Wolford Mountain Reservoir, CO to Home – 113 Miles
Like I said, it was just a hop, skip, and jump to get home. We left the campground at 9:15, zipped up Colorado Highway 9 through Kremmling to Silverthorne, and then it was I-70 all the way back to Denver. Traffic was negligible eastbound, but the westbound early bird holiday weekend traffic out of Denver was already starting to build up. As much as we would have liked to spend a few more days on the road, finding a campsite without making reservations would have been next to impossible. The campsites we used at our last two stops, Soldier Creek in Utah and Wolford Mountain here in Colorado, already had “Reserved” signs posted on them for the weekend, but because we were only staying one night we were able to get in and use the reserved sites before the weekend occupants arrived.
Highway 9 between Kremmling and Silverthorne passes by Green Mountain Reservoir, a medium-sized impoundment on the Blue River just upstream from its junction with the Colorado River at Kremmling. For the past several years this reservoir has been way down, with wide, bare shorelines marking the difference between the normal water level and wherever the level happened to be during those dry years. But this year, because of the excessive snowpack over the winter, the reservoir was as full as I’ve ever seen it. Not a hint of bare white shoreline was visible. The Forest Service campgrounds along the water’s edge were already filling up with weekend campers and fishermen.
At Silverthorne the long climb up I-70 to the Eisenhower/Johnson Tunnels begins. This is an eight-mile grade up 2000 vertical feet to the twin bores of the tunnels. From there it’s downhill all the way to Denver, except for one short, fairly steep climb up out of the Clear Creek canyon known as Floyd Hill, which is a half-dozen miles east of Idaho Springs. Then it’s another long downhill grade to the western suburbs of Denver. For those continuing eastbound, this is the end of the Rocky Mountains. From here to the Mississippi River it’s nothing but prairie, farmland, and a few rolling hills.
After stopping to top off the gas tank so we could calculate the mileage, we grabbed a barbeque sandwich and were home in the driveway by noon. So ends our journey of 57 days and 9023 miles.
Thanks to all those who have shared our journey through this blog, and thanks especially for your comments. I’ll probably have one last entry, a wrap-up, in two or three days after we get unpacked and have a chance to reflect on all that we’ve seen and done. So stay tuned. Also, I’ve had several queries about photographs, especially from those that know about my interest in photography. I’ve taken well over 2000 photos, plus Jeanette has also taken several hundred. I’ve deferred the sorting, selection, and basic editing of these while traveling to allow me to spend this time writing. I’ve got a winter’s worth of post-processing of images ahead of me, and will post the best of these on my SmugMug gallery as time permits. Meanwhile, I’ll try to post a few that capture the spirit of the trip on my Facebook page as quickly as possible. Again, I don’t know exactly when that will be, but I’ll either put it in a final blog post or let everyone know by e-mail.
Adios for now.
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