On Monday July 30 we departed the Colorado Springs KOA at about 7:30 am, pretty early for the Whitley's. We drove CO 115 south to Penrose and CO 96 west to Westcliffe and finally south on CO 69 to a cutoff to Alvarado Campground. The campground was about 5 miles off CO 69 west on an unpaved local road. Today's drive was largely uneventful. We didn't have a reservation at Alvarado, but the reservation web site suggested there would be plenty of sites, and we had arrived before noon. Site No. 12 was vacant and looked inviting, so we made camp. Alvarado has no hookups, but at EL 9030' the temps were cool, and we didn't miss the air conditioner. It was every bit as nice as we expected.
After such a busy week in Colorado Springs it was nice to have a whole day in a quiet forest site to do nothing. Amazingly we had a great 4G data signal, so I was able to work on some internet chores, including updating this journal.
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| Our camp at Alvarado Campground |
Our site had a clear view of the sky, so satellite TV reception and solar gain were very good. In fact I was seeing peak solar gains of over 28 amp-hours, the highest I have ever observed from our 400 watt solar array.
Overnight the temperatures plummeted to 42 degrees, the lowest we have seen on this trip. Altitude good!
On Wednesday our destination was the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. As the crow files it was only about 20 miles from our camp to the visitor center. Unfortunately, we are not crows. cannot fly and had not carefully studied our route. In order to get to our destination we would have to loop well east and south of our destination and then loop back north. Google maps predicted a distance of 96 miles. Oh well, that's the way it goes. We're retired. We have nothing but time and every day is Saturday. We headed south on CO 69 and soon discovered our intended route included a series of unpaved rural county roads: CR 555, CR 570 and Pass Creek Road connecting Gardner and US 160. We were skeptical, but hey, Google maps would never lead us astray. Right? When we got to the right turn onto County Road 555 there was a sign indicating "To US 160". It was an unpaved road, but it looked like a decent road and the Colorado DOT suggested we go that way, so why not? What could go wrong? All was well until about 10 miles in when we came across a big sign across the road saying "Road Closed". CRAP!!! Why would the sign off the paved road direct us this way to US 160, if the road was closed 10 miles in? We had 2 options: turn around and backtrack to CO 69, or ignore the sign, hope for the best and continue on into the abyss. There were tracks around the sign, indicating others had gone that way. However, Dorcas vehemently vetoed the 2nd option. Thankfully there was a place there to turn around, so we unhitched the Pilot and turned the beast around.
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| Road Closed????? WHAT???? |
About that time a pickup truck pulling a large farm trailer came up from the way we had come. The lady driving the truck had hoped to take the same route we had. I talked with her and she told me the road had been closed because it had washed out after the recent fires. She had seen a road grader in the area the day before and had hoped the road had been reopened. She was going basically the same way we were and said we could follow her. We would need to backtrack to CO 69 and Gardner and continue south on CO 69. There was another gravel cutoff to US 160 about 15 miles south of Gardner that she was going to take.
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| It is a dusty place following a motor home on a gravel road |
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| Looking back from our road-closed turnaround |
We made it back to the paved highway and continued to follow the lady in the pickup back to the south. When she turned right onto the next unpaved cutoff to US 160, a road grader was sitting at the entry. I said that was a good sign, but Dorcas proclaimed it was NOT a good sign. We had made it back to a nice State paved highway, so... we (Dorcas) decided we should continue south on CO 69 to pick up US 160 at Walsenburg, which is all the way back at I-25 (See map above. It was a much longer route, but our luck had not been running very good this day, and I suppose it was best not to push it. In hindsight the best strategy would have been to skip Alvarado CG altogether and driven directly from Colorado Springs down I-25 to Walsenburg, and then cut over to Great Sand Dunes National Park. But then we wouldn't have enjoyed the great site at Alvarado CG and experienced such a great adventure. When served lemons, make lemonade. In the end the 20 miles, as the crow flies, and the 96 mile Google route ended up being 157 miles to Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.
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| You can't drive anywhere west of Denver without summiting a pass |
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| Approaching Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve |
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| Panoramic view |
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| We don't know these people; they were just there hogging the sign. |
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| We do know this guy |
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| GSDNP has a pretty neat Visitor Center |
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| Dorcas on a trail near the Visitor Center |
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve encompasses 233 square miles in the San Luis Valley and the San de Cristo mountain range. At 750 feet it contains the tallest sand dunes in North America. The dune field covers an area of about 30 square miles. Click HERE to read a discussion on how the dunes were formed.
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| Kinda reminds me of a huge ant hill |
We tried a hike on the dunes, but the sand was very hot and Matilda quickly decided she wanted nothing to do with it. Dorcas agreed. The sand was also very soft and walking on it took a lot of effort.
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| The dunes can be a barren place |
After a short visit on the dunes we made a lunch in the coach and bugged out. We still had many miles to go before reaching our destination this day, Durango CO.
The coach engine temperature had been running higher than normal this day, peaking at 210-215 degrees. Technically not overheating, but a concern nevertheless, because it usually runs closer to 190-200 degrees. I suspect that the radiator may be dirty from the dusty roads we had been on the last few days. In Alamosa we stopped at the Walmart for some groceries and distilled water, in case the coolant reservoir was low. Unfortunately, the Walmart was sold out of distilled water. However, we found a Family Dollar Store in Monte Vista, the next town down the road, and they had 4 gallons on their shelf. I considered it an omen, so I bought them all.
Later. I determined that the coolant reservoir level was adequate, but by analyzing the coolant with a refractometer, I determined the ethylene glycol (antifreeze) concentration was greater than 65%. This high concentration by itself is probably not harmful, but it is much higher than necessary. While providing excellent freeze protection (-70 degrees F) a concentration closer to 50/50 would provide more efficient cooling. The coach has a huge coolant reservoir, so I added 2 gallons of distilled water to try to bring the antifreeze concentration down a bit. The first chance I get I will try to rinse the dust off the radiator and the charge air cooler.
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| Fire evidence on US 160 |
Southwest Colorado has experienced a number of fires this summer. They seem to be mostly out now, but we did see evidence of their damage.
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| These folks were very very lucky |
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| This was a prominent and interesting peak along US 160. Unfortunately, we can't determine its name. |
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| Tunnel portal on the east side of Wolf Creek pass |
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| It was a vey nice tunnel |
Wolf Creek Pass is a significant pass on the Continental Divide. It was made famous in 1975 by country music star C. W. McCall's humorous spoken word song, in which the pass is fondly described as "37 miles o' hell -- which is up on the Great Divide." In the song, two truckers drive an out-of-control 1948 Peterbilt down U.S. Highway 160 to Pagosa Springs—a 5,000-foot drop in elevation.
I looked at Earl and his eyes was wide
His lip was curled, and his leg was fried.
And his hand was froze to the wheel like a tongue to a sled in the middle of a blizzard.
I says, "Earl, I'm not the type to complain
But the time has come for me to explain
That if you don't apply some brake real soon, they're gonna have to pick us up with a stick and
a spoon..."
("Wolf Creek Pass" written by Bill Fries and Chip Davis, sung by C.W. McCall)
Click HERE to hear C.W. McCall perform "Wolf Creek Pass".
After a very long day and 349 miles of driving we arrived in Durango Colorado. We will be parked at Junction Creek Campground in the San Juan National Forest, just 5 miles north of Durango, for the next 7 nights.
