have disappeared. The altitude is around 8000′ and I can sure tell it when walking.

Nothing exciting happened today. Valda thought she saw a bobcat, but I think it was probably just a rabbit or something like that. She sat on the hood of the RV for close to a half hour with the camera, but her bobcat never materialized.

Personal to Susan S of Steamboat Springs: I forgot to thank you yesterday for your donation to Gateway For Cancer Research. My apologies. It is much appreciated!

Miles Covered: 18.5
Total Miles: 1,203.75
Money Found: $0.00
Total Found: $38.93

We are currently sitting somewhere on Rabbit Ears Pass, still about three miles from the summit. I have been walking uphill for the last 5.5 miles and after we pass over the summit, we have a fairly flat ten or eleven mile walk to Highway 14. The views from everywhere along this road are just incredible.

Steamboat Springs is now behind us and we made it through the neat town just fine. We had another interesting thing happen to us in Steamboat. A few days ago, we went through the small town of Maybell (home of the International Dog Show). We met a lady there who was with a friend whose dog was in the show. Susan S. lives in Steamboat and told Valda that when we passed through if we needed anything to call her. Valda called her today to say hello and got her voicemail. We continued on through the town and on the south end, Valda pulled into the parking lot of Haymaker Public Golf Course to wait on me to arrive for lunch. Being dutiful, she started toward  the clubhouse to see if it was okay to park in their lot for a couple of hours. As she was walking toward the building, she heard her name and it was Susan who just happened to be at the same place. She invited us for lunch and we had a great hour or so visiting with her and her friend Bridget M. Thanks for lunch Susan, and it was good getting to know both of you!

Yesterday I avoided another close call of sorts. Just as we ended the 20th mile of walking, I crossed the road and was walking up to the RV. Now, normally I wait until I get to the RV and then cross over to it. Anyway, I was walking the last hundred feet or so and a bicyclist on the side I just left flipped over his bike right across from me. I don’t know if I would have been in the middle of that or not, but it makes you wonder. He was okay, just a sore ego.

I met the nicest Colorado State Trooper today. Scott E. patrols Rabbit Ears Pass and he stopped to see if I needed anything. He noticed I didn’t have a backpack and wondered how I was going to spend the night. Valda then drove up and I showed him our palace. He gave us some road info and told us to camp anywhere we wanted to. I really appreciated his help.

The pictures below are of the scenery we’ve been seeing all day, the Haymaker Golf Course sign, and the view of the sky that we were treated to about a half hour ago.

Miles Covered: 16
Total Miles: 1,185.25
Money Found: $1.92
Total Found: $38.93

We arrived today in Steamboat Springs, actually about 5 miles west of Steamboat.

Rick walking through Craig. Photo Courtesy of DAVID PRESSGROVE.

Not much happened today or yesterday. We covered a total of 37 miles and the terrain has gone from looking at the mountains in the distance to looking at them as I walk among them. We have arrived in the Rockies. Tomorrow we will go through Steamboat and head for Rabbit Ears Pass and Muddy Creek Pass.

After we go over Muddy Creek, we have a route change. We are taking CO Hwy 14 North toward Coalmont then County Road 28 over to Hwy 125, then County Road 27 from Rand to Gould which puts us back on Hwy 14. This shortcut saves us about 17 miles and the route change from US 40 and US 34 keeps us out of Rocky Mountain National Park. We have been told by several people that the hike through the Park is treacherous and unsafe to walk, so we heeded their advice and changed our route. Overall, this saves us a lot of miles and the scenery isn’t all that much different.

We want to thank Ray Selbe (owner) and John (manager) of the Eagle Soaring RV Park just on the

Valda Cooling Her Heels in the Yampa River

west side of Steamboat Springs. They invited us to stay with them tonight after reading an article about us in the Steamboat Springs Today newspaper. Thanks to reporter Bridget Manley and photographer Dave for the really good article and pictures. The article also ran in the Craig Daily Press and we actually made the front page of that paper!

Valda went back to the park in Craig and took some more pictures of the wood sculptures without any people around. I’ll post some of them from time to time so you can see the talent these people have. The bottom picture is of the Yampa River. I walked over it today.

Miles Covered: 20
Total Miles: 1,169.25
Money Found: $0.34
Total Found: $37.01