Pinball Point- Colorado River

April 26, 2013

Bill had some meetings in Eagle County on a Friday afternoon. I rode with him so we could do a quick one night camping trip afterwards. The FIRST trip of the 2013 season! After his meetings we headed North along the Colorado River Road from Dotsero. There are a few little primitive BLM campgrounds along the river between Dotsero and Bond. We stopped at the first one, Lyons Gulch, but after seeing a dead cow in the water in the river, decided we would head elsewhere since it smelled and our dog would be tempted by it all night. Plus it was right next to the road and there seemed to be more traffic than we anticipated.

We went about 15 miles more north on the Colorado River Road (follows the CO River), to Pinball Point. The road goes from being paved to gravel a few miles after Lyons Gulch, you pass some big ranches and small little settlements. Pinball Point has river access, a large gravel parking area (good for parking your vehicles if you put in or take out your raft here), a vault toilet and one camping site. Luckily, no one was there so we checked it out and decided to stay. The site has a picnic table, a very impressive fire ring (I will go into that later) and a few decent spots to pitch a tent. Its elevated enough above the river that we really didnt worry about the water rising and taking over camp, but still low enough to here the ambient river noise at night.

Pinball Point Campsite

The Impressive Fire Ring

We set up our tent, fished a bit and heated our dinner on our stove. Then as the sun was going down we made a fire, since it was supposed to get down into the low 30s that night. The fire ring looked almost brand new. It was very deep, double layered and had good air circulation but also was well insulated from the wind. Probably one of the most impressive fire rings I have seen in a campsite and to think we were on BLM land. Take note all national park, state park and forest service campgrounds!!! It did get quite chilly that night, but once we were in the tent I was cozy in my new Big Agnes sleeping bag that Bill got me. The only thing that was a negative was that the train tracks are right across the river along a cliff face which amplifies the sound of the passing trains all night! Oh well!

The next day we did a little cleaning of the trash we found around the site since there was quite a bit of it. Come on fellow campers, don't leave your trash around a campsite! We all go camping to enjoy the beauty and peace of nature, I don't want to know what type of beer you were drinking! After packing up camp, we headed further north along the road, we passed some nice vistas, another campground (Catamount), and the town of Burns. We took a short detour to check out the base of King Mountain, seems like a cool spot to explore some other time. Once we hit 131 we headed north to Steamboat.

Near Goblin Valley Utah

April 30th 2012
We drove to Goblin Valley, Utah which is about 4 hours from Rifle (6.5 from Steamboat). There is a neat primitive spot in a canyon near the Wildhorse trailhead that we visited last April with some friends.
We set up the large tent (flying diamond 8) since we were staying for 5 nights. The spot is pretty secluded, although there are about 4 sites along the canyon. We had a couple camp near us the first night and then didn't see anyone else until the last night.  The weather was nice for the first few days. Nice for the desert-- overcast and warm with a few welcome rain drops every now and then. The last few days were hot, unbearably sunny and windy!

Our campsite

Our campsite as seen from above

Camp Fire

There is tons to explore right from camp including hiking up the rocky protrusions on either side of the canyon. We did go on a day hike to Crack Canyon (the trailhead was about 2 miles from our camp) which was pretty cool and not too technical of a hike.

Crack Canyon

There isn't much wildlife except chipmunks, lizards, crows and mice. One guy saw a scorpion one night when he moved a rock but no others were spotted (thank goodness). We did not see any snakes either!
More friends showed up later in the week to join us. The last night a troop of boy scouts showed up to camp down the canyon. They were a rowdy bunch of 8 to 12 year old boys. Good thing we decided to backpack to camp in a small valley up on a mesa above the canyon. We had labeled the valley "the thunderdome" when we found it last year and we had been talking about camping up there all year. It was a full moon that night (the super moon) so it was perfect. We set up camp and wached the sunset from the edge of the mesa and the moon rise from the other side. We made a fire and since it was our last night we stayed up pretty late.

Our Campsite the last night

We woke up early, broke camp and hiked back down to our campsite in the canyon. We passed the boy scouts on our way down. We packed up camp and headed home. I decided that 4 days in the desert was about all I could handle next time. We were sandy, wind burnt and exhausted. We stopped in grand junction for some fast food and ice cream on the way home!

