Western Wandering- Rockies to Flaming Gorge
After a brief hiatus in Denver, Kevin and I were back on the road. The first stop was a lake near the tiny mining town of Rollinsville, Colorado. We arrived in late afternoon and set out to explore the old tracks of the Denver, Northwestern & Pacific Railroad as well as the Moffat Tunnel, where over two dozen railroad workers died in the process of constructing a passageway through the Continental Divide.
What we discovered was a ghost town whose residents probably vanished with the futile quest for gold. Boarded up buildings and abandoned railroad equipment served as eery testaments to a time that came and went. I later learned from a local bartender that people still pan for gold in this canyon. While most people left town and moved on, some continue to chase the dreams of the pioneers.
A boarded up, abandoned home scares away curious visitors with broken glass, trash, and a dilapidated draw bridge.
For dinner, we headed to Nederland about five miles away which represents an altogether different era. Art galleries, funky boutiques, rock shops, a cannabis club, and a co-op grocery store line the streets, making up a liberal enclave Kevin thinks sprouted during the sixties. The town boasts some interesting history like being the recording destination for the likes of The String Cheese Incident and hosting a spring festival “Frozen Dead Guy Days” that celebrates a cryogenically frozen Norwegian man “Grandpa Bredo” who’s been sheltered in a shed in the hills for decades.
After a satisfying Indian dinner and a perfect cup of milk chai at Kathmandu Restaurant, we hunkered down in the lakefront cabin until dawn.
After exploring the train tracks and Rollinsville, we enjoyed a satisfying Indian meal at Kathmandu Restaurant in Nederland.
We arrived at Rocky Mountain National Park just after sunrise when the valleys were still resting beneath the shade of mountain peaks and the meadows sparkled with frost. Low hanging clouds seeped over the Continental Divide as marmot waddled across the roads and moose made their way through swampy fields.
Our early start allowed us to drive clear across Colorado to Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area on the Utah-Wyoming border, where we camped right near the rim of a beautiful red rock canyon that outlines a large reservoir. The site is near Dinosaur National Monument and has its own share of dinosaur and marine fossils. The scenery was incredible yet there wasn’t another camper in sight. Two rangers at the visitor center told us that most people from Utah don’t even know the place exists. Kevin and I only learned about it after spotting the large body of water on a map the day before and then looking it up on his iPhone and finding some enticing pictures. While I’m usually against depending on technology while traveling, I must admit that access to sites like Yelp have helped us add spontaneity to our travels; we can learn about places on the go and divert our path at any time.
We jumped on the chance to say hello to Utah again before a long journey north.
There's nothing like a sun lit gorge after a long day in the car. Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, Utah. Photo: Kevin Schnepel
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“Western Wandering” is an ongoing travel series by Serena Renner on MeridianCollective.org that will feature photos, text and video from her Western U.S. road trip in August and September of 2010. See her first installment Utah’s Color Country here.
