Made it into eastern Tennessee by 8:00 p.m. last night. It had been a long, long drive during the day, nearly a full 12 hours in the truck, but a nice trip over all. Emma, my GPS, took me a new way, going down through Paducah and then on to I-24 before turning east again. Only minor problems trying to navigate through some construction work in St Louis and then a couple of spots in Kentucky and Tennessee. The last one was outside of Nashville where traffic slowed down to a crawl for nearly an hour. But I just put some good tunes on the I-pod and worked my way through them.

    Spent the night in a pretty little rest area just west of Knoxville, TN. The only problem was having one truck after another pull up next to me and leave their engine, or generator running the whole time. I was tired enough however, that it didn't really bother me all that much. The only other problem was getting up several times during the night to rid myself of some of the estimated 140 ounces of fluid I had drank during the day. Sure am glad Esmerelda has a bathroom.

   Didn't have a signal out there at the rest area last night, which is why this is getting posted a little late. Am currently sitting at a Micky D's having a late breakfast and hydrating yet again. I passed into another time zone earlier on. So now I feel even further away from friends and family back in Colorado. Already more than 1,400 miles away and now 2 hours different also. On the other hand, only 300 more miles to go to where I'll stop for a couple of days. Plan to stay with a friend in the Floyd Virginia area for a couple of days before heading on over to Virginia Beach for a couple of days. Really looking forward to seeing and hearing the ocean again. It is interesting to me how much I can miss being around the ocean at times. But then again, I know I'll soon be missing the mountains of Colorado the same way too. Probably a good thing I travel like I do, that way I can visit each at least once every year.

    Here are some photo's from a day hike my friend Rima and I did while she was out in Colorado visiting me. This would of been 2-3 weeks ago by now, but I've been so busy lately that it takes me a while to deal with photo's and get them posted. These should be the last photo's from what I consider last years 'Carefree Highway' tour. From now on my new tour for this year will be known as my 'Changes in Latitudes - Changes in Attitudes' tour. Enjoy!

Hanging Lake day hike near Glenwood Springs Colorado

Aug 2013

The start of our adventure, like most great trips, started with food. In this case a nice picnic along the Colorado River at the east end of Glenwood Springs Canyon. For those of you who don't know her, this is Rima.

Starting our hike from the parking lot at the Hanging Lake pull off.

Looking across the river from the trail head. Hard to believe that 4 lanes of I-70 pass through tunnels under those mountains.



Looking up river.

Climbing up the canyon now. Cliffs like these are on either side of you the whole way up.

Lot's and lot's of rock.

It had been so dry that there wasn't any water in the creek bed down at the start of the climb. It started to re-emerge as you climbed up the mountain.

I liked how the light dappled the water along the way.

Nearly at the top of the climb. In the background you can see the canyon we have been climbing up for a little more than a mile.

Finally at the top and this is your reward. Hanging Lake does truly 'hang' on this little ledge of rock along one side of the canyon. About 10' behind me the side of the cliff drops off a good 50'-100' straight down, depending on where you are looking.

The color here is all real. Something to do with the chemical composition of the water as it flows through the limestone substrata.

The water fall behind the lake.

 

I loved how the sunlight plays on the water drops.

One fat little chipmunk came over to see if we had any goodies to feed it.

At high water there is 2-3 times more water coming out of the hole in the side of the cliff. At really high water you also get water spilling over the top lip still. 

It was warm that day.... but not that warm. Rima is actually standing well behind the waterfall. It is a nice illusion though.

Looking out from the cave behind the waterfall. I have been here in the winter time also, and the waterfall builds up this huge cone of ice underneath it. So much ice in fact that it nearly fills the back of the cave.

I like this shot. Most times I forget to use the flash on shots like this, so that the only thing you see is this dark silhouette.

On top of the cliff looking down at the lake. There are hundreds of little Brooke Trout there in the water. It is really quite fun to watch them swim around chasing flies.

On the way back down. In high water times the stream flows out and around these rocks.

Nearly down now. A nice hike up to the top and then back down again. From here we headed on into Glenwood Springs where we had a nice meal and then went and sat in the hot pool for an hour or so.