Back West - Wyoming, Colorado & New Mexico
Friday, June 19
Start: Ainsworth, NE
Finish: Cheyenne, WY
The city park campground, at $10 with electric, worked just fine for a good night's sleep. The campground app had listed more amenities, such as showers, than were present, but $10 no complaints.
Eventually we drove through the Sandhills of Nebraska while on US 20. The natural grasslands and rolling hills make this area a pretty drive. Right before entering Valentine, NE you cross the Niobrara River, which has been designated a National Scenic River. NE 12, to the north follows the river for another pretty drive (we did that 2 years ago). A quick stop in the NPS office in Valentine and we continued west on 20. After entering Wyoming we turned south at Lusk onto US 85.
Shortly after entering Wyoming we began seeing Pronghorn, lots of them. Besides the lone males in the fields we were seeing groups of females with young ones.
It was getting hot. We stopped at Ft. Laramie and in Guernsey for passport stamps and letterboxing, it was 97 degrees. Cooler than the 110 degrees back in Tucson. We ended the day along I-25 in Cheyenne at Motel 6. Our first 400 plus mile day.
Saturday, June 20
Start: Cheyenne, WY
Finish: Pueblo, CO
Not ready to give up on vacation mode we stayed around Cheyenne in the morning to letterbox, then headed south into Colorado. Before leaving Wyoming we stopped at the welcome center at exit 4, built in 2013. This is well worth a stop. Inside is a mini-museum representing Wyoming. The museum part is not open 24/7, the restrooms are.
Wyoming Welcome Center, Exit 4 on I-25
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We then stopped at the welcome center at Fort Collins for the Cache la Poudre River Corridor heritage passport stamp. This river comes out of Wyoming, near Laramie and runs along the top of colorado, CO 14, into the Fort Collins area. We have stayed in this area several times and consider it one of our favorite places to spend time. Anyone traveling in the area should driving along the river. We always see moose in this area, usually a cow with calf. You can get over to Steamboat Springs along this route. We did cross over the river as we headed south, no time for a visit on this trip. The rivers are running at or above flood stage along the front range of the Rockies, the higher than normal temperatures are causing rapid snow melt.
Our next stop was in Loveland for lunch and another Whispering Giant. We were surprised when we found it along US 34, west of Loveland, to realize we have driven past it many times when we have entered Rocky Mountain National Park along this route. Neither of us ever remembering seeing it or commenting on the statue. Goes to show how even seasoned travelers can see something new along a familiar route. The setting for this one is much different from the others we have seen, just sitting out in a field.
Whispering Giant # 31 - Redman, Loveland, CO
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The rest of the day was a 'worst travel day', for this trip and many others. Along I-25 from Loveland, all the way past Colorado Springs, it was stop, stop and go slow. Except for one accident the highway 'sloth' was never evident. We were going through Denver well after the baseball game started, and 98% of the cars were from Colorado. We've heard from some family members that this is typical. Travelers coming this way - beware and I hope your travel through this area is smoother.
We had hoped to cover more miles today, but by Pueblo we were done! The state park campgrounds were all full so we found an adequate private campground for the night.
Sunday, June 21
Start: Pueblo, CO
Finish: Gallup, NM
We have decided to call I-25 through WY, CO and northern NM the Pronghorn Highway. Almost immediately when we entered WY we began seeing the Pronghorn, or as we call them "white butts", as that is the easiest way to pick them out while speeding along. We continued to see them in rural areas along the interstate, one way to entertain us along our travels. Today was a perfect example why interstates are so important, when needed you can cover a lot of territory. We needed to cover 480 miles to be in Gallup at the end of the day. For those that have followed this trip and others I have written about, that is a big day for us. Luckily it was all interstate and we made it to Gallup by 6 PM.
It has been getting hotter and hotter, it was 104 degrees in Albuquerque as we traveled through. Even at these temperatures it was more comfortable than being in the mid 80s with higher humidity, which we experienced earlier in the trip in the MidWest. Give me dry heat any day!
