Vega State Park - July 25th to 28th, 2020
Life is full of ups and downs and our stay at Vega State Park was no exception. Several things went wrong, but we took them in stride. We didn't let those things stop us from enjoying our time in the park.
From Rangely, we headed south on CO 139, part of the Dinosaur Diamond Scenic Byway. The first part of the trip is through Canyon Pintado National Historic District. Many of the rest areas along the road were labeled as interpretive sites, but we did not stop to check them out. Then we remembered that we had left our Verizon Jetpack (paid link) on and we didn't want to incur any roaming charges, so we pulled over at a pull off near the sign for Kokopelli Recreation Site to turn the Jetpack off. There was a point of interest sign at the pull off about how the Douglass Creek was named after the Ute Chief Douglass. It also explained how the misuse of the land by the disappearance of beaver due to trapping and the overgrazing of cattle and sheep led to erosion starting in the 1800's. Modern day ranchers are using improved livestock management to reduce the erosion. Right across the street from the pull off were some pictographs. The one pictograph has been identified as Kokopelli. Kokopelli is seen in one form or another from Mexico to Utah.
Then the landscape changed from a desert of sage brush to evergreen forests as we started up to Douglass Pass. Once we crossed over the pass and headed back down, the landscape changed back to desert as we approached Fruita. Of course we had to stop at the Welcome Center in Fruita for a picnic lunch and ice cream for dessert at Enstroms, just like we had done when we visited Colorado National Monument earlier in the summer. A few days after we passed through this area, the Pine Gulch Wildfire started from a lightning strike just east of highway 139. From July 31st until it was fully contained on September 23rd, the fire consumed 139,000 acres. That was the largest wildfire in Colorado's history up to that point. Unfortunately, it was just the beginning as two more wildfires would surpass that record later in the year.
It was about 2 pm by the time we reached Vega State Park. We tried to go right to our campsite, but someone was already set up in our site. A woman was at the site, but her husband had taken the car and cell phone to go buy ice, so she could not verify her campsite number. We went over to the camp host who went back and talked with the woman. They had the wrong camp site number. Since they already had their tents set up, we agreed to take their site for one night and move back the following day. However, when her husband came back, he felt their reserved site worked better for them. Since it takes hardly any time for us to set up our camper van, we agreed to switch sites back to our original reservations.
Before dinner, we decided to take an hour long walk and check out the nearby hiking trail. However, between the Hiking Project and All Trails, we could not find the beginning of the trail from the Aspen Grove Campground. After about forty minutes of searching, we found the trail. It started at the Cattleman Meadows Day Use Area parking lot, not at the campground. Despite not hiking any of the official trail, we still enjoyed our walk. There were cattle down by the lake and two sandhill cranes near the cattle. A couple of osprey were in a nest up on top of a tall man-made pole and platform. A couple of marmot crossed the road in front of us and several great blue herons flew by.
Dinner was Greek quinoa with cucumbers, tomatoes, goat cheese, and fresh basil from our home garden. While RB was chopping up the basil, she managed to slice about one quarter of her fingernail off her index finger. We could not get the bleeding to stop until LB applied Neosporin ointment and tightly wrapped some gauze followed by first aid tape. LB graciously finished cooking dinner by himself.
After dinner, we sat in our camp chairs at our camp site and watched the wildlife theater unfold before us. A couple of deer walked by and lots of birds chattered and flew back and forth between the bushes. Chipmunks climbed and hopped among the branches in the bushes and a woodpecker pecked for insects in the nearby aspen trees. An osprey flew overhead with a fish in its talons. We could hear the cattle mooing in the distance.
We spent most of the next day on Grand Mesa. Grand Mesa is the largest flat-topped mountain in the world and offers some scenic views. From Vega State Park, we drove back to CO 65, the Grand Mesa Scenic Byway, and headed south. Mesa Lakes is just before you reach the top of the mesa. We didn't realize that Mesa Lakes is a USDA Forest Service fee area, but it was only $6 to enter. We went to the Mesa Lakes Trailhead, a short distance from CO 65, at the end of the road into the Mesa Lakes area. At 10:30 am, we had no trouble finding a parking space. The lot was full when we left in the early afternoon.
We hiked up to Lost Lake. We were not expecting to be in evergreen forests most of the way since we knew we were over 10,000 feet in elevation. It was only about two miles up to Lost Lake and back, so we added the trail around Mesa Lake to make it a little over three miles total. There are several lakes in the area and they are all crystal clear. Lots of people were fishing and boating. The lakes are pretty small and we don't believe motor boats were allowed in the lakes. All the boats we saw were row boats, canoes, and paddle boards.
The area also had picnic tables, a campground, and cabins for rent. We ate our lunch at one of the picnic tables where we could hear the sound of the stream flowing next to us. After lunch, we continued the scenic drive on CO 65 all the way to Cedaredge where we turned around. There was a cute shaded roadside picnic area in Cedaredge, right next to a stream.
On the way back down off the mesa, we managed to get stuck behind a line of cars that required LB to ride the brakes most of the way down. He was trying not to use the Tow Haul mode since we had trouble with the transmission overheating earlier that week. By the time we were almost all the way down, the TPMS (paid link) sounded an alarm. Our tires were running too hot, probably due to all of the braking. We pulled over to try to let them cool down. However, it was 90 degrees outside and we were sitting in the sun. After about 15 minutes, we decided the tires were not going to cool off any time soon, so we started down the road again, driving slowly. Since most of the downhill grade was over, this seemed to do the trick. By the time we made it to the next little town, Collbran, the tire temperatures were back in the normal range.
