2019 – Ulen Adventures

2-9 August 2019. STURGIS, SD

We have been regular attendees at the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally since 2003. Last year (2018) we missed this event because we were in Alaska, so we were looking forward to it this year.

There were lots of changes for us in 2019. The other years we had stayed with a wonderful couple, Dennis and Karen G. They decided that 2017 was their last year to rent out rooms in their home, so we decided to try the camping experience. Because we were bringing our camper, we had to tow our bikes to Sturgis (we had two drivers and three vehicles- math did not work). Our friends, Mike and Amy, found a great campground (no bands playing all night, but fairly close to the action of town), and we all settled in.

Of course we did take a trip to Dennis and Karen G’s house to say hello, though.

Pulling in to Dennis and Karen G’s house to visit

Sturgis, itself, hadn’t changed much, here are some shots:

One of the official Sturgis photographs – Mike and Amy are circled in yellow

A quick movie of Downtown Sturgis

The big news of the week however – We decided to trade in both of our bikes for a new Trike!

Chuck is smiling after the ride on the new Trike!

there is a spot in downtown Sturgis where you can buy bricks for the sidewalk.

Here are photos of the bricks dedicated to Chuck’s Mom and Dad.

26-28 July 2019 – Ouray, Colorado

Colorado has so many beautiful areas where outdoor recreation thrives. Ouray is one of our favorites. Ouray calls itself the Switzerland of America. There are mountains, streams, passes and gulches, abandoned mines and mining towns, wild flowers, trails and waterfalls.

Cindie and Howard Parks led a group of us through these beautiful mountains and showed us some areas we hadn’t visited before, but for sure will come back to again.

Here are some of my favorite photos from this adventure.

Max and Brendan inching along the cliffs

I like this photo because you can see the Colorado Four Wheelers sticker!

Kevin and Rebecca tucking under a shelf **this shelf fell down just a few months later!

Brendan using every inch of his articulation!

Summer 2019 – Jeep’n Adventures.

We spent a lot of the summer Wheeling in Colorado with our Jeeping friends! Here are some highlights of the ‘Day trips’:

1 June 2019 – Longwater Gulch – Just a couple of us spent the day exploring Longwater Gulch. This was our first trip to the infamous “gulches”, where there are politics aplenty trying to get these trail closed to “wheeling”.

Evidence of old forest fire at Longwater Gulch.

At the bottom of Longwater Gulch. Don’t cross the river!

15 June – China Wall – This was “gate opening day”. China Wall is adopted and maintained by the four wheel club we belong to, Colorado Four Wheelers. The trail is closed from January to mid June to allow the wildlife to breed.

Climbing one of the China Wall obstacles

A littler driver challenging his truck on the obstacles!

29 June – Saran Wrap and Eagle Rock – A little more challenging than China Wall, here are some shots from another club run close to Colorado Springs:

15 July – Schubart Loop – Mason came down and visited, so we took him on a quick journey up to the mountain.

20 July – Breakneck and Browns Pass – Met up with the club again, beautiful area near Fairplay.

30 August – Wheeler Lake – Another run with the club:

Water on this trail, too – bushes were pretty scratchy! Did some paint damage!

Broke the valve stem and had to change a tire 🙁

15 September – China Wall – back to China Wall for a clean up day

Climbing up the China Wall at China Wall

So, we had a lot of one day adventures – but stay tuned for some bigger trip blogs!

21-22 June 2019 Great Sand Dunes National Park

Sorry – I have certainly gotten behind in my post writing! It’s almost been a year – so I will try and fill in what’s been happening over the next few days

Last June, our grand-niece Breann invited us to go camping with her to our closest National Park – Great Sand Dunes. The water flow for the creek crossing there was setting records, and the days were warm and only a little rainy.

Great Sand Dunes National Park – you can see Medano Creek flowing along side the dunes

She found a camping spot just outside the park. She and Hayden set up their tent. The rocky ground made it a bit tough to drive their stakes!

Breann and Haiden setting up their tent near Great Sand Dunes National Park

Success! Breann and Haiden have the tent set up (note how rocky the ground was)

The rest of the campers found us and we had a great time camping, exploring and playing at the dunes the next day!

You have to carry your stuff across the creek to get to the Sand Dunes

Amy, Breann, Mike and Haiden at the Dunes

Breann and Haiden relaxing on the sand dunes

Mike, Haiden and Breann lugging their boards up the dune to ride them down again…

View of the Sand Dunes from our campground

22-24 May 2019, White Pocket, AZ

One of the neatest places we’ve been is located near the Utah /Arizona border in Vermillion Cliffs National Monument. It took two hours driving a sandy 4×4 trail (in the rain) to reach our destination, White Pocket – and did I mention the clay dirt road leading to the trail – which was almost impassable when wet… We had to disconnect our Jeep to maneuver the trail!

2 hours later – entrance to White Pocket – Vermillion Cliffs National Monument

The rain actually made the sand a bit easier to drive on, but the long drive made the area very desolate – not many others attempted to explore this area while we were there.

Once we found a level (and not so muddy spot) to camp, we began exploring the area. As we hiked around, I was taken with the thought that this would be a perfect spot for a Star Trek episode! There were so many odd features that it felt like we were on another planet. The colors and patterns of the rock were mind-blowing!

The ground felt like we were at the bottom of the ocean!

Then there were giant “bites” in the white patchwork where the red and orange colors were amazing!

Rock layers at WHite pocket – See how they suddenly switched from up and down to right and left – what happened in the history of this area to cause this?

Rock Formations at White Pocket – the colors were brighter as the sun peaked out!

White Pocket – seems like a good spot for a Star Trek episode!

Even the sand in the stream bed after the flash flood is multi-colored and patterned!

Rock formation at White Pocket – like a giant slide!

Driving back – another two hours to the “road”

Heading home from Vermillion Cliffs National Monument.

What a cool, cool place!

20-21 May 2019. Lake Powell AZ/UT

We took a little longer route back home, stopping at one of our favorite parts of the country, Lake Powell near Page, Arizona. The weather was still iffy- rain, bits of snow, and lots of wind. We camped for a few nights at Lone Rock BLM campground, right on the beach at Lake Powell.

Here is our camping spot at Lone Rock Campground

The Lone Rock (hill) in the middle of this part of Lake Powell is the namesake of the Lone Rock campground

It was very windy at the campground. Here is a friendly kayaker, rescuing someone’s tent from the middle of the lake… We saw two tents end up out there…

Caught some nice sunset colors at Lone Rock campground

One of our favorite spots in this area is on the North shore of Lake Powell, called Alstrom Point. Last year we camped there, but this year, the BLM office informed us that the road out to the point was “impassable” because of the recent rains. So we decided to leave our camper at the Lone Rock campground and drove the Jeep out toward Alstrom Point.

We took a side trip to Crosby Canyon, and drove through some areas that will be part of the Lake in a few months…