Lathrop State Park, Co

Carol Hoff At The Top Of The Mountain

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Hello again with more notes from the road:

This morning stated out with more tire problems. Seems there were two nail holes in our trailer tire. Only one got patched at Walmart. We asked at the campground and was given a place in Trinidad that would fix our flat tire. Although it took a very long time we had friendly service at J&M Towing and Tire by Mark and Randy.

Now the tire is fixed and we can continue on with our journey. We decided to head north for now. We followed route 12. It is a loop off of Hwy 25 from Trinidad campground just outside of Walensburg CO, to Lahtrop State Park, CO. Route 12 is probably the most scenic road we have traveled in a long time. At the time we did not know that this scenic byway is famous. It is called "Highway Of Legends." The drive started out in the mountains and just kept going higher. The amazing part of it was the rocks at Stonewall located at milepost 37.8. The rocks weren't actually mountains, but rather 250' walls with places that you could see through. These walls were incredibly high. I have stood next to skyscrapers and didn't feel the incredible size that these rocks gave me. They just went straight up and up and up... Some of the walls looked like they were carefully stacked in place by man or machine, but nature put them there.

Our highest peak today was Cuchara Pass at 9,995 feet according to signs and our GPS. There were mostly fir trees on the mountains and what looked like white-barked birch trees, but were actually Aspens. We also passed a few pristine lakes. Blue and Bear Lake, Monument Lake and North Lake. All in places that made it look like an artist painted the scene. Do some research on this scenic route before you drive it. It has so much interesting history.

I will say one thing, the Colorado Rangers were not very friendly, especially at Trinidad. However the front-desk people in every place we have been were extremely nice and usually went out of their way to help.


Tonight we are safely tucked into a state-run campground called Lathrop. It is more expensive than the national parks, but clean and nice. As usual Chriss drove the entire park 3 times before settling on in his opinion "the very best site."

We met another RV camper as she walked past our camp site. We invite her over to say hello. We find she is traveling with another women in her RV along with another couple in their RV. Were told how difficult it was for her today as she is very active and soon got herself separated from the others during an "outback"hike. She had continued on during the hike while the others turned back. I think she was about to "jump ship". Carol decided to go for a walk with her??

We have a nice level cement pad for our RV which is also close to the showers and rest rooms. Carol finally returns, it's late and we are tired so to bed we go.
Good night.
Carol and Chriss