Rangely, CO — My previous visits to Colorado always involved driving from the Denver airport to Loveland, Fort Collins, or Colorado Springs so you might understand why I never really understood John Denver’s passion for the place. This trip I came up from New Mexico on 285 into Walsenburg, a pretty drive, and then took 24 out of Colorado Springs to Aspen. Wow!
I know many of you reading this blog are familiar with I-24, so you might recognize some of these places. This first picture was taken west of Ute Pass. Not a lot of trees here!
Now, about this time I’ve got a John Denver tune running through my head. Unfortunately it’s completely wrong. “Take me home country road” is song about West Virginia! Oh well!!
I was hesitant to take the road over Independence Pass, because of both the elevation, and the weather. But having conquered Beartooth Pass I figured what’s another thousand feet? Except for a few hairpin turns, the road up the east side was pretty easy driving. The sky ended up being overexposed in these next shots, even when I manually under exposed them by almost two stops.
Here’s a couple of shots from the top
Despite having a vehicle length restriction of 35′, I think this road is much easier to drive than Beartooth. The only challenge was on the west side where, in several places, the road was less than two lanes wide. I could have easily scraped the camper along a rock wall like in this next picture. I was lucky that I never had to pass oncoming traffic in the narrow bits. In the picture you can see that they simply stop painting a center line when the road gets narrow. Notice the skid marks?
The aspens were amazing on the west side of the pass
I passed through the town of Aspen, and ended up on I-70. I then turned north at Rifle, CO and eventually found my way onto highway 64. This road runs along the White river as it wanders for miles through a beautiful river valley.
Looking for a place to stop along the river I stumbled upon this unmarked campground on a small reservoir near Rangely. I was hoping to find a place like this. There wasn’t a sign on the road, just a small sign down off the road that said campground open. I had the entire campground to myself — it was just me, the fish (they were jumping), and a couple of rabbits. I’m guessing that if there had been a sign, it might have cut into the business of a couple of RV campgrounds a few miles down the road in Rangely. It only cost $8 to stay here.
Miles traveled today: 219
Total Miles Traveled: 4674
Average Miles per day: 234
Next stop: Utah
I passed through Rangely CO last year on my bike trip headed south. A small oil town reminded me of a lot of places I worked in years ago in Alberta.
I swung south from Rangely and drove SR 139 down to Grand Junction. Great road and very scenic – except that I ran through a thunderstorm of biblical proportions! Flooding on the road, mud everywhere, could hardly see, soaked to the bone…. was lucky not to dump the bike. An adventure not the less…
Too bad you missed Pagosa Springs CO on the way north from Santa Fe. Great pub there named Riffraff’s – they make a spectacular IPA!
Aside from the lack of real waterfront property, CO is truly one of the most beautiful places in the country!
When I first heard “Rocky Mountain High” I knew exactly what John Denver meant. I went to middle and high school in Rifle.
I made the trip north from Rifle (same road as to Rangely) many times with my grandfather, to Meeker to fish in the winter. I even briefly dated a girl from Rangely. That was a long drive in the winter, and I only did it a couple of times!