We left Colorado ready for some open spaces, no traffic and more National/State Parks. Bingo!

Anyway, we were off at our usual pace of ‘slow’ in Yogi and the camper to Devils Tower in Wyoming which was the main geographical feature in the famous film Close Encounters (well famous to anybody over 40). It is also incredibly famous as a climbing venue and we had both seen so many pictures of it for so many years – we were excited! Then we heard on the local radio that the park was closed for camping and visitors until they could get a bush fire under control…..bummer. However, out of the rain comes the rainbow and we decided to use the enforced delay to go and visit Mt Rushmore in South Dakota which was only about 3 hours drive away.

I don’t know about any of you but I have to admit that I was an adult before I realized that those huge faces of the 4 founding father presidents carved into a granite mountain……were real. I thought for years that Mt Rushmore was part of some Disney creation. So, as we drove  around the corner from Keystone (local version of Blackpool dedicated to tourists with insatiable appetite for memorabilia, ice cream and all things bad/good ), I got a real buzz to see this magnificent display of craftsmanship which took 14 years to complete. George Washington’s face is over 60ft high from chin to hairline – I know all the important details. Interestingly, there is Crazy Horse Visitors Centre only 30 miles away which is in the middle of creating the largest sculpture in the world in the form of the American Indian leader, Crazy Horse. Seems fair to me, it was their land in the first place.

So, while we were at it, Phil did his usual superb research into climbing areas in the Black Hills around Mt Rushmore and found gold. It is the self proclaimed mecca for sports route climbing. We went to the only climbing shop in Rapid City to buy a guide book, but they had sold out. However, that doesn’t appear to be a problem over here as Eric – our new hero and shop assistant– said that he would lend us his personal copy as he was not using it for the next few days. Yet another unexpected and totally spontaneous gesture of goodwill from another great American guy. It really made our day as not only had we saved $35 ( Phil was smiling lots as he thanked Eric), we could go climbing in this beautiful National Park. It gets better though as the Black Hills has a free campsite in the quietest wooded area we could have hoped for. Bliss!

The climbing was fun but the rock was so sharp – granite with loads of quartzite – that you really had to climb a couple of grades lower than normal as you are scared of falling and losing your first five layers of skin. The climbing was literally 5 mins from our camper. The furthest climb was only 20 mins walk into the woods. There are large, huge pieces of rock spread among a wooded area so it makes for great shade in the sun and fab views from on top. Our best climb was on Mt Old Baldy which made us want to dedicate it to a few of our favourite bald mates – no names but your know who you are. Take it as a compliment.

 

Then we decided to do a few bike rides. One of them involved cycling 57 miles through 2 state parks on a scenic route designed specifically for people to take their time. There were switch backs, pigtail bridges which not only allowed you to swing back on yourself (hence pigtail) but were also a beautiful pieces of wooden engineering. There are also small tunnels made through the mountain but too small for any big trucks etc. There was hardly any traffic either as it is early season. Then the scenery was so varied and stunning but the highlight was going past a very big sign saying ‘Buffolo are dangerous wild animals’ – then about 200 metres later we saw one, then two, then three buffalo just in the woods to the side of the road. My gut reaction was to stop and take photos, but being married to a farmer he knows that these were beasts to be respected so – keep peddling! Then we saw some more in the  middle of the road. We had to stop, we had no choice. Then a loud couple of motorbikes came from nowhere and this was enough to move them on. The next time we saw them was only minutes later and in that short period of time all anxiety had gone and we just wanted a close up – they looked mellow enough so I stage managed Phil as he cycled past the buffalo who was happily munching away. Just to be sure I made him do it again. What is the worst that could happen? He was on a bike – just peddle!

As well as our fascination for these amazing beasts, we got to see loads of antelope, mule deer, mountain goatsand twitchers would have a field day as there are loads of birds. As rides go it has to be in our top 5 of our American trip so far.

Next stop – back to Devils Tower. We arrived in the early evening, which was the perfect time of day to catch our first close up of this magnificent piece of rock. We had both expected a desert like surrounding but far from it. This is cattle country so the grass was green and earth has great shades of red and white, which are like features on the landscape. There is a mass of cottonwood and pine trees too. The campsite is inside the National Park and is down as one of our favorites to date. This is probably helped by the fact we are still in the early stages of the season so it is really quiet, stunning location and the birds are in full Spring chorus. It just feels special and having Devils Tower as your backdrop is awesome dude! There is also a good area to practice our new past time of throwing ball – yes we bought 2 second hand baseball gloves and spend time each day looking like true Americans, including wearing our baseball hats. It can get scary if Phil gets too excited……it is a hard and fast ball!

