Salli’s journal recollections day-by-day-ish of our camping trip travelling from Georgia to Colorado. (Tay has officially opted out of journaling at this point)

September 29th, 2025 – October 5th, 2025

Waking up to a lovely sunrise at Taylor reservoir, we took the time to refill our water at the campground’s fill station, then headed in the direction of Crested Butte. We stopped by the lake at a pull off and I grabbed a handful of cool photos, then we continued along Taylor River road. The views along the road itself were incredible and the trees were breathtakingly vibrant alongside the winding river. We then approached the tiny town of Almont and headed north on 135. We keep saying to ourselves that around each corner in Colorado, you may see a completely different world. There’s so much diversity in the landscape that it’s simply hard to digest and truly take it all in, but we certainly try. 

We made it up to CB and made a quick stop at the town’s visitor center for some free travel guides where the friendly fella working inside advised us to check on a handful of different dispersed campsites north of the city. Leaving the city, we chose to go down Kebler pass for a ways, but opted to turn around and try the dispersed spots we were advised on. I’d gotten a little bit of road sickness, plus a big bit of anxiety from the amount of folks flocking to Kebler for leaf peeping, so we stopped back by the visitor center parking lot for me to breathe a minute, then we aimed ourselves north towards the camping areas. The road in wasn’t any more sketchy than we were used to, however, it was more narrow. We made it to a vault restroom and information board where Tay decided to scout ahead on foot to see what may await us. There was a gorgeous spot up on a hillside that we wound up in. This beautiful site would become our home for the next entire week. 

Campsite note: FREE RANGE COWS! We were absolutely delighted to be greeted into the campsite by some free roaming cows. They used our jacks to scratch themselves with and licked all over every site’s fire ring grill grates, along with the neighbors water jug they’d left out, and the gal to the other side of us had to shoo them away from her tv/wifi antenna. Big ol’ precious cutie pies.

The next day was a good bit cooler outside and rainy as well, so we just rested and hung out at the campsite. We really needed a chill day anyway after all the people-ing and crowds we’d experienced the day before. We also got to experience a mountain rainbow,  mixed with the moody rain clouds and bright foliage, it was a sight to see. Both of us grinned ear to ear in delight.

With the weather outlook appearing to be on our side, we chose to unload the bikes and gear ourselves up to explore some of the area. Up Washington Gulch road to Schofield pass we went, as Tay wanted to see the infamous Devil’s Punchbowl waterfall. After going a ways down the trail, we reached a spot that became quite treacherous for a rider that’d only just recently deemed herself an intermediate rider. This seemed a bit more expert level, and I ain’t trying to yeet my bike over a ledge or get myself hurt… so we left our bikes at a parking area and chose to hike down to the falls. We made it down, and struggled our way back up to the bikes, stopping several times to catch our breath. Maybe I should have just manned up and tried it on something motorized after all? 

Anyway, the views were worth the hike and we actually got to see two beautiful waterfalls along the path, and the gulch views were absolutely insane with lots of loose boulders ledging thousand foot drop-offs. You folks doing Schofield in full sized vehicles are coo-coo. After getting back to the parking area and heading back to the campsite, I’d been properly dusted from riding behind Tay all day. To be fair, he lets me choose my riding position, and second is usually what I opt for. My allergies tried to take me out that night so I decided on peace and deep uninterrupted sleep, letting Benadryl do what it does, and give me a full KO. 

Got any bookish folks reading these journals? I finally finished the Throne Of Glass series (Kingdom Of Ash) this morning before we headed out on the motorcycles. (IYKYK) I was glad for the distraction of Colorado mountain views so I didn’t have time to think about what I’d just read. Ms. Maas, may I have a little bit more please?… Right, anywho..

While I did sleep as well as I could, I still felt like I’d been run over by a truck the next morning with my allergies. Tay insisted on riding into CB to find me some sort of allergy meds, as well as grab a couple jugs of water. After attaching a small plastic container to his bike, off he went. Upon his return, he’d discovered that the allergy meds had excused themselves from the box somewhere along the dirt road in. He found them relatively close by, thankfully. We decided we’d soon try to find ourselves a couple of milk crates to carry things in, like generations past, as they really do make a lot of sense. 

Feeling much better the next morning after my allergies decided to chill out, we decided to do a bit more riding around. We went back up Washington Gulch then made the turn back down towards Pittsburg to do Gunsight Pass. There were stunning views all around, so much so that we took many opportunities to just pause on the side of the roads to take in all the incredible scenery. When we arrived at Gunsight Pass we realized its popularity with hikers pretty soon on the trail, so we chose to turn around and make our way back down to the campsite.

Saturday, we were expecting some colder weather along with potential precipitation, so hanging out in the cozy warm camper seemed like a fantastic option. We got to see our first little snow/rain/ice mixture (or snur as they seem to call it here) which brought out our tickled inner child joy since we rarely get even that much frozen stuff at home. We stayed glued to the window for the span of say… 15 minutes, before it subsided without any accumulation. We were still excited nonetheless. Hot choccy, book reading, and blanket snuggles proceeded throughout the nippy day.

Knowing Taylor enjoys riding on his own sometimes without having to worry about me still being close behind, (and also getting to braap a little faster) I encouraged him to go explore some other nearby trails. While he did so, I took the time to do some much needed cleaning after we’d tracked in some gritty mud. We were planning to move on to the next destination after spending a week at this amazing free campsite, so we’d have a literal “clean slate” for wherever we would land next. This week-long timespan was the first real test of how far we could stretch our freshwater supply. Spoiler alert: we made it just fine on our water conserving, and the camper felt light as a feather as we left out the next morning about 750 lbs. lighter..

Having 90 gallons of freshwater is absolutely a luxury in a camper, especially since we both like to take a quick shower every night. (We ain’t roughing it unless we have to) – If interested, check out the camper build post to see what other luxuries we have in our “glamping” rig – as some like to call it. Having these amenities really allows us to stretch out the time that we get to spend in these more remote places with no hookups around. Why pay for a hookup campground when you don’t have to?