An adventure around mountain America
I arrived to the southwestern corner of Colorado late in the afternoon, found a free camping spot near Mesa Verde National Park and slept under the stars. After a quiet and restful night I woke up early and headed to explore this beautiful park.
Mesa Verde was created by congress and Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 and today it is the largest archaeological preserve in the United States. Mesa Verde was different from all the other national parks I visited in the sense that the focus is more on ancient cultural preservation rather than nature.
Around lunch time I was back on the road, excited for some mountain driving. It was incredibly picturesque and fun. I spent the rest of the day driving in this corner of Colorado, admiring the beautiful mountain landscape. I found fascinating the old mining infrastructure of the region. It is neat to see old train tracks shoot out from tunnels as well as old abandoned mills, trains, and cars dotting parts of the landscape.
I arrived to Telluride in the late afternoon. Telluride is a small town that transformed itself from a small mining village to a world class ski resort. It is nested on a beautiful valley similar to the Swiss valleys in the Alps.
That afternoon I decided to do the Telluride Via Ferrata alone. It was a rush to be so high up in the air, with hundreds of feet of exposure below my feet, alone with my thoughts. I live for experiences like that one.
That night I stayed at The Bivvi Hostel, the nicest hostel of my journey. The next morning during breakfast I was discussing hikes with some folks and one of them recommended that I try to reach the summit of Mt. Elbert, the highest peak in Colorado and the second tallest mountain in contiguous United States. I had no plans for the next two days so why not?
Mt. Elbert is 4,401 meters (14,440 feet) high, roughly at the center of the State. It’s a popular hike to the summit, being the highest of the ‘fourteeners’ of Colorado. I found a free campsite near the trail head and at 4:00 am I set out on the trail.
I ran into a National Forest trail coordinator on the trail (half Colombian!) and we chatted for a while we both went up the mountain (He was carrying his bike on his back, he planned on riding down). He explained that both the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture have used the time during the pandemic to improve National Parks and National Forests. As more people head into nature, it is sound that the government spends resources improving infrastructure, that way the impact of us visiting these places is mitigated. After our chat I did notice a lot of construction happening in almost all the public lands I visited.
A little over four hours after I left the car, I arrived at the summit. I didn’t feel tired whatsoever: I guess all the hiking and climbing I had been doing the past three weeks conditioned me to this hard hike.
After a pleasurable hike down, I headed to Colorado Springs. It was time to take a break from nature.
My time in Colorado Springs was short and restful. I slept well, ate well, and had an amazing time with my hosts, Elena and Bill.
After leaving Elena and Bill, I did the drive up Pikes Peak all the way to its summit. While it was a fun drive, I felt a little disappointed that at the summit there was a massive parking lot being constructed. I understand that infrastructure allows more people to enjoy these places, but at one point too much impact takes away from the experience.
From Pikes Peak I drove to Denver, where I spent the weekend catching up with Noelle and Alex. It was a weekend filled with libations, music, dancing, great food, and lovely hangouts in coffee shops.
Denver seems to be geared to the millennial who wants to have both excellent career prospects and accessibility to nature. Everywhere we went, there were young people exercising or socializing. If you are young and don’t know what you want to do with your life or where to live, go check out Denver!
After a weekend of partying, I dropped off Noelle and Alex, picked up Keith, and headed to Rocky Mountain National Park for the day. Another gem of the National Park Service, we did a short hike to a glacial lake and left. Our time there was unfortunately too short. The following day we headed north to Wyoming. After a long drive through rolling grassy hills, we arrived at Wild Iris, a remote climbing area in the Wind River Range.
At Wild Iris we climbed very sharp limestone and camped in a free, primitive campground. That night was so windy that Keith had to abandon his hammock and move to the car to sleep. The Wind River Range lives up to its name.
The next morning, we continued our journey north to the oldest national park in the world, Yellowstone National Park.
