The teepees are just for fun.
Back north from Moab to the I-70 and then east. Again some strange moonscape scenery.
All the folds on this rock make it look like drapery –
and when seeing this one it almost gives the appearance of being made of velvet.
Then out of the rocks into agricultural land. Lots of farms. This one though is a vineyard. Lots of wineries up here. Didn’t know they grew grapes in Colorado.
All this time we have been climbing higher and higher. Heading up to almost 11,000 feet.Got lucky with this shot – doesn’t it look like a chess piece?
Stopped and had a leisurely lunch by the river.
There was a guy there fishing when we first got there. Guess he didn’t like our company as he picked up his stuff and split. Or maybe the fishing wasn't any good.This road is really interesting. Not enough room in places to build the east and west roads side by side so the westerly road is built above and to the side of the east bound road.
Quite an engineering feat. Then we went through the first set of tunnels.
Inside the tunnel.
And down off the east bound road between it and the river is a bike path. These people were going down hill but saw lots of them pedaling up hill.
At 9000 feet yet. Must have good legs and lungs. The scenery was really beautiful. Saw one person in a canoe or kayak in the river heading for some rapids. He was out of sight too fast to take a picture. We were also seeing lots of aspens that had turned yellow. The hills looked like patch work quilts – the greens and yellows. So pretty.
Since we’d been in Colorado we’d been seeing signs that said all truckers had to carry chains from Sept 1 to May 31st.
Chains? In September? Then we went around a corner and these beautiful snow capped mountains came in view. We both said WOW – then started to discus the snow. “Was it there all year?” or “Was it fresh snow?” If it was that meant that it had snowed recently – in September! Wow!
We were steadily climbing up towards Vail Summit which is 10,666 feet. Jennie was performing like a champ. Just chugging along, not getting hot, not complaining.We kept climbing. The snow level kept getting closer and closer to us.
Lots of snow on the ground below us.
Soon it was right next to us. Snow on the ground just off the highway.
Soon snow was all around us and we headed towards a tunnel. After we came out of the tunnel we could see a storm over the mountains in the distance. Hoped we weren’t headed that way.
As we neared the Eisenhower Tunnel the mountains were covered with snow.
The Eisenhower – Johnson tunnel was built under the Continental Divide and at an elevation of 11,158 ft above sea level, it is one of the highest vehicular tunnels built. And it’s pretty long too. That answers the question of why I didn’t see a sign announcing we were crossing the Continental Divide.
Going down the eastern side of I-70 were some pretty sharp grades. One section is a 6% grade for five miles, and CDOT (Colorado Dept of Transportation) goes to great lengths to make sure truckers know this. There are signs all along this stretch that say things like "6% Grade / Truckers Stay in Low Gear", and after a brief flat section there is sign that says "Don't Be Fooled / Still Another Four Miles of 6% Grade / Truckers Stay in Low Gear." There is one runaway ramp.
I’ve always wondered how it feels to be in a truck that has lost it brakes, going down a curvy 6% grade and the sign says the runaway ramp is ONE MILE away. Got to be an awfully long mile. Brings to mind all kinds of trucking songs.
Anyway we ended up spending the night at the bottom of the grade in Golden, Colorado. Just stayed in the campground – someday will have to go back and nose around that area some.
I asked about the snow and the campground lady said they had snow on the ground in the campground a week ago. It got cold enough at night but glad the weather was clear.
No comments:
Post a Comment