Bruce and Ethan's
Most Excellent Colorado Adventure!

Page Five: Aspen

Page One: Taos to Durango to Silverton * Page Two: Silverton to Ouray

Page Three: Jeeping Out of Ouray * Page Four: Salida

Page Six: Hot Sulphur Springs and Estes Park

 

ASPEN

Elevation: 8,000 feet
Population: 6,658

We head north on US Hwy 285 with our next destination being a National Park campground just 5 miles to our side of Aspen. Hwy 285 becomes Hwy 24 and then we take a left on Hwy 82 which goes over Independence Pass. The pass is closed in the winter and folks have to take the long way around which is to continue North to I-70 then go left and then turn left again at Glenwood Springs dropping down in to Aspen. The long way takes 3.5 hours while Independence pass takes 2 hours (unless you stop along the way like we did).

Aspen road

Turning off on Hwy 82 headed for Independence pass we are immediately met with two adjoining lakes called Twin Lakes.

We continue on over the pass going through absolutely stunningly beautiful scenery.

Hwy 82

Independence Pass

Independence Pass

Independence Pass

Independence Pass

Here we are at the top of the pass at a little over 12,000 feet.

Independence Pass

In the next picture we are down at the bottom of the pass but not yet to our campground. This is typical of the area we camped in.

Difficult campground

The campground we are staying in is called Difficult Campground but there was absolutely nothing difficult about it.

Difficult campground

We get set up and Bruce (a.k.a. Acheananda - meaning "bliss of the Primal One") goes for some rays. Bruce and I went to California when we were about 18 in his 55 Ford. We stayed in a small 3 room house with a friend who had recently gotten a puppy. Bruce was trying to potty train it and a good friend who had come out to join us gave Bruce the nickname "Ace" for ace dog trainer. This became Ache shortly thereafter which is Ace in Spanish. In the past few years since we have become followers of Amma I changed his name once again to Acheananda. Ananda means bliss. So his name means the bliss of the Primal One (ace being one). As an aside, Bruce and I have known each other since we were 13 and we grew up two houses from each other.

Difficult campground

Below are goose berries. We asked the host about them. They were absolutely thick everywhere! So we ate a lot of them lest the branches be unduly burdened with the excess weight. Very sweet and juicy and so delicious! Almost no seed in them. The bears probably love these!

Campsite

Every campsite has a bear box. All food items, utensils, pots and pans and anything that might smell remotely like food have to go in here at night. The host at the entry advised us that if anything is left in the camper shell, the bears will tear it apart. The instructions on the front of the box say CAUTION: BE SURE BOTH TOP AND BOTTOM LATCHES ARE FASTENED!

Difficult campground

Everywhere we went, the state park and national park toilets were always clean and nice.

Difficult campground

We decide to go into Aspen and check it out. It's only 5 miles. We are arriving on a Sunday evening and go to the downtown area. There are three streets making a U shape that are blocked off and appear to be permanently blocked off. The streets are paved with bricks unlike all the other streets. We are not sure if this goes on every night because there are lots of businesses on these streets.

There are three musical groups. One is a brass band with two trumpets. One is 5 Sousaphones if you can imagine such a thing! They were really very interesting to listen to. And the third was a string quartet - most excellent. While we were watching and listening to the string quartet, Bruce remarked that we were in an enchanted place. So true!

In the next picture you can see the Sousaphone group (a.k.a. tubas).

Aspen

This woman was hitting on Bruce but he passed. He said, "My friend's available!" and then she passed! :-) You can see open air restaurant seating behind her. We regretted having eaten at the campsite because the restaurants looked like a lot of fun!

Aspen

The building in the picture below is the Aspen Opera House.

Aspen

Brass quintet below.

Aspen

String quartet

Aspen

When it was dark we drove back to our campsite and entered into the cozy womb of our sleeping bags. At no time on the trip were we ever cold or uncomfortable sleeping. I had a 2 inch foam roll-up pad that was totally comfortable. The coldest it got was 48 degrees but mostly everywhere it was low 50s at night and low 80s in the day.

On the next page we will be going to Hot Sulfur Springs for a night and then driving the world famous Trail Ridge Road from there to Estes Park.

Go to

Page One: Taos to Durango to Silverton

Page Two: Silverton to Ouray

Page Three: Jeeping Out of Ouray

Page Four: Salida

Page Six: Hot Sulphur Springs and Estes Park

 

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