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Colorado!

petehowell

Well Known Member
Andi and I turned 50 and the RV turned 10 this year. We decided to get out and celebrate! The mission was pretty simple, see an unique National Park, do some mountain flying, and get in a bit of hiking....

We wanted to hit the mountains early so we flew halfway on Thursday night and camped in the pilot lounge at McCook, NE on a hot, rainy night. Shirley at the FBO was the best, gave us the car, and told us the best places to eat. We even caught the local Legion game!

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I woke up at 5 and looked at the radar - we broke camp and scrambled to beat a storm, but not before I got a sunrise pic(the storm was not that close)

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The plains were colorful....
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But soon we saw the mountains! (we are flatlanders - mountains make us happy)
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Thru the Mosca Pass, we got a Glimpse of our park, Great Sands Dunes!
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The Dunes just over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains
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Over the pass and we see the world's largest sandbox!
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We land up in Salida after negotiating the Poncha Pass, pick up a car, and go see the dunes close up...
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Humans for scale - go see this place!
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More Colorado

We even did sand sledding on the dunes. This is a very effective way to get a sand enema.....

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We got to check Leadville off the list...

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They even made Andi a nice certificate!
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Our final day was the big hike - up to over 14K! See this mine area?
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That is this mine area:

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Yep - we are kinda stupid....but we made the saddle
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From where we came....

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Andi made it!
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Some old guy hit on her up there!
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Still lots of snow on the summit!
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Colorado 3!

One final pic with borrowed sign
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The weather always gets dicey around noon in the mountains, so we headed down, easier on the lungs, harder on the knees! We saw this snow ghost on the hike to the car.....
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We got up early to get up and over the mountains to head home. It was a little tricky with the Hayden Pass fire blocking the valley to Pueblo, but we just climbed to 12K and flew over the mountains to Pueblo

Saw 202kts at one point descending into McCook on the return. Great tailwinds over the plains....
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After lunch in McCook, it was an easy flight home - getting us in by 2 and time to start on the pile of emails...

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Some final pics. Andi leading the way to the Hilltop Mine
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Plane has seen some "stuff", and I love it!
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The Dunes in late afternoon sun
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The views are incredible in every direction
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2000 ft above Iowa Gulch
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What a great trip!!!
 
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Old

Hey, you are just getting warmed up. Old will be way later! Nice photography of some beautiful country. Thanks for the great post.
 
Thanks Pete - I've been to Colorado a few times and didn't know about this park.

Looks like a massive dump truck had an accident in the mountains and dropped a pile of sand! Way cool.
 
Thanks Pete

Thanks for the great trip write-up and also thanks again for my first RV ride several years ago while building my RV-7. Your trip write-ups are inspiring. Keep it up!
 
Pete and Andi,
You sure know how to live life. An inspiration for all of us. Keep those cards and letters coming.

Bernie
 
Cool!

Pete,
What a great trip. If you were up here over the 4th of July, then I was also at the Great Sand Dunes National Park. My family and I are lucky to live in Colorado and we love the Dunes too. Besides sledding on sand and hiking the dunes, the river that flows at the base of the Dunes is simply the best place for little ones. The water is only a few inches deep and about 1500' wide. They loved trenching the sand and rerouting the water flow. There is also a neat, short hike to a cool waterfall near the park entrance, which we usually do. I tell you, it sure is nice to have the "World's Largest Sandbox," as you put it, right in our backyard. Of course, with an RV, one's backyard can be a pretty big place!:D
 
Zapata Falls

Mike,

We hiked Zapata Falls and the Mosca Pass trail. Both so close, yet so different than the Dunes. So many environments in so little space. This park really is an under-discovered gem.

All of the Jr civil engineers in the river with buckets and shovel were really fun to watch - the river is a great place to cool off after hiking and sledding the dunes, too!

Just Amazing!
 
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Pete,

Sorry we didn't connect this time but I'm glad you and Andi had a great time in my home state! As always, amazing pictures!
 
Mike,

We hiked Zapata Falls and the Mosca Pass trail. Both so close, yet so different than the Dunes. So many environments in so little space. This park really is an under-discovered gem.

All of the Jr civil engineers in the river with buckets and shovel were really fun to watch - the river is a great place to cool off after hiking and sledding the dunes, too!

Just Amazing!

I'm glad to hear it. Yup, there are many National Parks and Monuments in Colorado, many of which, people don't seem to know about. Great Sand Dunes and Mesa Verde are 2 that come to mind. Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is another one. Shhhh, don't tell anyone. ;)
 
Awesome pics!

Pete,

Awesome pics and looks like great trip. I have read several of your posts, but I don't think I had ever seen a pic of your plane. Really good looking RV!

Todd Wilemon
Aberdeen, MS
 
Been there!

Nice trip report Pete! I grew up in McCook and played baseball on that very same field you were at. In fact, I worked at the airport all through high school as well. Lots of good times there! I assume you went to Macs Drive in for a bite to eat, or at least that's where most people tell others to go! Perhaps I'll run into you at Oshkosh if you are going this year.
 
The Bakery

Tom,

We ate at the Bakery on Norris St. My wife had done some research and picked it for lunch. I had a turkey/apple sandwich that was great, and Andi loved the Ruben. We also checked out the Frank LLoyd Wright home near downtown. McCook is a cool little town(not yesterday at 106, tho!)

Shirley did mention the drive in when we landed.

Based on how we have been treated in McCook last week and Hay Springs last year, it is hard to argue that Nebraskans are not among the friendliest of Americans.
 
Ahh yes

Sehnerts bakery.....good stuff!! Yes it does get hot there, but usually not too much humidity like the eastern side of the state.
 
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