Colorado National Monument

[kbennett2000]

Colorado National Monument Trip Report
Friday – 3:00 pm
I decided to go check out Colorado National Monument this weekend. It’s located just outside of Grand Junction on the western slope of Colorado, about 4.5 hours from Denver.

I debated throughout the week whether to leave after work on Friday and get there late, or get up real early on Saturday and make the drive. I opted for the Friday night run to give me a full Saturday to explore the area. It’s three o’clock on a Friday afternoon as I write this. I’ve got a truck full of gear, a grocery bag full of perishables in the office fridge, and the only thing I need to do is run home to grab the dog and pack a gym bag with some clothes. The anticipation gnaws at me…

Saturday – 1:00 am
Fast forward a few hours, I ended up hanging out with a friend from the office for a few hours and I don’t hit the road until 8:00 pm. I’ve got Charlie the Adventure Beagle riding shotgun and we made it into Saddlehorn Campground at Colorado National Monument about 12:30 am only to find that two of the three campground loops are open and they’re all full! I wandered into the closed loop, took the first campground by the road (didn’t want the Ranger to have to walk far to kick me out). After setting up camp I dutifully walked back to the entrance station to pay my $10 fee and was relieved to see the deposit drop box crammed full; there hadn’t been a Ranger in the campground for at least a week. I can rest easy knowing that I have a good chance of sleeping until morning without getting evicted. It’s a clear starry night, and it’s already 1:00 am so I take a little gamble; if it hasn’t rained yet, it probably ain’t going to; I opt to leave the rainfly off the tent, fire up the Coleman heater and roll down the tent windows for a night under the stars. Anyway, it’s pretty dark, so no pictures…

(Ok, one picture. This is Charlie, the Adventure Beagle after a restful night buried under a blanket in the tent)

Saturday - 7:30 am
Ahhh, morning! I roll down the tent windows I had closed in the middle of the night to see where I was. Given the choice I prefer to travel during the day; I like see watching the scenery. Last night was an exception, but it was a neat feeling to roll into a new place under the cover of night and wake up not knowing what the hell the landscape is going to look like outside the tent.
Nobody kicked me out of camp so I decide to make some breakfast – thick sliced peppered bacon and some biscuits on the griddle.


The (short) Tale of the Griddle
It all started when I saw that Coleman made a griddle top for their stoves. I saw it an Amazon, it looked great, but it cost $80!!! I drove down to the local Wal-Mart and found a generic knock-off in the outdoors section for $22, ok that’s a little better. I tossed one in the cart and was headed to the register when I noticed a $13 motel over in the lawn & patio section. It’s designed for a home gas grill, but it actually looked like a nice piece of iron than the $22 model; out with the old, in with the new. This morning is the first trial run of the griddle and I am very happy with my $13 purchase! Up until now I had been cooking bacon in a frying pan, this is SO much easier!

 

[kbennett2000]

A Hacker meets the Zodi Hot Tap…
Breakfast was wonderful, now it’s time to do a little housework (dishes) before hitting the road. This means I would need some hot water. I had promised in another thread to show the Home Depot Hack I made to my Zodi Hot Tap. For anyone who’s considering one, the heater is awesome and the 6v D-cell powered pump that comes with it is gutless! The pump works fine until it has to lift water higher than a foot. I had to find a new pump…
My first thought was to look at 12v RV pumps, but they turned out to be very expensive. I was Home Depot buying some fertilizer when I saw a rack full of pond & fountain pumps. For some stupid reason, I had never thought of putting a power inverter in the truck. Not only could I run the a much cheaper 350 gal/hr pond pump ($35), but I could also run anything else I wanted. I found a Husky 750 watt inverter in the bargain bin for $58.
The only issue remaining – the pond pump had a 5/8” inner-diameter output, the Zodi uses a ¼” inner-diameter hose. I know nothing of plumping, so I ended up grabbing every part that looked like it might be of use from the plumping isle, and ended up creating a detachable 5/8” to ¼” adapter. I’m sure there’s a much better way to do this, but I’m sort of a hacker-at-heart anyway…

(power inverter – for anyone looking at the Husky 750w Home Depot model, it originally came with a large plastic outer frame that I removed to get it to fit under the seat so it doesn’t look exactly like this new…)

(pump with 5/8” end of the adapter)

(pump hooked to Zodi)

 

[kbennett2000]

(the full setup)

 

[kbennett2000]

The Zodi gave me a gallon of hot steaming water in a few minutes and I did dishes, packed up the rest of the gear and fired up the Caddy; time to hit the road!

