Glenwood Canyon and Vail Pass

     We had a beautiful drive today through narrow canyons and high forests.  Somehow both Rick and I thought that we would be spending more time in regions with tall pines rather than scrub oaks, so it was nice to find a lot of pine forest on our drive east to Golden, Colorado.  We got onto I70 going east from US50 which is right where the Colorado River joins the Interstate.  The river is quite broad near Grand Junction, but not a slow and lazy river this time of year.  Lots of water moving downstream.
    As we drove east we came to Rifle, Colorado, where there was a big forest fire that is about 85% contained.  At one point we worried that the Interstate would be closed, but all we saw was haze from the smoke.  This fire, and several others around Colorado, have limited our choices for our last week of vacation here.  A lot of state parks and national forests are closed.  Those that are open have full campgrounds.

Driving through Glenwood Canyon

   We noticed a bunch of huge, red, oddly shaped containers on semi's.  They all turned off at the same spot near Rifle.  A long car trip leaves me with lots of time to ask useless questions, so I Googled the area and found that there are Uranium mines there.  Then I Googled "Uranium ore containers" and got a lot of regulations.  Then I thought maybe I should stop Googling stuff about Uranium since Big Brother is watching.
   Our next portion of the journey was through the Glenwood Canyon which was just amazing.  The canyon is very narrow, with the Colorado just thundering through it.  There are twelve miles where the canyon is so narrow that the lanes of the Interstate are stacked, one above the other.  Some places the west section of I70 goes through a tunnel, while the east section is cantilevered out over the river.  The canyon walls are so tall and so high it is like driving in a tunnel.  Oh, and did I mention that there is also a train track in this canyon?  It is an amazing engineering feat as well as a beautiful drive.  There were five rest areas in the twelve mile stretch (some too small for our RV and car) so that folks can pull off and take pictures.  I took a bunch through the windshield.  You decide how well they turned out.
     After lunch we drove over Vail pass at 11,400 feet (higher than anything so far this trip).  We were down to about 35 MPH near the top, but did not have a hot engine or transmission.  There are no campgrounds in this beautiful area.  Lots of ski resorts and amazing condos.  I think the property value is way too high to use up a big area with nothing but campsites.  I enjoyed seeing Copper Mountain in the summertime after being there many times for skiing.  It is beautiful green as well as white.
     We are now in an urban campground in Golden where we stayed two years ago.  I miss the peace and quiet of the parks, but we are now on our way home.