We just walked around the tourist route of the Tower on our first day to take in the scale and beauty of it all. It also gave us time to assess how many prairie dogs were part of the scenery….1000s! They are like ginger moles on steroids. They are everywhere and we stopped counting after 50 in one small area. They are hilarious to watch. They have the meerkat stance when they come out of their burrow, ‘simples!”.

The next day we managed to do one of the classic easier routes as we had no idea how different the style of climbing would be. Phil was his usual self and got us up and down with no problem at all. I managed to strain or do something to my rotary cuff in my shoulder, which meant an enforced no climbing day the next day.

We went for a local bike ride to the nearest town to entertain ourselves which is small and full of quirky things like skulls on the front of the bank and shops with wild west frontages next to a modern café.  We are definitely in love with the ‘small town’ feel and I our cowboy hats are going to be out soon as Wyoming is cowboy country and we have a truck so we can just blend in…..as long as I keep quiet. Bring on the line dancing!

We are now in a great small town called Ten Sleep with a population of 260. Despite small numbers it still has a café, 2 saloons and its own rodeo stadium, which we are currently camping next to. We saw a couple of cowboys herding cows on horseback through town this morning on our way to go climbing, as you do.

That’s it for now folks!  Off to the saloon for a drink  – yee ha!

 

 

Well what a great way to start our trip back in the USA. This blog is for the benefit of family friends and anybody who is interested but also as a diary. Therefore I need to update myself and others on how we left the USA in January as I never did the last blog.

We left Yogi and our camper in a storage site in the middle of nowhere 35 miles outside Denver Colorado. I had arranged for a taxi to collect us with 3 hours before our flight check-in time just to be sure. This was every unlike me as I never worry that much about anything. However in this case it was justified as the taxi I booked hadn’t turned up after being 30 mins late so we called and he said, ‘ sorry, we can’t find you, get another taxi’. Great! So I called a yellow cab ( I happened to have another number ready just in case- OMG I am turning into Phil). They hadn’t turned up after an hour so at this point the calm collected Pauline was getting a tad nervous. Then out of nowhere, this gorgeous car turned into the site – did I mention this was an unmanned office so there was literally nobody around for miles. Anyway, this car pulled in, the window went down and I threw my head and shoulders in as only a desperate woman in need of a lift to the airport could do…..add heavy doses of panic lead chat and before he knew it, the very nice gentleman inside the gorgeous car had offered us a lift all the way to the airport. FAB! His name was David and he happened to own the storage site. In the 35 minute drive we managed to have a real laugh to the point he offered to pick us up on our return….more fool him. He wouldn’t take the money for the taxi so Phil promised him a bottle of good Scottish whiskey on our return…..as long as you pick us up

Anyway – 3 months later, we arrive at Denver airport and true to his word there was David, with a smile and a big empty trunk. We went straight to a bar to catch last orders which made jet lag seem a distant memory. We honoured our promise of a bottle of whisky but I thought he deserved so much more so I gave him one of my books – only 1798 to go – and ignorance is bliss as he seemed really chuffed. So after a great first night he took us back to our truck and camper and said we were free to stay over night and use anything we wanted which was strictly forbidden in the terms of the storage contract – I love how rules are flexible. What a great way to start our trip.

Our first stop was a small town only 15 miles from Denver called Golden which features in a really famous film with Kevin Cosner  about road biking. ….so famous I can’t remember the name but Kevin was super sexy in it.  It is a great one street town that has an eclectic mix of shops and eateries with an abundance of intricate bronze statues that tell the story of this historic mining town. It all stared with gold but now it is liquid gold in the form of Coors beer. The brewery is a major part of this town as we found when we went climbing on the crags above. It is huge and has really loud bells and horns. Despite an inclination, we never mustered to energy to do the tour with free beer.

 

Phil getting ready to climb on the Table Top Crags looking down on Golden and the Coors Brewery

Below is a typically ornate bronze statue and a kayaker doing it for real right in the heart of Golden.

