50 + Lazy Camping

  Hi, Carbondale is a small town that sits on the banks of the Crystal River and Roaring Fork River. The summer festival called The  Mountain Fair which is and art and music festival is held at Sopris Park. We had lunch here on the bench in the picture. There is a beautiful view of Mount Sopris from this bench. Carbondale has more than 15 parks or open spaces. The Rio Grande Trail can also be accessed from this town.  We tried to find Bob Terrell State Wildlife Area but were unsuccessful. LAZY CAMPING: White Chili: can chicken 8 oz, 1 tsp dry onion & ground cumin , 1/4 tsp salt and dry oregano, 1 can great northern beans, 1 small can green chilis, and 2 can of chicken broth  Combine all in pan and heat through. (serves 2) Have a great day and night, 💕 50+ Lazy Campers

  Hi, Today we explored some more of the Rio Grande trails. the trail is asphalt with some sections of concrete or compacted gravel. the pavement is 8-10 feet wide. The trail is open to foot, horseback, bicycles, in line skates,  skateboards and wheelchairs. It goes from Glenwood Springs to Aspen which is 42 miles and there are also short spur trails leading to services in the towns adjacent to the Rip Grande Trail. This section of the trail actually starts about 1/2 block from the Hideout Campground. It follows a creek down to the river. Here are some more sections of the trail that we explored. More information about the Rio Grande Trail can be found at  www.riograndetrail.com LAZY CAMPING: If cold then put on a hat. It helps more than you can imagine!  Have a good day and night, 💕 50+ Lazy Campers

  Hi, our place is the Hideout Campground in Glenwood Springs. It was spring break and very hard to find a camp site. Most are still closed this time of year. I think that we had the best campsite there. There are 2 parks across the street from the campground. There was a nice fire ring, so we enjoyed a campfire. LAZY CAMPING:  We use a bag that fastens to the headrest of the car to keep the items that we may need after dark and would have a hard time finding otherwise. Its also good for glasses, keys and flashlight. Have a good day and night, 💕 50 + Lazy Campers

  Hi, This is our dogs birthday and so we took him on a hike to a place that is a few miles from home. In the 30 years that we have lived here we have never visited this site.  Dinosaur Hill is at 2815 H Rd. Grand Junction. The most complete specimen of a Apatosaurus was recovered from this area in 1901. The trail goes up for 1/2 mile in a groomed trail with interpretive signs. The beautiful views at the top are of the Grand Valley and Colorado River.  It was fun to be out hiking with our dog, daughter and her fiance. This 9 Year young boy had a good birthday today!🎂 LAZY CAMPING:  One skillet peanut butter french toast. Make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at home and at camp just dip in egg beaters and fry. Serve with maple syrup. Have a good day and night. 💕 50+ Lazy Campers

  Hi,  We visited the quiet little town of Rangely and the a lake called Kenny Reservoir. The reservoir's inflow and outflow is the White River. Today the water is iced over and so the facilities are closed until April. It will be a great place to camp at that time since the campsites are right on the edge of the lake and they only charge 5 dollars for seniors to camp. Kenny Reservoir is 5 miles east of Rangely on HWY 64. Rangely's history includes Spanish explorers from the Escalante Expedition discovering the White River near Rangely as a crossing place Sept 9, 1776 while seeking a route from Santa Fe to California. Rangely has 4 city parks, community college, automobile museum, recreation center, the Tank Center for the Sonic Arts, a few restaurants, motels and a few RV parks. The Tank center for the Sonic Arts is a 60 ft tall steel water tank use by sound artists to do recordings.  Ron Miles, Mark McCoin and Bruce Odland made a meditative sound track there in 1993 ( tanksou

  Hi, Today we drove the Dinosaur Diamond Scenic& Historic Byway from Loma to Rangely which is on HWY 139. Here is a picture at mile post 30. The next picture here is at Douglas Summit Divide and the mountain are the La Sol Mountains of 12 peaks and over 12,000 feet. Now this is what this Byway looks like at about mile post 50 This next section gets into some of the history of this area. There are petroglyphs and pictographs of the Native American culture dating back more than 1000 years. At about mile post 55 you can find Waving Hands and other rock art. At the East Four Mile site, we did the 1.3 mile easy hike which includes more rock art, an old line shack of the Philadelphia Cattle Co. and more interesting history. The day was cold and windy but we had a great time on this outing. We are so lucky that all this beauty and history can be observed in our home state. LAZY CAMPING: A beach umbrella is so easy to put up and provides shelter while cooking on the camp stove.( if it isn

  Hi, Colbran is a tiny town at the end of HWY 330. It has a population of about 350 people.  The main street has just about everything that is really necessary for living.  The towns unique attraction is the American Service Women's Memorial. This was the first monument constructed in US to honor service women. It was completed in 1976. The location is at the corner of HWY 330 and the main street of Colbran. The parks that we discovered were Terrell Park, Gandi Park and Lilac Park. We had our lunch at Lilac park.  The town also has a short paved walking path along the creek that goes about 1/2 mile with picnic tables at the beginning and end of the path. Shaded and would be great in the warmer weather! LAZY CAMPING: The picture below shows what we keep packed and ready for a traveling lunch (we just have to add bread if we are going to want to make lunch a sandwich) Hope you have a good day and night. 💕50+ Lazy Campers

