Hi all you awesome outdoorsy people, who like me (ot atleast I used to when I stil could...) go and adventure your hearts out in the great outdoors and discover whole new worlds of fun and friendship.
I was inspired to write this post by a new friend on Hive by the name of @brandt as he wrote a post a few days ago about an awesome hike that he and his mate had which took them right past a spot called Conundrum hot springs, where I was lucky enough to be able to hike to with a group of friends back in 1998 and so lucky I have those memories cause I can't find the photos- YET, but you really should check out @brandt post here if you want to see some seriously majestic mountains in Colorado...that he WALKED over.
Did I say that? They WALKED over them...fair dinkum, there's even photos in there to prove it...though mind you, I know I hiked quite a few k's to get up to the hot springs to camp the night and that wasn't even a 1/4 of the distance that those guys hiked...@brandt/mountains-mountain-goats-and-44-hours-of-sleep-deprived-madness-a-few-words-and-photos-from-the-elks-traverse
Mind you, I was MUCH younger then and Brandt is probably my age then now...
And I have been motivated to write this story from the post wtitten by @visionaer3003 here @visionaer3003/camping-club-hive-6-contest-share-your-camping-experience-hiking-cycling-and-travel-story-with-us-and-win-dollar30-hive- and thanks so much for creating this brilliant initiative too!
Anyway, it took me back down memory lane to a funny story and one that, among many stories about traveling through Colorado, still blows my mind....
And don't forget, these photos are literally (actual real photos printed on paper) 23 years old, so although I did give them a bit of a polish up in photoshop, they really have degraded ofcourse...
So my ex and I were taken by 2 old friends, Kenny and Hutch to this freaking AWESOME little bar called Statebridge, Colorado,
where the Eagle and Colorado rivers meet and the Denver Rio Grande Railroad runs.
And what a night it was! I remember (all too vaguely now...) that there was famous Zydeco band playing there- all the way from New Orleans and although I don't quite remember their name, I do actually remember seeing them IN New Orleans at Jazz Fest some months beforehand so it struck me as incredible that this famous band was all the way up playing the arses off out in the middle of nowhere..
And if you've never heard of Statebridge, no worries, many people haven't and there's good reason for that- atleast then anyway.
And that's because apart from the bar/restaurant and a couple of teepees up on the hill above it, there is (was) literally NOTHING ELSE there...NOTHING. Not one house, shop, NOTHING and it wasn't even close to any other town either.
It was literally in the middle of NOWHERE, but what a freakin AWESOME place it was.
http://www.statebridge.com/history/
Some months later, we went back in our own Van. Her name was Twinkletoes (that's another story..) and she was a 1985 Ford Econoline that we bought 2nd hand for $1500
And we had a couple of nights camping at Statebridge then finally got a chance to go to the Radium Hot Springs that we'd been told about and camped there for a few nights.
https://www.outdoorproject.com/united-states/colorado/radium-hot-springs
The HOT hot Spring is located RIGHT beside the Cold Colorado River- which is one of those magical geological feats in itself and as we were chilling out in the hot spring enjoying the absolute peace and quiet for we were the only 2 humans for literally miles...
UNTIL we saw a blue whitewater rafting boat coming down the river towards us. As they neard the pulled up, waved and started having a conversation and lo and behold, not only did they become the only other humans for miles, they turned out to be bloody Kiwis too!
Fair dinkum, out in the middle of nowehere and we run into 2 Kiwis and if you don't know what a Kiwi is, they are New Zealander's and Australia's closest mates. When you're in the middle of America, you just don't ever think you'll run into anyone other than Americans- especially in a place like that! Shame I can't remember their names...
Anyway, their guide on the boat told us about this cliff you could jump off into the cold water below and so ofcourse, within minutes, were were out of that hot spring and up onto that cliff, life jackets fastened and jump off we did- over and over again.
There I am! The one in the yellow life jacket..lol...Ok, the one WITHOUT the shorts on...
And there were are, all clambering back up the bank for another go.
On one of those landings, I did land on my leg and had this massive black bruise from my bum all the way down to the back of my knee, but totally painless. It didn't even feel like I landed wrong when I did.....Maybe I've got that photo in one of my boxes somewhere...I've still got so many photos to scan...
Anyway, that was just past the start of an extraordinary AND completely accidental camping trip that simply started off one night driving from Aspen to home in in El Jebel and my ex saying hey, how would you like to go up and check out the Ruedi Reservoir and have a BBQ for dinner? https://www.uncovercolorado.com/activities/ruedi-reservoir/
We got home 3 about months and about 7 states later...
So on the next edition, I'll dig up the photos of that BBQ dinner and see where we ended up...before we got here...
One day I'll be back in the US and back to Statebridge, Radium and to see if there's any more than 5 houses in Bond, the tiny town just past the hot springs...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bond,_Colorado
Well, I hope that you enjoyed my camping, hiking, jumping (and partying) experience and such a shame that this post doesn't really do it justice, for it was sooooo SOOOO much better, but maybe it's also one of those had to be there experiences to enjoy it as much as I did too....
THE END- FOR NOW...🤣😂😅
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Well, thank you all for reading and putting up with my rambling tonight and if you did make it this far, you are absolute champions!
And unless otherwise stated- ALL photographs, are all my originals taken by me sometime in the past 3 decades or so somewhere in my travels and as such, ofcourse they are subject to all international IP and copyright laws and I may have already used them for my own commercial purposes here https://www.redbubble.com/people/CHOCOLATESCORPI/shop And here https://fineartamerica.com/art/chocolatescorpi, So please ask first if you want to use any of them as we wouldn't want you getting into trouble. Thank you 😊
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