 

[kbennett2000]

Saturday – 4:00pm
Towards the south of the park I take a turn off the pavement onto a dirt road marked as the way to Glade Park. A sign at the beginning of the road informs me I’m leaving the Monument.

About a mile up the road and a trail breaks off on the right, Black Ridge Road – sounds like fun!

 

[kbennett2000]

A nice afternoon of exploring Black Ridge Road takes me to the Mee Canyon and Rattlesnake Canyon hiking trailheads. A short hike followed by lunch on a cliff overlooking the town of Fruita completed a great afternoon. Now it’s time to find a place to stay for the night. I turn around and head back to a spot I’d marked on the GPS on the way in that looked like an ideal camp spot.

The Rig
I had been asked to put up a few pictures of the setup I’ve got. There’s definitely a FWC in my future, but for the time being home sweet home is a Napier Sportz Truck Tent III. I picked up this gem last year direct from the manufacturer’s ‘scratch & dent’ section on their website for $140; a full size short-bed model like this is usually $180-$200 brand new. They make several different models for all size and shape of pickup; the biggest difference between the models comes down to whether you want the tailgate covered or not. As you can see, I’ve got the model that extends out over the tailgate. I’m 5’9” and this gives me enough room to lay flat with the entire tailgate area open for storage (boots, tent heater, clothes, etc). It’s not quite tall enough to stand up in, but I can kneel in the middle and still not reach the top of the tent.
I’ve had this tent out in some conditions it was never designed for and it’s performed admirably well. The only time I had a failure was last September. I was camping at Lefthand Reservoir outside Boulder and a large storm moved in during the middle of the night. The wind become so strong it actually snapped one of the fiberglass tent poles! I woke up to a collapsed tent and a foot and a half of fresh snow on the ground. Anyway, I’m sure if sane people used a tent like this it would withstand any conditions they could…

For anyone considering a setup like this, there are two pieces of gear which should be mandatory! The first is a Coleman ProCat catalytic heater; an amazing little propane heater which manages to keep the tent approx. 20 degrees warmer than the outside air without killing you. The second is a queen-sized piece of 3” memory foam, cut to fit the bed of the truck. Before this I had a small air mattress and this was comfortable to lay on, but I always ended up rolling off while sleeping and waking up pressed against a cold uneven steel truck bed – not comfortable!

Sunday – 8:30 am
After a long, restful night we emerge on another glorious sunny day. A quick dry breakfast and it’s time to knock down camp. As much as I love the truck tent, I kept thinking about how much easier it would be to just be raising and lowering the top on a FWC… We hit the road and head back home, stopping to take a few shots along the way. For anyone in the area looking for a nice weekend trip, I highly recommend Colorado National Monument. Although I didn’t get to do much hiking the maps show miles and miles of trails wandering though the canyons of the park; this would be a great place for a backpacking trip as well.

 

[chnlisle]

Great story, great dog, great pix, great truck. Nice job.

 

[kbennett2000]

Thanks Jay!

A couple more from the way out...

 

[CJ8Rockcrawler]

Nice report and beautiful area... I may have to add that to my list of areas to check out...

Kyle

 

[simimike]

Looks like Charlie and you had a great time. Nice Dodge too!

I lived in the Grand Valley for awhile in the 70's. That is a great area to explore. Loved to fish on the Grand Mesa. I lived in a trailer with my girl friend. She left me and I moved to Socal. I sure do miss that trailer.

Cheers,

Mike

 

[pvstoy]

Kris, Thanks for the report and showing us your setup. I'm glad you had a good weather weekend for a change.

You are really going to enjoy a Hawk when one crosses your path.

 

[DLN]

Kris,

Great report and pics. We were in that area about 5 years ago on our way to Denver with a little time to kill and now I regret not killing it with a drive through that area. Maybe next time. Thanks for posting.

 

[Marc]

Great pics and write-up. Keep it coming:

Marc

 

[SunMan]

Thanks KB, enjoyed both the stories and pics (and of course the Adventure Beagle!)

 

[craig333]

I think my mutt is part beagle. Nice pics. Looks like that area is not heavily used?