Journeying Along the Arkansas River – Part 1

After two days, we left Cripple Creek and headed down off the mountain.  Levon Helm was singing in my ear all the way down to Colorado Springs – “When I get off of this mountain, you know where I want to go…”.  It was good to leave the winter weather and the high altitude effects at 10,000 ft.  Once I got down below 8,000 ft, my headache went away and I was no longer gulping for air after a few steps.

The next leg of our Colorado road trip was to follow a more leisurely and gradual route back into the mountains along the Arkansas River.  From Colorado Springs, we made our way over to Canon City to connect with Route 50 and follow along the Arkansas River northward to Leadville.

Canon City

Canon City is a nice small city of 16,000 people.  It’s claim to fame is being the gateway to the Royal Gorge area of the Arkansas River.  This is a popular tourist destination for rafting and sightseeing.  The Canon City area is also nicknamed “Prison Valley” as it is home to 13 prisons which include – The Colorado State Penitentiary, Colorado Territorial Correction Facility, and the Federal Corrections Complex, which houses the super maximum security prison (Supermax).  The baddest of the bad are housed at the Supermax.  The Unabomber (Ted Kaczynski), Terry Nichols, The Underwear Bomber, Shoe Bomber (Richard Reid), Eric Rudolph, and the Boston Marathon Bomber (Dzhokhar Tsarnaev) are housed there.  It’s known as “The Alcatraz of the Rockies”.  There are 9,000 inmates in Prison Valley.  We didn’t stop to visit, but prisons aside, Canon City looks like a nice place.

Here’s a dashcam video of Main Street.

We drove past the Royal Gorge area with its multitude of rafting outfitters, zip lines adventures, ATV tour operators, and several RV parks.  It cost $25 per person to get into the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park just to walk across the bridge over the gorge.  No thanks.  We kept driving and quickly found a more sedate section of the river through the BLM Bighorn Sheep Canyon section of the river.

Texas Creek

About 13 miles west on Route 50 from Royal Gorge is a little junction in the road called Texas Creek. There’s nothing in Texas Creek except a convenience store.  Just across the river on the northern side, there’s a BLM section of land where I was planning to park overnight.  When we got to Texas Creek, it seems like lots of other RV’s with ATV had made plans to camp there for the holiday weekend.  There were big groups of RV’s parked together and lots of ATV and dirt bikes buzzing around.  Not my idea of a sedate place to camp.

So, I went with Plan B which was just 2 miles down the road to Sweetwater Motel and Campground.  It’s just a little place with a small motel and 15 campsites sites along the river.  A little pricey at $40 per night but the location is prime.  We got one of the last empty sites on the holiday weekend.

The facilities of this place are nothing to rave about.  The electrical outlet at my site worked but it looked to be a bit worn from over use.  The two mens showers had fluctuating cold to lukewarm water with slow drains.  For $40, I don’t expect having to take a cold shower while standing in a rising puddle of soapy water.   There was no cell service in Texas Creek.  No 4G, 3G, or 1X service   Nada, nothing, no signal what so ever.  The “free” internet from the campground also didn’t function.

And, my welcoming came from our camping neighbors little white fluff ball Yorkie who came after me just as I stepped out of the RV.  The little white fluff ball came straight at me at full run yapping and barking.  I just stood my ground expecting a bluff charge, but the little 10 in tall shit-box bit me on my left shoe and wouldn’t let go.  I was about to drawn back my right foot and and send “Fluffly” airborne like a football field goal, when the neighbor came out of her trailer.  I said – “Your dog just bit me.  You need to control that animal”.  Her response – “She’s just territorial.”  No apology or discipline of the dog.  She gave me a scowl, grabbed the dog, turned, and put “Fluffy” in a cage.  A perfect example that shows why most bad dogs are the result of bad owners.   Luckily, “Fluffy” didn’t cause a wound.  And lucky for her she stayed in her cage during our entire stay.  I’m an easy-going guy, but to paraphrase Woodrow Call from Lonesome Dove – ” I won’t tolerate bad behavior from a dog”.  I would readily put one down that came after me.

But aside from the dog attack and poor facilities, we had an enjoyable afternoon along the river.  I was great to just sit for an extended time and not be moving.  The weather was perfect and the views spectacular.  Here are some pictures.

Westcliffe

After one night in Texas Creek, we took a side trip south on Route 69 to check out the valley on the eastern edge of the Sangre De Cristo Mountains.  On the map, it looks like a sparse area and I figured it would be a good off-the-beaten path exploration.  We were rewarded with stunning views of a wide green valley bordered by white-capped mountains.  The valley is sparse and dotted with cattle and horse ranches. The only town of substance is Westcliffe about 24 miles south from Texas Creek.  Westcliffe is not a tourist town but more of a working cattlemans town.  Here some pictures and a video we took on this side trip down Route 69.

We made it backup to Route 50 and continued our journey up the river to our next planned stops at Salida, Buena Vista, and Leadville.