Yellowstone was established by Congress and President Ulysses S. Grant in 1872. What separates Yellowstone from the surrounding wilderness is the geothermal activity. As we drove through the luscious forests of the park, giant white plums of steam dotted the landscape. The majority of its streams and lake shores have unique colors from the minerals spouted by the vast volcanic activity of the region.
Both Keith and I were stoked to be in the park despite the rainy weather; the first spout of mediocre weather I encountered on the trip. We checked out many of its primary attractions such as Old Faithful Geyser, Grand Prismatic Springs, and Steamboat Geyser. However the highlight of our stay in the park was having roadside dinner with a herd of bison.
After a very cold night (we slept in the car because it was freezing), We woke up early, did a quick hike to The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, then headed to Montana.
Over the next day and a half, we did the long drive through Montana’s rolling hills and epic canyons. Keith found a very secluded climbing spot in the eastern flank of Montana’s Rocky Mountains named Blackleaf Canyon.
That afternoon we climbed these amazing walls all on our own. I find that so many people I know really don’t like to be isolated, yet Keith and I thrive on that feeling. Having these amazing natural landscapes to ourselves is such a privilege. After a long sunset drive, we made it to East Glacier Park Village.
The following two days we set out to explore Glacier National Park and its surrounding towns. The weather was still quite stormy, which despite making everything wet and cold, it was good for the forest fires raging nearby. At first, we were not allowed into the main area of the park due to not having a day permit, so we headed north on logging roads to less visited parts of the park.
After a quick beer at The Northern Lights Saloon and lunch at Whitefish, we managed to find a campground inside the park, which gave us the ability to access the main areas of the park the following day.
After a restful night at Sprague Creek Campground, we set out to do the Going-to-the-Sun road, one of the most iconic drives in the United States. It was an amazing drive despite the cloudy weather. Both Keith and I said that it would be incredible on a sunny day on a motorcycle. I couldn’t help but notice how small the glaciers are in the park. Even the best estimates say that by the time I am an old man the park will no longer have glaciers.
After doing the road (twice!), we did the short and popular Avalanche Lake hike. We hiked so fast that by the time we got to the lake I took a polar dip! Keith did not have the cojones to join me.
We began our drive south, and after stopping at the best southern comfort food joint in Montana for lunch, we arrived at Hot Springs, Montana for the night. Our stay at Wild Horse Hot Springs would end up being the most interesting stay of our journey, and one of the weirdest places I’ve ever slept.
After an interesting night in a tee-pee (it rained through the night, soaking Keith), we continued our journey south towards Big Sky, Montana. A vast resort nested on the eastern flank of a very beautiful pyramid shape mountain, Big Sky has joined my list of winter snowboard destinations to go to. That afternoon we went climbing to Red Cliff, a small climbing area just south of the town.
We continued our journey south through the Idaho portion of Yellowstone, arriving at our cabin right at sunset.
My final day with Keith was an iconic one. Keith and I met riding monkey bikes in Morocco, so it felt appropriate to rent some bikes and ride them to the stupidest places we could find. In a small, weird town named Lava Hot Springs, Idaho, we found a shop that would rent us Honda Ruckuses for the afternoon. After the lady at the shop told us not to ride the bikes to the top of a mountain, we proceeded to drive our bikes to the top of a mountain.
Lava Hot Springs sits on the path of the old Oregon Trail, which we rode for a bit. We felt lucky to not catch Dysentery.
We got great weather for our final drive together that afternoon. The next morning I said my goodbyes to Keith at the Salt Lake City airport. I look forward to my next adventure with that fella, a superb travel partner.
After spending the day in Salt Lake City, a beautiful city in the northern mountains of Utah, I headed to Park City, yet another world class ski resort. I spent the next day hiking the High Uintas mountains with Rachelle and Cass.
After my time in the northern Utah, it was time to leave the spine of America and head west for the final leg of this unreal journey.
