Rocky Mountain High, Colorado

Arches National Park

Arches National Park is one of the most popular in the US, after seeing the queues of cars waiting to enter the park we decided to get there early the following day. In the meantime we would continue the shoe search in Moab, have a dinner out and stay in a camp ground. Moab is tagged as being a cool destination, not bad compared with where we had visited so far, and after shoes were bagged we watched the homecoming parade; well actually the road was blocked so we had no choice.

The Moab campground beside the dusty highway, cost $NZ120 for night and we were shoe-horned in between some big rigs. It looked as if nothing had been spent on improvements in 45 years. The restaurant next door had an unpromising appearance but after we were shown to a table outside on the patio we found the food was excellent, a great choice of craft beer, and one of those bands whose songs all sound the same.

Mesa Arch, Canyonlands

Arches NP, followed by Canyonlands had some impressive arch and canyon formations. The geology is lost on me, but let’s just say ‘erosion’ covers a lot of explanation. We stayed in the area for a couple of nights at a Bureau of Land Management camp (BLM = DoC) set high on a saltbush plateau.

Mesas, table-like hills abound in this area as do buttes that are similar but narrower than mesas.

A Pueblo granary tucked under the rim of a mesa.
Had to climb the mesa to get the shot

A cortado is the US equivalent in this area of a flat white without the latte art. We said goodbye to Moab with a cortado apiece inside us and an ‘O’ ring for the waste pipe that had left a drippy trail behind us. (Just shower water). Colorado, a change from the dry dusty desert, lay ahead as we hit the road east. It is like travelling between different countries, the rockies in Colorado are high altitude with plentiful vegetation.

San Juan Highway

The San Juan Highway is strung out over 200 miles through a series of Wild West towns. Telluride, Ouray, Silverton, Durango. Telluride is a base for wealthy winter holiday-makers with shops to cater appropriately, and on the other end of the scale is Silverton, a former silver mining town which offers endless shops of cheesy tat from the only paved street.  All the broad side streets were dirt roads with ATVs driving through.

The highway between these towns climbs up to over 11,000 ft with autumn colours a riot of burning yellow splashed among the evergreens. The craggy mountains lining the highway glow richly red, tenacious pines cling to their sides.

Ouray, delightful little town

Wild West Silverton

The temperature at these high altitudes is much lower at night, we had been given a new red sleeping bag by a fellow camper, Walmart brand  – but it opens out to makes a cozy, if slippery, extra quilt on the bed. The propane powered fridge does not like the high altitude, especially as the tank is getting low. It keeps trying to light itself making disconcerting clicking noises.

I love the rocky mountain campsites, the downside is fellow campers starting up their generators, and filling our truck with smoke from their traditional campfires.  

Patriotism is alive and growing in the areas we are travelling in. Stars and stripes fly from camper wagons and one neighbour even had a flag on their picnic table.

Patriotic campers

The highlight of this last week was the moose that nonchalantly sauntered through our campsite, past the front of our truck while I was cooking dinner. It was huge with enormous dish shaped antlers. Our Oklahoman neighbours were as excited as us. Elk and deer are commonplace but moose are rarer in this area. There are warnings about bears but luckily none have crossed our path. 

We are off to improve our cultural intelligence, setting off towards National Parks that are dedicated to preserving the archeological heritage of the Pueblo people.