We needed Coke, eggs, and firewood, but somehow we missed the market in Collbran, so we tried stopping at the Vega Lodge since they advertised that they had a convenience store. Their store didn't sell much, mainly ice and a few single snack items, but they said the camp hosts sell firewood. So when we got back to our camp site, we bought a bundle of wood from our camp host.
Dinner was pizza on flour tortillas. LB cut up the green pepper and onion to keep RB away from the knife, and RB cooked the pizzas on the butane stove (paid link). She couldn't find the regular pepperoni at the store the last time, so she got the mini pepperonis. They seemed to fit better on our small pizzas anyway.
As the sun started to set, LB got the campfire going. We hadn't made a campfire in years. Usually we are too tired or lazy to build one, we don't have any firewood, there is a fire ban in place, or we don't want to use up our water putting one out. Well, there was no fire ban where we were, firewood and water were readily available, and we had a leisurely day. It was nice just to sit around the fire and watch it burn for a couple of hours before heading to bed.
In the morning, we hiked the trail that started at the Cattleman Meadows Day Use Area. It follows along the south side of the reservoir, but if you're looking for views of the lake from the trail, this is not for you. Most of the time the trail is in a large grove of aspen trees with heavy underbrush. There are not really any highlights along the trail, but it is a pleasant walk through the woods, mostly in the shade. There are some wildflowers along the trail, but not as dense as the wildflowers out in the meadows. We did see something that looked like red raspberries growing along the trail, but neither of us were daring enough to take the risk and try one.
We startled a deer, which in turn startled us, not far from the trail. It stood and stared at us to see what we were going to do. We waited a couple of minutes, but it seemed to want us to make the first move. When RB started heading down the trail again, the deer finally ran off in the opposite direction.
We took the trail all the way over to the Early Settlers Campground. Just as we were coming off the trail at the trailhead near the OHV Staging Area parking lot, three deer bounded across the lot. We headed back to our campground the same way we came, using the road again from the Cattleman Meadows Day Use Area back to Aspen Grove Campground for the last half mile. We normally don't count a hike for the 52 Hike Challenge unless it's five miles or more, but we decided this hike was close enough for hike #40: 4.5 miles, 626 elevation gain in two hours and 18 minutes.
After a quick lunch, we drove into Collbran in search of a good cell signal. LB had a conference call at 1:30 pm. We found a spot in Gandi Park. We chased three deer out of a picnic shelter to set up our workstations and prepare for the call. We don't know if the people on the call could hear the sheep at the neighboring farm or not. Even though we could see two cell towers close by, the cell signal was not great, but it was good enough for the call. Before heading back to the state park, RB stopped into the Marigold Market in town for some needed supplies, like eggs and Coke. Somehow, despite all her lists, she had forgotten to pack the eggs from home.
For dinner we had an egg scramble, with six eggs instead of the usual four since RB had to buy a dozen eggs instead of the half dozen she wanted. Along with the eggs in the scramble there was bacon, onion, summer squash, zucchini, tomato, and mozzarella cheese. A very hearty meal full of protein. While we ate our dinner, a mule deer buck joined us about 20 yards away. He was munching on grass, bushes and trees, glancing up at us every now and then.
After dinner, we walked down to the lake near the meadow, hoping to see sandhill cranes again. We didn't see any cranes, but we saw the osprey nest again along with watching a great blue heron catch some fish. Another osprey flew overhead with a fish in his talons. Out in the meadow we spotted a few small blue herons. A pair of mule deer bucks crossed the road in front of us.
The following day was a travel day. On the way out of Vega State Park, we stopped to dump our gray tanks and attempted to take showers at the camper services. The showers looked newly remodeled and were coin operated. We each put our $1.25 worth of quarters in the slot for a five minute shower. The water came out ice cold. We cranked the temperature dial all the way up. After a couple of minutes, RB's shower started to get slightly warmer than ice cold, but still not warm enough to put her body into the shower. She tried playing with the temperature control a little longer, then just splashed some water on her body to spill off and skipped washing her hair. Even though her five minutes was not up yet, she gave up and turned the water off. LB had slightly better luck with his shower. After about two minutes, his shower went from ice cold to boiling hot and stayed boiling hot even after turning the temperature dial back down. He did manage to soap up and wash off quickly, but he also was not very happy with the shower.
Before we left, RB decided to change the bandage on her finger. She had to soak it off with water because the gauze was stuck to the wound. We rebandaged it with more Neosporin ointment and just two large bandaids this time. As we were leaving the park, a couple of unusual birds crossed the road in front of us which picked our spirits back up. We believe they were female dusky grouse.
Instead of dwelling on what didn't go right, like the camp site mixup, RB cutting her finger, and the bad showers, we counted our blessings. We appreciated stumbling across the Kokopelli pictograph on our drive to the park, the scenic drive on Grand Mesa, and all of the wonderful wildlife encounters inside Vega State Park. A good time or a bad time is more dependent how you react to events, rather than on the events themselves. Traveling is full of ups and downs. Just make sure you pack your positive attitude!
Check out our related video: Vega State Park
(RB)