Travelling Home...

Our route through Colorado included our first visit to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in western Colorado.  Shonah is now tracking which of the 59 National Parks we have visited in our travels and makes sure that we don't miss any along the way.  (So far we have visited 26 of the 59.)  The National Park Service turns 100 on August 25, 2016, marking a century of stewardship of America's National Parks and engaging communities through recreation, conservation, and historic preservation programs.  Our national parks are truly one of America's greatest treasures!

Travelling through Colorado almost always includes a stop at Copper Mountain, even if just for a night or two, as it holds a special place in our hearts.  Not so far south of Copper Mountain, we again visited Twin Lakes where we enjoy picturesque camping up a 4-wheel drive road at the base of Mt. Elbert.

Most of June and July have been spent at our home base in Ohio where we've completed a few more small projects, both on Todd's parent's home and on STEV I and STEV II.  August will find us back on the road heading west and joining our first ever EarthRoamer owners rally in early September.
 


Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is a United States National Park located in western Colorado.  The park contains 12 miles (19 km) of the 48-mile (77 km) long canyon of the Gunnison River.





The Black Canyon is so named due its steepness which makes it difficult for sunlight to penetrate into it's depths. As a result, the canyon is often shrouded in shadow, causing the rocky walls to appear black. At its narrowest point, the canyon is only 40 ft (12 m) wide at the river.




The Gunnison River drops an average of 34 feet per mile (6.4 m/km) through the entire canyon, making it the 5th steepest mountain descent in North America. By comparison, the Colorado River drops an average of 7.5 feet per mile (1.42 m/km) through the Grand Canyon.

 

Among the various creatures resident in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is this collared lizard perched on a rock.

Beautiful wildflowers alongside the park road in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.




Chip and Todd enjoying a kayak excursion on the Twin Lakes reservoir in Granite, Colorado.



Reflections of the majestic peaks on the Twin Lakes reservoir in Granite, Colorado.



Shonah kayaking on the Twin Lakes reservoir in Granite, Colorado.

Todd and Chip playing in the snow at the top of the ski lifts in Copper Mountain, Colorado.

This is how Chip plays cornhole.  This is the biggest cornhole set we have ever seen and it was fun watching people try to lift and toss the proportionately huge bags.

 

We spotted this marmot while riding the bike trail from Copper Mountain, Colorado to Frisco, Colorado.




The town of Lindsborg, Kansas is known as Little Sweden USA. It was settled by Swedish immigrants way back in the late 1800s and has been making meatballs ever since.  Todd couldn't resist the urge to stop as we drove by and reminisce about his 4 years living in Sweden. 




Sunset over our camping spot in the Wilson Lake reservoir campground near Dorance, Kansas.  After stopping here, we read about the Switchgrass Mountain Bike Trails which have been dubbed "Epic" by the International Mountain Biking Association.  Unfortunately, we did not get an opportunity to explore the trails as the main reason we stopped here was due to an approaching storm which made the trails rather muddy.  We will stop by here again to explore the trails during one of our cross country trips.

 



Todd and Chip enjoying a Stand-Up Paddleboard excursion on the Clinton Lake reservoir near Clinton, Kansas.