Great Sand Dunes, Rocky Mountain National Park and Scott's Bluff

I just finished up a 2600 mile trip and it is highly recommended. I left Missouri and picked up the Santa Fe trail in Kansas. The thunderstorms and hail finally parted and the weather was fantastic the rest of the trip.


Camped at Cimarron National Grasslands the first night. The animals were great. Woke up listening to birds, saw frogs etc. I believe camping was 7 dollars for the night. The Milky Way was clear and a great way to start the trip.


From there I continued down the Santa Fe trail through Oklahoma and continued to watch birds etc. Then after continuing West I stopped at Clayton Lake in New Mexico to look at some Dinosaur prints there were discovered after they built the dam. It is a nice .5 mile hike to the prints it was lovely and you could see fish in the water, birds, butterflies and several lovely plants.


From there I drove to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. I camped at Blanca Mountain. I started up the 4x4 trail but the ground was not level so camping would have been difficult. I turned around after snapping some photos and camped lower on the mountain. I then drove into the park and started the Medano Pass Primitive Road. This road was easy and I aired down to 25 PSI at first and after a truck in front of me stopped I got stuck in the sand too. When I built my sleeping platform in the back of my truck parts double as Hobo Max Traxx. Used those and got out no problem. The sand got softer and I aired down to 13 PSI and finished out the trail.


From there I went to Hermit Lake and this is where it gets interesting. A member had said that the pass was open but it was not. This road was listed in a trail guide that I have and was listed as moderate. The trail itself did not have major obstacles but with the recent snow melt the road was rough and slow going.


I kept looking ahead and a little above 12,000 feet I hit snow. Unfortunately at that point there was no way to turn around so I was left with no choice but to back down the trail. Unfortunately it was narrow and going over the obstacles backwards was a little trickier than going forward. Luckily I was able to back down and turn around after a nauseating yet exhilarating time. It was dark when I was able to turn around and I was a bit shaky so I slept on that section of the trail and figured if a ranger was up there I would gladly take a ticket because that meant my Taco, dog and myself were safe. Beautiful spot and I was blessed to see elk on the ridge above my camp spot, I also saw Yellow Bellied Marmots, Pika's, Green Tailed Towhee and some other birds.

From there I headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park. Saw Elk, Moose, Big Horned Sheep, White Tailed Ptarmagin, American Pipit, White-crowned Sparrow, Brown-capped Rosy-Finch and numerous other animals. I ended up camping at Meeker campground which was lovely.





After a couple days visiting the park and hiking the areas I could with a dog I made way to Wyoming and picked up the Oregon Trail and followed it backwards to Missouri. I stopped at Scotts Bluff National Monument then headed out to Chimney Rock. From there I continued along the Orgeon trail to Missouri. Along the way I saw area's of the Lewis and Clark trail and I cannot wait to go explore some more.


For the most part all camping was free and I cooked off a camp stove. Overall it was a cheap vacation and my little 4x4 averaged 22 MPG on the trip while being loaded full with supplies, climbing gear etc.

 

great pics. sounds like u had a awesome time.

 

Nice! I grew up around the Sand Dunes, and have been up to RMP plenty of times. Glad you enjoyed it!