We made a few stops along the way for passport stamps and a couple of letterboxes. These stops were a good reason to get out of the car and stretch our legs. In Grants we stopped at the Northwestern New Mexico visitor center, an interagency visitor center representing the NPS, USFS and BLM. Besides having passport stamps, a nice bookstore, helpful staff they have a great display of things to,see and do in the area; a very big area. They provided sections in the display area of suggested road tours. Lots of useful touring information and well presented.
http://www.nps.gov/elma/planyourvisi...torcenters.htm
Grants, NM - Northwestern New Mexico interagency visitor center displays
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Before checking into our motel we stopped in downtown Gallup for a meal at the Coal Street Pub, some craft beers on tap and a menu with lots of variety. The food was good. They offer a 5% discount if you pay cash.
Passport Stamps
Niobrara National Scenic River - Nebraska
Pony Express Nat'l Historic Trail - MO, KS, NE, CO, WY, UT, NV, CA, OR
Mormon Pioneer Nat'l Historic Trail - IL, IA, NE, WY, UT
California Nat'l Historic Trail - MO, KS, NE, CO, WY, UT, NV, CA, OR
Oregon Nat'l Historic Trail - MO, KS, NE, WY, ID, OR, WA
Fort Laramie National Historic Site - Fort Laramie, WY
Cache la Poudre River Corridor - Northern Colorado
Santa Fe NHT - Pecos NHP, NM
Pecos NHP - Civil War Battle of Glorirta Pass
Pecos NHP - Pecos, NM
Pecos NHP - Route 66 pre-1937
Petroglyph National Monument - Albuquerque, NM
El Malpais National Monument - Grants, NM
El Malpais NM - NW New Mexico Visitor Center
Bonus
Fort Laramie National Historic Site - building pictorial -Old Bedlam
Northern Rio Grande Heritage Area
El Malpais National Monument, dayed - iconic from NPTC
Wildlife Sightings
Pronghorn with young
Cottontail Rabbit
Black-tailed Prairie Dog
Western Kingbird
Mourning Dove
American Robin
Brewer's Blackbird
Red-winged Blackbird
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Killdeer
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed Hawk
Western Meadowlark
Lark Bunting
Canada Goose
Black-crowned Night Heron
Great Blue Heron
Black-billed Magpie
White Pelican
Herring Gull
Starling
Northern Mockingbird
Gambel's Quail
Common Raven
Ft. Laramie is local turf for me
Lots of (my) family ranches surround Fort Laramie. I wish I had known you'd be going this way, you could have enjoyed some local hospitality.
Enjoying the report
Great Lakes Trip Statistics
A few statistics from our Great Lakes trip:
-The trip lasted 29 days, covered 7,165 miles through 13 states, for an average of 247 miles. I was surprised by our daily miles.
-I found 110 letterboxes, planted 3 new ones and attended a Letterboxing gathering.
-We saw 4 of Peter Wolf Toth's Whispering Giant creations.
-We saw all the license plates of the USA, except Rhode Island, Delaware and Hawaii.
-Completed 8 activities towards QuestScouts activity badges
-Visited 23 National Park Service sites, plus USFS and BLM sites and Historic Trails.
-Completed 1 Junior Ranger program
Budget
This trip was a bit different. While in Kansas my husband became ill and was hospitalized for 4 days. The care he received at Hutchinson Regional Medical Center was excellent. After discharge he had no further problems on the trip. How this affected our budget is it added at least 4 motel nights to our expenses. The Econo Lodge in Hutchinson worked with me and provided an excellent rate. We prefer to camp and besides the time in Kansas we spent more nights in motels, mainly because of hot and humid weather and at least one other night due to a strong storm. Considering the weather going through the MidWest right now, we did OK concerning the overall weather. Another cost factor is there were less federal campgrounds for us to use, with my husband's Golden Age pass we pay half the fee. This helped our expenses on our Spring trip in California where many more federal campsites are available.
Lodging - 29%. Previous three trips were at 18%
Meals - 33%
Gas- 37%
Misc - 1% (ice, showers)
Our average daily cost was $92.54, as compared to $71.03 for our Spring trip through California. Our meal cost is probably an area that could be reduced, but we chose to enjoy meals along the way. I calculated that we prepared 50% of our meals.
Gas prices ranged from $2.39 in Tucson to $2.77 in Muskegon, MI, with an approximate average of $2.65.
Saw some amazing animals along the way, some birds we had never seen before. We often have to look up facts and confirm identification, as well as correct names. Keeping the list is something we enjoy and keeps us learning.
Flowers seen along the way
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I hope something I reported along the way will be a help to your plans.
Happy Trails!
