Trip to the San Juans

Some friends stopped by for a visit and we decided to take them on a little camping expedition to the San Juan  mountains in south western Colorado. The plan was to take the long way using as little highway as possible. We started by going to BV and up over Cottonwood Pass

This is our friends Rig coming up the pass.















The wildflowers on the taylor Lake side were great

This is our camping spot the first night. Stage Coach Meadows is where the stage used to stop and change horses. Great views in every direction.











We then went through Taylor Park and up Cumberland pass. This is Gary and Susie's Rig coming up Cumberland

A brief stop at the top and a little wandering around looking at the great views . We then went over the pass down through Pitkin and on to rt 50. We picked up 50 for a short ways and turned south on rt 114, to pick up another dirt  forest rd that connects over to route 149 near Slumgullion Pass. We planned to camp somewheres on this rd for a night or two. We ended up camping in Willow Meadow for two nights and could see elk on Stevens Peak, I counted  150 one time.

This is our camp in Willow Meadow.





After leaving Willow Meadow we reconnected to our forest rd that takes us to 149, and on the way we found this guy along the road.

We stopped along the road and climbed up on the roof of the camper and watched him for about 30 minutes. After leaving we came out to Slumgullion Pass and headed down towards Lake City and out the beginning of Cinnamon Pass to our next camp spot . 

Getting Started

Just a little background. When my wife and I sold our home in 2003 and decided to take a 3 month vacation,little did we know that we would adopt the Dixie Chicks song "Taking the Long Way" as kind of our theme song. We left our home of 6 years and hit the road west with our faithful Dodge pickup truck, a popup camper on the back, our faithful dog Roofus and an enclosed trailer with 5 motorcycles in it.
Why 5 motorcycles you say?...... Because we couldn't fit 6.
  We traveled the west for the next 3 months, taking the long way, everywhere we went. We even have a digital slideshow coordinated to our theme. We can't play the music for our slideshow because of copywrite laws, so plug in your ear buds to your ipod and play "The long Way Around" by the Dixie Chicks. If you don't have it,...get it. Start the music the same time as the slide show.

We initially expected to relocate someplace in Colorado, but then Donna found an ad in her nursing magazine wanting seasonal employees in Yuma , Arizona for the winter..... and the wheels started turning. Ten years later and here we are, still traveling. We're down to one motorcycle and an ATV.

We still head to Arizona for the winter,then back north to Colorado for the summer, and we wander in between...... A new found passion keeps us looking for wood to reclaim and repurpose for our shop: 2woodhunters on Etsy.com. We look a little bit like the "Clampetts" at times. Full time RV'ing doesn't lend itself for alot of extra space but we've been quite creative about packing and stuffing finds from our "hunts" for wood to bring them back. Our main "home" is our 5th wheel, shown here on our way north from AZ.

Here we are on Comb Ridge, Utah. This upheaval extends for nearly 80 miles and was once the home of cliff dwellers. There's still remains of this ancient civilization and we have done several hikes to look at some of these.