My Southwest U.S. Trip

Hey guys, I recently took a trip around Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. Thought I'd share some of my pics. Hope you all enjoy! Fort Collins-Breckenridge-Salida-Pagosa Springs-Sedona-Petrified Forest NP-Saguaro NP-Tombstone-Guadalupe Mountains NP-Carlsbad Caverns NP-Roswell-Fort Collins.

 

The first day I took off from Fort Collins and headed up to Breckenridge to see some family and just hang out. About 15 minutes on the road I end up getting in a 5 car pile up on I25. Luckily everyone was not too injured and once again the taco was the only vehicle to drive away. The next day I drove to Salida and did some awesome mountain biking! Ended up staying right outside Salida on a forest service road. Great view!

Accident pics only lost some paint and had to tighten the swingout lever. The other cars.... didn't make out so well....There were about 5 cars involved in total, all had to be towed away except for the taco.


The car that ended up being pushed into me


Salida and camping pics

 

After Salida, I headed down to Pagosa Springs to check out the hot springs and just relax for the day. Camped somewhere between Pagosa Springs and Durango.

 

Left Durango area and went mountain biking at Phils World near Cortez, still some of my favorite biking! Headed towards Sedona and made it to Flagstaff for the night. For some reason, my trucks dash lights and tail lights stopped working but ended up just being a fuse. Made it to Flagstaff and at camp, my truck decided it didn't want to start but I just banged on the starter and it started right up. Those ended up being the only issues of the trip and haven't had them since.

Flagstaff campsite

 

Finally made it back to Sedona! This was my third time and I have always wanted to go back. Took the truck on the Broken Arrow trail which was kind of sentimental to me because about 13 years ago that trail and the Pink Jeep Tour was how I was introduced to wheeling so it was really cool being able to take my own truck there. All the people in the jeeps were taking pics of the truck and it was hilarious! Had the most scenic campsite I've probably ever had!

 

Enjoyed Sedona and headed to Petrified Forest NP! It was pretty cool seeing old trees turned into rocks. It kind of reminded me of the Badlands NP. Camped outside of Payson AZ.

 

After the Petrified Forest NP, I went down to Tucson to see Saguaro NP. I didn't realize how tall the cacti were! The tallest ones were about 30-40 ft. Checked out the airplane boneyard while I was there and it was wild seeing how many aircraft were there. It was cool seeing all of them since I used to work on some of those planes in the Air Force.

 

After Tucson, I went to Tombstone and wandered around for a little bit. Left Tombstone and headed to the border of Mexico. With all the "build the wall" talk I wanted to see it for myself. I saw the border in Douglas AZ. After the border, I camped somewhere in New Mexico and saw an amazing sunset!

 

Went to the Guadalupe Mountains NP which was cool but the weather was bad so I didn't end up doing much there but luckily Carlsbad Caverns NP was right down the road and it was amazing! I've been to a lot of caves and I think this might have been my favorite. After CCNP I went to Roswell and checked out the UFO museum and grabbed a t-shirt for my dad. After Roswell, I was getting tired of the desert and headed back to FOCO.

 

Kool..........that's a lot of pics !!!!!!!!!!

 

How many miles was all that?

 

Ehhh I think it was around 2,500 miles or so.

 

looks like a great trip

 

You should post that bumper pic to https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...impact-with-pics.379600/page-40#post-20886614

 

This makes me want to take my truck out west! Very cool pictures!

 

Super cool. I'm glad to see Tucson make an appearance. Next time you're down here, check out Mt. Lemmon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Lemmon). Not a park but some good stuff.

 

Looks like a fun tour! I’ve lived in SW CO for 12 years and still never been down to see Carlsbad... really should though.