The Wet Way West

The drive across Kansas was a wet and dreary one. We stopped in Dodge City for an overnight and a visit to Dodge City Brewing for some good beer and decent pizza while watching the bull riding championships on multiple TVs. We awoke the next morning to the sound of rain and reports of flooding and road closures. We looked at each other and agreed that it was time to get out of Dodge.

Dodge City has many grain elevators and cattle feed lots. We felt right at home with a view of this grain silo.

We entered Colorado by way of Rt 50 into Pueblo, an area we’ve not explored. We set up camp in The Pueblo Lake State Park.

The park is on a large reservoir with an extensive system of bike/hiking trails and easy access to the water. The campground was largely empty during our stay.

Can you spot the Tincan?

The dam that created the reservoir.

We spent an afternoon exploring the city center of Pueblo. The city was built at the confluence of Fountain Creek and the Arkansas River. In 1921 the Arkansas River flooded bringing ruin to much of Pueblo. The reservoir where we’re camped was created to prevent future flooding.

In 1996 they began construction of a Riverwalk along the Arkansas River in an attempt to bring business and people back to a fading downtown.

The central core was a mix of old and new architecture with a number of empty storefronts. We did spot some interesting murals.

It appears that things can get out of hand here in Pueblo.

The plan was to head over to Gunnison and do some exploring. At 7,703ft, cold wet weather means snow. Evening temperatures were predicted to drop into the twenties. Time for a new destination. We decided to head south to Alamosa and the Great Sand Dunes.

Snow in La Veta Pass on our way south

We setup camp about half way between Alamosa and Great Sand Dunes NP. Alamosa is a college town of about 10,000 people with some good restaurants, two coffee houses and a couple of breweries. There is also a cooperative bookstore that the community organized and supports.

Our front door view

As much as we liked Alamosa we came to the area to explore Great Sand Dunes NP.

The park was stunning. We enjoyed the experience so much that we decided to spend two extra days in the area.

More details to come.