Golden is a quiet town during the week but on a sunny weekend it becomes a mix of  Harley Davidson gangs cruising from bar to bar, families eating their way threw a myriad of ice cream stores,  kayakers surfing the waves on the river running through the town, slack lining across the rivers, base ball games, kites, frizbyies and at every other free patch was a Bar B Q. People spotting heaven. I managed to have a chat with a couple walking their pet parrot just as a bonus. It really comes alive and buzzes.

The bike riding is brutal and convenient. Lookout Mountain hosts more road bikers than I think I have ever seen on one hill. It is a 5 mile uphill push from the edge of town on great tarmac so it is a joy to come down and obviously works as a training run for locals – but so many of them! Then there are the long rides like up Golden Gate Canyon (up hill for 16 miles to nearly 10 000ft) then back down and up Coal Mine Canyon which was about equal up and down back to the start finishing on a 2 mile up  – how can a loop have more up than down? We were both suitably shattered after our 60 mile altitude hill experience so when a sheriff came knocking on our door at 7am in the morning to say, ‘Excuse me maam, you are illegally camped. Can you move on please’ I am not sure who cared less, me or Phil. The Sherriff stepped away from the entrance as soon as he saw what a sexy lady in her non matching pyjamas, rough as a dog hair and probably overnight aroma emerged from the door. He looked more scared than scary……

We managed to get some great climbing done in El Dorado Canyon too which is a classic area in the history of climbing. We did one of the classics called The Bastille which was a perfect climb from my perspective. Loved it. That was the day before the snow came. We had literally been taking shade between climbing only 2 days before and then 4 inches of snow fell in one day. We took refuge in Boulder and visited Pearl Street – famous apparently. Full of Bohemian and funky shops and cafes with a generous portion of homeless wanderers just to keep the balance of life real. We also took in a movie and found a great leisure centre where you can use the gym, pool and sauna for $7. Deal.

We met up with David and his son Ryan and friend Mike to go to our first ever baseball game. It was great to have our own personal guide both to the match and during the match as we were clueless both in terms of finding our way around a city in a huge and overweight vehicle and in terms of understanding the rules of baseball. Basically it is cricket with 4 posts instead of 2 and a different bat. We had a great night including the compulsory burgers and beers – awesome dude. The Coors Stadium is another historical landmark of Denver.  David had me sussed when he saw me playing with the giant foam hands – so he just grabbed two, gave the camera to Phil and said, ‘you know what she wants, lets do it!’ I am so predictable. It was everything we expected from a big game so no anti-climax and finished with beers back at the RV site where David let us stay again!

 

We spent another day climbing at a small crag near Golden and met 3 men having a great time and refused not to let us join in. Yes, we were going to share a fun day whether we wanted to or not. They were a lot of fun and managed to down a bottle of pastisse between routes. Phil developed a fan club and the cheers that went up as he went over an overhang made the cheering at the Coors stadium seem tame. They were in awe! We soon found out they were ‘Special Agents’. They go around the country chasing the bad guys. They need to be slightly mad to do that job and that spreads into social time too. They invited us to go to dinner with them and they took us to what can only be described as a Disney style Mexican bar with a flame throwing, diving woman in a leapard skin swim suit plus waterfalls and more fairy lights than you could shake a stick at. We had a fun time and got all their good stories about chasing the bad guys. They escorted us to our truck and reassured us we were safe by flaunting their weapons they had hidden in their car and person. If they were not so nice, they would be comical. They were however really good people with a slightly bizarre life and style.

We managed to get another couple of exhausting road bike climbs in. One up Magnolia Rd from Boulder. Phil managed 8 miles up, I managed 7.5 miles ( with 2 breaks) but it was steep and long! 14% steep and long! Too much ! The snow meant there was gravel left on the road which meant dangerous downhill so that was a nightmare. Another ride was the Latimer Loop from Golden for 44miles which was great but with a long stretch on the equivalent of the motorway…..not my favourite. We have to remind ourselves how close we are to a major city compared to other places we have been. We are looking forward to the more remote places to ride again.

This is a picture of Phil, having just found a Scottish climbing guide with hi on the front cover…LOOK AT ME!!!!

 

We are just off to meet David for beers before we head off to Wyoming and Devils Tower which is 400 miles away. By they way he is reading my book and was up to Chapter 5 ie not just looking at the pictures – what a great guy!!!