June 22 Outing

We love outings. So, Sunday found us and a friend loading into the Escape Pod and heading West. About 20 minutes later, we made a turn north in Canon City (Canyon city is the way to pronounce it but I can't find the Mexican squiggly n...) about 10 minutes later, we turned off onto a steep incline of a BLM (Bureau of Land Management, read public lands) road.
For the next few hours we took the 4wd up and down, in and out, got out and hiked, drove further back into wilderness, got out and hiked some more... the entire day (once pulled off on BLM roads) we did not see another soul.
We saw the chimney rock (pictured above) off in the distance, unfortunately there was a rugged canyon between us and it, so this is about as close as we got. What a great day!
For unbroken wilderness like this to be less than half an hour away is wonderful. Colorado has 8.3 MILLION ACRES of public lands... free to hike, camp, fish, swim... they are there for us to enjoy...we do and will, for sure.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018999&id=1603875079&l=457a74e0a1 is a link to our photo album from the trip.

It was extraordinarily hot (near 100) but that really didn't phase us. The air conditioning in the Escape Pod (Ford Escape) kept us satisfied between stops. The rose quartz in this region is spectacular but nothing compared to the views that round every bend. The sounds coming from our vehicle must have been comparable to Fourth of July fireworks with all the sounds of "oooh" and "ahhhh" emanating quite frequently. We've learned to carry a cooler with water bottles and lots and lots of sunscreen. At 5,000 to 10,000+ ft of elevation it is easy to burn and especially the reflection from snow and water is deceptive.
We hiked, scrambled up and down rocks, and took tons of photos. Who could ask for a better day?