We begin our fall trip heading to one of our favorite places, Breckenridge. Since it was the holiday weekend we planned a few stops on the way. We try not to drive over 200 miles in a day so we spent one night in Green River, UT; not a destination I would call interesting but it allowed us to get our feet back into RV travel as well as give the RV a good cleaning after Mike found a dead mouse in the RV a few weeks ago. We have been storing the RV inside for the past 4 years when we are not traveling and have not had any problems. We remove all food stuffs every time we put the RV into storage after a trip. After finding the dead mouse and removing it we started the process of checking the entire coach, removing all droppings and giving the RV a good cleaning. We found the mouse lure, a packet of parmasean cheese like the ones from the pizza places that was in the silverware drawer and the mouse chewed the end off and had a feast. Lesson learned, all food needs to be removed. After a couple of days of cleaning everything and rechecking for droppings we have found no additional signs to indicate any other stowaways but we will continue to monitor and if we find any signs the traps go out.
We stayed one night at the
Shady Acres RV Park, not much here to talk about other than the site was plenty long so we didn't need to unhitch and the sites had lots of space between RV's. We had an end spot so it was even more private. The park was OK for an overnight but not on the radar for any return visits.
Our next stop for 4 nights was at the
Glenwood Springs West KOA, about 15 miles west of Glenwood Springs in the town of Silt, CO. We don't frequent KOA's that often since they tend to be set up as a more family friendly park but the reviews and the idea of getting a site on the Colorado River was attractive. I am glad we had the time to stop here and relax for a few days because this had to be one of our favorite KOA's so far. Being the holiday weekend it was full so I'm glad I reserved this location in advance. It is in it's 4th year of operation and although the trees have several more years to mature there is plenty of grass in between the sites. In addition, their are some great full hook up sites right on the Colorado river with fire pits, gas grills, and a covered patio. These sites are back in and were plenty big enough for our 45ft RV and room in front for our tow vehicle . There is a nice community room, laundry facilities, pool and spa. Mike hit the spa the 1st day and it was not hot enough for his liking, not sure if it was working or not but we didn't return.
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| Our site W06 |
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| Fire pit with a river view |
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| Nice covered patio and a gas grill |
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| Dogs on their way to getting their feet wet in the Colorado river |
As for location the park is great, you are 7 miles from the towns of Rifle to the west and 7 miles to the east is New Castle. Glenwood Springs is 15 miles to the east and from there south are the towns of Carbondale and Aspen.
We took a drive to
New Castle, a quaint little town with a coal mining history but not much else but made for a nice walk with the dogs.
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| Burning Mountain Park |
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| Main street-New Castle, CO |
We are only 15 miles south of
Glenwood Springs and since I was still recovering from my collarbone surgery
from a mountain bike fall 5 weeks ago and there was going to be no mountain biking
this trip I needed to search for hikes in the area. I found one of Colorado's
scenic hikes, Hanging Lake Trail, it is right off of I-70 about 7 miles east of
Glenwood Springs. Get there early; the parking area is
small and there is no overflow parking and if you park incorrectly they will
tow vehicles. Best advice is to go on a weekday and get there before 10am. We
went on a Tuesday, got there around 9:40am and was able to get a parking spot,
when we were done at around noon the parking lot was full. The hike starts
about 3/4 of a mile from the parking area. It is an easy walk to the trail on
an asphalt path.
The trail
will be obvious to your left, then it is 1.4 miles with 1200ft of ascent, all up. Expect a
rocky, steep climb.
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| Great shot of Mike on the way down with the Colorado River in the background |
Just
after the hand rails and a steep climb, looks worse then it is, you are richly rewarded.
Due to
the limited parking it kept the amount of people at Hanging Lake reasonable
when we got there. Worth the moderately strenuous climb, a place to spend some time relaxing, take in the view and then return back down the trail to the parking
area. This is a must do hike if in the area and I found it just challenging
enough and there are plenty of benches along the way for breaks.
On to our next stop and favorite
place to visit Breckenridge, Colorado. I hear the leaves are starting to
change.
Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn.- John Muir
