A Park, Lakes and Bristlecone Pines

Monarch Park with the South Arkansas River meandering through it

We made plans a few weeks back to get the RV serviced and spend the long Fourth of July weekend in the Denver area.  Since we had 5 days before our RV appointment and most of the middle of the state yet to cover, we decided on a quick scouting trip on our way to Denver with plans to return after the holiday.

From Taylor Canyon, we back-tracked to Gunnison and traveled US Hwy 50 over the Continental Divide winding through Monarch Pass at 11,312 feet.  About 1,000 feet below the pass was Monarch Park, a small campground on the edge of a big meadow in the San Isabel National Forest.  This was the highest elevation we had camped so far this summer and the nights were cold – in the 30’s.   

Maya snuggles with David as he eats his steel cut oats.

It was a very cold morning in our RV.

Maya likes oats too!

We spent a lovely two days at Monarch Park strolling in the meadow with Maya in the early mornings and late afternoons.  The South Arkansas River cut through the meadow and was dammed in several places both naturally and by beavers, creating a lot of fishing holes.  Several campers were actually catching fish although most were too small to keep.

The South Arkansas River along the Waterdog Lakes Trail

Our second day we took the nearby trail to Waterdog Lakes.  The lakes were over 11,000 feet and the trail climbed steeply in many places.  Before we reached the top, we were huffing and puffing and as we reached the lake there was a huge snow bank of 20 or more feet to climb before descending to the first of the Waterdog Lakes.

David makes it to the top of the snow bank near Waterdog Lakes

The lake was not icy but a lot of snow was still surrounded it.  Because of this, we didn’t continue our hike on to the second lake. Instead, we wandered around some and then took our time slipping and sliding down the snow bank – David managed nicely but I was not so graceful and had a thoroughly wet bum.  Maya was very glad to see us back at the RV and we made it just in time for a nice afternoon thunderstorm.   What a lovely end to our stay in Monarch Park!

The first of the two Waterdog Lakes

The next morning, we headed towards Salida to visit the district ranger station and get information on more places to visit and stay in the Pike-San Isabel National Forest.  The forest ranger was extremely helpful and even recommended a good place for lunch.  As we ate, we had fun recalling a time about 8 years ago when we stayed in Salida and did some rafting down the Arkansas River.  The river is really running high right now (and cold), so we won’t do it again this year.  We wished the many helmeted, wet suit and life jacket wearing river-runners on the Arkansas a good float and a safe trip. 

Flowers in the forest

Since we had been in forest campgrounds for 6 days, we were running low on fresh water and decided to seek a commercial RV park for the night.  We drove north from Salida on US 285 for about an hour to Fairplay, where we visited a different district ranger station to learn more about this part of the forest.  We found a small motel that also had RV camping and we settled in for the night.

Reading the forest information over a very good breakfast at the Brown Burro Cafe in small downtown Fairplay, we learned about the mining and railroad history in the area.  Maps showed us many 4WD roads into the national forest leading to ghost towns and old mining communities.  Even though we weren’t thrilled with our campground, we decided to stay for another night as we did want to do some exploring.

Large Colorado bristlecone pine

Most likely around 800 years old

One of our explorations was to the highest incorporated town in the continental United States, Alma, and the nearby Windy Ridge Bristlecone Pine Scenic Area.  Both David and I have a thing for bristlecone pines (some of the oldest living trees on earth) and as readers of this blog may remember, we have visited the Bristlecone Pine Forest in the White Mountains of California on the western edge of the Great Basin Desert. 

Last year we saw a very small stand of the Rocky Mountain variety of bristlecones (a.k.a. Colorado bristlecone or Pinus aristata) near Wheeler Peak in northern New Mexico.  Around Fairplay, this Colorado species of bristlecone pine is common.  These trees had been planted all around town and were mixed in with other conifers and aspens in the surrounding forest.

Remains of old mining equipment near Windy Ridge

We turned off from Alma and drove about 6 miles on a rocky, very bumpy and almost 4WD road to the Windy Ridge Bristlecone Pine Scenic Area.   Some large specimen trees were widely spaced throughout the area with younger, almost pure stands of bristlecone pines scattered along the mountain sides.  Though the Colorado species of bristlecone pine typically lives to around 2,500 years (as opposed to the almost 5,000 years that specimens of Intermountain or Great Basin bristlecone pine in California, Nevada and Utah live) most of the specimens on Windy Ridge were less than 1,000 years old.  Even so, it was very cool to see so many of these very old trees thriving on the mountain sides.

Some of the older bristlecone pine trunks

We also drove to a campground near the Buffalo Peaks Wilderness and plans were made to come back and spend some time there as well as the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness near Salida and Buena Vista.  But the past few days we have been busy in the Denver area getting an oil change, tire rotation and general service for Silver's Sprinter chassis plus other chores and some sightseeing. 

There has been a hitch in our plans as Silver has a ‘house’ battery or batteries going out (one was very hot and smoking – not good and both batteries have now been disconnected).  Since the service we had done was for the Sprinter chassis only, we had to find another place to fix the battery issue.  And since this is the Fourth of July weekend and most RV service places are closed, there aren’t many options.  Fortunately, David found a mobile RV repair guy who came out this evening and put in new batteries.  All is well and we will be back in the forest tomorrow for the actual holiday.  Yay!  Not our most fun Fourth of July weekend, but what can you do?  As great as life is on the road, there are still some days that crap happens…  But we will be celebrating in the forest tomorrow.

A Happy July 4^th to everyone! 

Sorry, but you are going to have to endure Columbine pictures from time to time.

They are just so beautiful -- I can't resist photographing them...

And these remind me of fireworks for July 4th

David’s Stats:

Days Hiked  2

Total Miles Hiked    5.75
Ave. Miles per Day      2.88
Total Elevation Gain     1,411
Ave. Elevation Gain per day  706