A Few Days in Colorado and Off to Wyoming

Finally, it was time to take out Diablo on his next adventure. We were able to leave a couple days earlier than we had initially planned which was great. We booked a couple of nights at Lathrop State Park as we make our way to Denver (our first “real” stop). We like stopping at Lathrop as it is a good halfway point for us. We got Diablo all set-up and just kind of lazed around. That afternoon and evening the weather was really windy and we were expecting rain.

The next morning, we woke up to an overcast sky, but we had already planned a hike. We forgot our bear spray and the hike we planned on doing had a number of reviews that mentioned seeing bear scat. So, a quick stop to the Big R in La Veta remedied that problem. We did the Dikes #1389 hike, which has a north and south trail head. We were closer to the north trail head, so we started there. It’s a real short drive from the main road in Cuchara to the trail head. The trail was a steep start with stairs and a steady incline that didn’t seem to quit climbing. The trail was becoming a little overgrown, but there were a few people out doing some trail maintenance that day. It’s a pretty hike with a number of wildflowers and views of the ski hill in Cuchara. The entire hike is 3.3 miles one-way. Since we hadn’t done a lot of hiking this year, we went up a little over 2 miles and then turned around. It turned out to be a beautiful day as the sun was out once we reached the trail head that morning.

We went looking for some supplies and eventually ended up at George’s Drive-In in Walsenburg for lunch. It was a very popular spot and the food was good.

The next morning, we headed to the Denver area. Before we left, we decided to give the Hogback trail in the park another go. We have done this trail a couple of times and each time went a little off course. So, this time we chose to hike the loop clockwise. This worked out and we managed to stay on the trail this time. Yea!

We left Lathrop and headed for Bear Creek Lake Park in Morrison, Colorado. We stayed here before as well and it’s really close to the Red Rocks Amphitheater. Plus, it’s also not too far from the grandkids. So, we got set-up and went over for a visit.

We mainly hung out with the kids for a few days while taking care of some errands. But then it was time for the Teddy Swims concert. They were predicting quite a bit of rain for the night of the concert, but we lucked out that the rain stopped right before we got there and did not rain at all during the concert. Turned out to be a great night, although it was a late night for the granddaughters. We said our goodbyes as the next morning we were moving on to Rawlins, Wyoming.

We stopped at the rest area outside of Laramine, Wyoming and found an interesting monument to President Lincoln. It’s said to be the only monument along his namesake highway, Lincoln Hwy Route 30.

We arrived in Rawlins in the afternoon, quickly got set-up and headed to the Wyoming Frontier Prison Museum. This prison opened in 1901 and officially closed in 1981, when the new prison was finished. When the prison opened it had no electricity or running water and heating system was highly inadequate for Wyoming winters. It first housed both women and men, but that was problematic. So eventually the women were transferred to a prison in Colorado. Wyoming used the Julien Gallows (interesting story on the Julien Gallows), to hang death row inmates until 1936 when the gas chamber replaced hanging as Wyoming’s execution method.

The inmates always had to have a job and there were a number of items produced in the factories on the prison grounds throughout its 80-year history. They made brooms, t-shirts, blankets (during WWII) and finally license plates. License plates were made from 1949 until the doors closed in 1981. In 1987 a low budget movie, Prison, was filmed in the building. The facility was finally declared a historic site in 1988. It was a really good tour and quite interesting to find out the history and the living conditions of the prisoners throughout the years. During October they turn the prison into a haunted venue.

From Rawlins, we continued on our way west to Ogden, Utah. We had a great overnight stop at the Riverside RV Resort. They have a number of amenities including a fitness room, laundry, pool, hot tub, pickleball/basketball court, playground and dog park. Their sites were nice as well. We brought our pickleball stuff and “played” for a bit. Basically, this involved me chasing the ball around after my wayward hit. Took a little walk on the walking path and then decided a nice soak in the hot tub was in order.