State Bridge, CO

May 25th 2012
We ventured to State Bridge, CO which is about 45 mins south of Steamboat for a small music festival at a little stage along the Colorado River. The festival was a charity to help children in Haiti and featured all Colorado musicians.
We camped on BLM land along the river about 1.2 miles from the festival along a rough road. Our campsite had river access, picnic tables and a firepit. Down the road there was also a vault toliet! A guy had brought an RV down the road which was amazing to me. Turns out itwas a member of one of the bands and his family.
Bill caught a fish that we ate for dinner the first night. A yummy rainbow trout! It was an easy walk back and fourth to the festival each evening. During the day we just hung out by the river.
Since we had limited car space and we weren't sure of the size of the campsite, we set up the small tent.

Rifle Gap State Park

April 29th 2012
We were on our way to utah with some friends and stopped for a night at Rifle Gap State Park. Its about a 2.5 hour drive from Steamboat Springs. The park is a man-made reservoir at a gap in the mountains (hence the name) where rifle creek flows down towards the town of rifle. Further up the creek is Rifle Falls State Park, but we did not have time to explore.
We arrived around 3:30, did some fishing, set up camp and made dinner. We had a fire and went to bed around midnight (maybe later). It got down in the 20s that night and I was pretty chilly. Even Buckley crawled in his sleeping bag. We woke up fairly early and broke camp. We had to meet some more friends in Rifle for the drive to Utah.
We set up the Gore Pass (the smaller of our tents) since we were just staying one night.

Duffy Mountain

Bill and I were really itching to get out there and test out the new tent. So on Saturday we headed to a spot along the Yampa River near Duffy Mountain that is a part of the Yampa River State Park system. Its about 45 mins to an  hour West of Steamboat along the Yampa River. Really out in the middle of Colorado's high desert. We originally planned to go to a spot a bit further down river called Juniper Canyon but we drove by and the spot really wasn't all that appealing plus there was a dead bird in the bathroom with a turd on top so we got a really weird vibe from that particular location.

Duffy Mountain along the Yampa River

Spot 1- Picnic Table and Grill

Duffy Mountain is a river access point along the Yampa and has a day use picnic area as well. When we arrived there was one car there with a family fishing by the river. Otherwise it was empty. It appears that due to the high spring/summer runoff last year, the original river access ramp has been eroded and a small cliff has been left behind. They built a completely new ramp down to the river but when they relocated the ramp they got rid of all of the camping sites. To make up for it they turned the picnic areas into camping sites so for now there are only two spots there. Spot 1 is very large and sits at a point along the river. There is a picnic table and grill and a big grassy area for the tent. "Site 3" (I dont know where site 2 went! maybe it fell into the river) is the other spot left which is also along the river but sits close to the parking area. There is a vault toliet (fancy word for a latrine)at the spot which was an added bonus because the site was labeled as "primitive" and around here that usually means there is a spot to pitch your tent and that's about it. This time there were no dead animals in the bathroom.

The Flying Diamond 8

Buckley chasing a stick

After the family left, we did not see a single person the entire time we were here. We had the place to ourselves other than the "native inhabitants". We saw bald eagles, a crane and a bunch of ducks. The ducks made a racket all night, I seriously think they were having a duck party. Off in the distance we could hear cows from a nearby ranch. During the night we heard a pack of coyotes several times, i think they were tormenting the herd of cows who all had new calves with them. At one point I heard several cattle dogs start barking to scare them off. We fished a little in the river but didn't catch anything. I think it was because Buckley was having a grand time running up and down the river splashing and gulping down the water.



It was a really neat spot and we were surprised none of our camping buddies here had been to it considering the proximity to Steamboat and the beauty of it. Oh well, I guess its our secret spot for now!

Buckley was having a great time

Yampa River with Duffy Mountain in the background

The new river access ramp

The Ranch on the other side of the Yampa

New Tent

We got a new car camping tent last week. Its the Flying Diamond 8 from Big Agnes. They are a local company here in Steamboat and make really good quality tents and equipment. Also they have a lifetime warranty and since they are located here it makes it super easy to get things fixed or replaced if anything happens. The tent is enormous to say the least and definitely overkill for just Bill and I using it most of the time. But its awesome!

Last Sunday since all the snow had melted out of the backyard, we set it up! There is a divider in the tent so it can be separated out into two rooms. There is a full rain-fly with plenty of guy lines so it should be really sturdy in the wind and rain. I wish we would have had this thing at Telluride last year! Cant wait to break it out this summer!