STE1 Hop 8
216 miles via I-70, CO 13, WY 789 and I-80. Cumulative tow miles: 1605. Truck miles: . Cumulative truck miles: 2026.
This was a “Plan B” hop. Plan A was to drive from Silt to Denver via I-70. But I scotched that plan after I took a close look at I-70. The mountain passes were extremely high (one at 11,000 feet and another in excess of 10,000 feet) and the road was very narrow and downright dangerous in places. And steep – both going up and coming down. I couldn’t be sure that the truck could handle it.
Plan B was to drive north and take I-80 across the Rockies. This hop gets us north; the next hop gets us across the Rockies via an 8500-foot pass. About the same height as the one in Yellowstone, so I know the truck can do it.
One of the downsides of Plan B is that the first half – up to Wyoming – was almost exclusively on 2-lane state highways: 13 in Colorado and 789 in Wyoming. But the route is sparsely populated and lightly traveled. It was a fairly pleasant ride in clear, if cold (mid-50s), weather. It was completed almost non-stop. Just a couple of lights in Craig CO, the only town of any size on the route.
Our home for the two nights in Colorado was the Silt/Colorado River KOA. This was a pretty basic campground, but the pullthrough sites were large and flat and it was situated on the banks of the Colorado River. The river is not very big at this point, but it flows rapidly – about 5 mph. And since the trees were pretty much in their prime autumn colors, I was able to get a couple of nice river photos. The trees do not have the vivid reds and oranges that New Englanders are used to, but the yellows are very bright.
Because this was our first (and maybe last) stay in Colorado, we were able to add the 46th state to our map.
Colorado River colors at dusk
Silt KOA
#46 – Colorado