A Few More Rocks at Hartman and now Boondocking near Poncha Pass, CO11 October 2024 | 12:40 am
Wednesday, Oct 9
Woke to temperatures in the mid to high 30s. A bit brisk but OK after I turned on the catalytic propane heater.
I ended up mostly hanging out at the camp in the morning. I did ride out in the afternoon to check out the rock climbing areas. Several campsites nearby these rock climbs too, but a bit crowded in for my taste.
Thursday, Oct 10
It was a few degrees colder when I woke this morning, which made up my mind about displacing to warmer locations. Such as the BLM Dispersed camping area south of Poncha Pass, near Salida, CO.
Decision made, I was packed up and heading into town by 10AM, got the tanks dumped and took on water by 11AM and by 1230 or so was choosing a site to camp at. I tried the usual spot but found it hard to get the rig leveled, so I went up hill a bit and got a snug little spot instead.
I may have arrived at the area at the beginning of the tail end of the Fall Colors. Here's a few show of it near the campsite within the BLM area. I think I'll try and check out the Fall Colors along nearby Marshall Pass tomorrow.
Boondocking at Hartman Rocks Recreation Area9 October 2024 | 1:32 am
I displaced today from the dispersed camping area southwest of Montrose Tuesday morning. I wanted to try and get across the bridge that is under repair at the Blue Mesa reservoir.
I got to the construction zone just in time to only have to wait 1 minute before it was the eastbound traffic's turn to cross the damaged bridge!I cruised past the Curecanti National Recreation Area, noting how few campers there were at the two or three campgrounds located by the water.
As I approached the city of Gunnison, I mistakenly took the back way via county road 32 into the Hartman Rocks Recreation Area. Some of the reviews on iOverlander had made a big deal of the steep hill at the front entrance to the recreation area so I thought I would try the back door. (after reading reviews on iOverlander)
The back door route is even steeper and narrower and rockier and gets one into the recreation area furthest away from all the camping spots. So, I recommend you just take the main (eastern) entrance because the hill in question is no big deal.
I did find myself a good spot, away from the other campsites.
I rested a bit in the afternoon but then went out riding on Yagi to check out the nearby rock formations.
On one of the routes, I found some past prime time Fall Colors:
A couple of brief rainstorms hurried me back to the campsite but then after dinner I went out again for the golden hour shots:
I am glad I displaced today, it will give me a few days here at Hartman Rocks. Initial impressions are very favorable, I like this area!
T-Dub'ing the BLM area reachable via CO Hwy 907 October 2024 | 2:49 am
Saturday, October 5
As mentioned before, we'd been boondocking in the area SW of the city of Montrose, CO. The weather had been nice and warm, bordering on hot at times, with cool evenings and nights in the fifties. Nice.
I decided to do some exploring with Yagi, my TW200, and ended up mainly riding up rocky trails as I found them, usually up to rocky hill tops to see what I could see.
The below rock formation catches the eye when riding up CO Hwy 90 towards Nucla.