  Hi, We decided to see Vega State Park this time of year. This is what we found. As you can see its very beautiful but we did not find a place to picnic! LOL! Vega State Park is 8000ft elevation. There is ice fishing, cross country skiing, and a lot of snowmobiles. Those visitors must register at the visitor center.  There are 5 cabins that are open and parking lots plowed all year.  One interesting amenity is that the park offers Landeez All Terrain wheelchairs that will go just about anywhere, for disabled visitors. Our dog had fun in the snow. We really enjoyed the beauty of the area. LAZY CAMPING: For winter camping wear long johns and at bedtime just remove outer layer and the long johns are your PJs. Have a good day and night! 💕 50+ Lazy Campers

  Hi,  The Colorado National Monument has one of the grandest landscapes of west Colorado. It is plateau and canyon country with 32 square miles of rugged terrain. We decided to drive Rim Rock Drive and look at this area as visitors rather than as an area that is basically in our back yard. We drove from the west entrance to the east, stopping at the pull outs and reading  the information about the area. John Otto found this area and promoted this place to be a National Park. He lived in the wild and built miles of trails so others could appreciate the beauty. In 1911 his dream came true and the Colorado National Monument was established. This was a nice picture that we took at the end of the drive. LAZY CAMPING: Take less clothes and food. We always take too much. Have a good day and night, 💕50+ Lazy Campers

  Hi, Today we went to Crawford State Park. Our drive out of Grand Junction was HWY 50 and then east on HWY 92 to the lovely town of Hotchkiss. This town is noted for fresh fruit orchards, local vineyards, sheep dog trials, fly fishing and the Delta County Fair. We continued on east and south on HWY 92 to the town of Crawford. This is a small cattle raising community that is home to the Crawford Reservoir. We went to Crawford State Park which is all around the reservoir.  This park has fishing, camping, boat ramp, swimming (seasonal), nature trail and accessible trail. After exploring this park and taking time to sit at a picnic table enjoying the view, we turned around and went back on HWY 92 to Dogwood Ave and then right on Needle Rock Rd. to reach Needle Rock Natural Area to see Needle Rock. It stands 800 feet tall above the floor of the Smith Fork of the Gunnison River Valley. We returned home over the same roads and it was nice seeing the views from a different angle. LAZY CAMPING

  Hi, The weather was finally nice enough for us to do a long loop scenic drive. We choose Unaweep/ Tabequache Scenic Byway since it  doesn't have the high mountain passes that would still be snow packed. This scenic drive starts at Whitewater and goes west on HWY 141. The first stop was at Driggs Mansion which was built for Lawrence Driggs around 1918. Its a crumbling one story sandstone house in the Unaweep Canyon with a beautiful backstop including Thimble Rock which dates back 1.7 billion years. We continued on towards our next stop which was the West Creek Picnic Area. This park is by a creek and has tables and a vault toilet. This was a good place to stretch our legs. 50 miles on south from Gateway was Naturita, a small town in a stunning valley surrounded by BLM land and the Uncompahgre National Forest. It was also good place to stop and have coffee by the creek.  We cut off on HWY 145 and went through Norwood.  Next we turned onto HWY 62 and went over the Dallas Divide. The

Hi,  Today we explored Parachute / Battlement Mesa.  There is a very pretty park called Western Town Community Park at 273 Sipprelle  Dr. Battlement Mesa, Co. It seems to have something for everyone such as Bike course, Shelter, Dog park, Fitness trail, and play areas, Tables, Benches and a very pretty view. The Parachute Ponds State Wildlife Area looked very interesting with a hike that went to a pond but we didn't know that a SWA pass is needed now to visit these areas. We will soon get our Senior Annual SWA pass! Next we visited the Grand Valley Recreation Center at 398 Arroyo Dr. Battlement Mesa. It is up on a hill with a beautiful view. It has all the usual forms of exercise that recreation centers have but in addition there are table and chair outside looking out on the valley. We discovered that anyone can pay for a day pass and spend the entire day here. In the summer they also show movies outside on the lawn. LAZY CAMPING:  Take store bought hard boiled eggs, precooked bac

  Hi,  Today we are visiting the dog parks in Grand Junction.  CANYON VIEW DOG PARK is at the north end of  Canyon View Park (730 24 Rd). It is divided so the small, senior or shy dog can go in the west entrance and the east area is for active large dogs. Today each area only had 2 dogs while we were visiting. It was more entertaining to sit and watch the ducks. We each had a cup of Black Canyon coffee from Coffee Traders which is a locally owned coffee shop. There are 5 in western Colorado. There is one other dog park and we visited it later in the afternoon. LAS COLONIAS DOG PARK at 1601 Riverfront Park. There are 3 sections but only one open at this time. There were many dogs at this park, playing, running and having a great time! Lazy Camping: Have instant grits for breakfast. They come in individual packets like oatmeal and boiling water is added. We supplement them with bacon bits.  Have a great day and night, 💕 50 + Lazy Campers