JUST A PINCH OF COLORADO



MONDAY

TRAVEL DAY
STOP #282

"The Centennial State"
is our 38th visited state

HERE'S A FUN FACT ABOUT COLORADO

The 13th step leading to the entrance of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver
is exactly 1-mile above sea level.



As you can see we've made into our 38th state of this journey. We're only going to be here for a short 3-day visit this time around. I promise next year we'll explore the state from top to bottom.

Three consecutive nights of camping does allow us to count it as a visited state, according to our own self-imposed requirements. Much like Iowa, where we also only spent three nights, we have plans to return for a longer visit in the near future.


If we thought we were in the middle of nowhere last stop, this time we are definitely "out of bounds". In order to reach this campsite we had to travel the last 23 miles on a gravel road through nothing but cow pasture. The town is another 4 miles to the south and calling it a "town" is a stretch. Campo, CO (pop. 103) is only 4 blocks wide and 11 blocks tall on the map and I don't remember seeing a single traffic light when we drove through.

At least the cows were secured behind a fence on this long gravel road, unlike what we experienced when leaving Black Mesa State Park earlier today on the paved roadways.


Some of these guys were pretty subborn and didn't want to clear the road for us to pass.


We also saw a "gang" of female Rocky Mountain Elk on our way out of the park.


Once we arrived and selected our site from the three available here, we leveled THE POD and didn't even bother to unhitch because there is nothing near here we need the truck to go see.

There is however a 1-mile loop trail that goes down into the shallow Carizzo Canyon to a petroglyph site on the canyon wall. The trailhead is right here in the small campground. We decided to wait until our last day here (Wednesday) to go check it out, because the weather will be better suited for outdoor exploring that day.


Believe it or not there is an AT&T tower just outside the frame of this picture.
So each night we were able to stream an Amazon Prime Video for our entertainment.


Each site comes with a very nice shelter with a table, grill and fire pit.


Here's the view from ours.



WEDNESDAY - Just after lunch today with the temperatures in the mid-70°s and the winds less than 10MPH it was time to hit the trail.

It's only 1-mile long and starts right from our campsite, goes down into the shallow Carizzo Canyon, crosses a creek to the other side and then recrosses the creek and returns up the other side for a nice loop trail.



CARIZZO CANYON TRAIL



Our cozy campsite here at Carizzo Canyon Picnic Area.
Right behind our site is the beginning of the trail.
There is a register book they ask everyone to sign who hikes the trail.
At the bottom of the shallow canyon is a spring fed creek we had to cross over twice.
There were several pools large enough to be home for some good sized fish.
Here are the pictographs we were looking for.
Some were very hard to make out what they were.
Three elk like creatures.
This one looks like a ram sheep.
Another elk with huge antlers.
Could these possibly be rabbits?
Just think, all these pictographs were only on the other side of the canyon from THE POD.
One of our water crossings.
Back up on top it's a flat walk back to THE POD.
There's even a separate trail that leads to a handicap accessible overlook.


This concludes our short 3-day visit to Colorado,
but just wait until you see what we explore next year in this state.



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Until next time

TWO PEAS