DVD
Adventurer
I was reminiscing about our late summer trip and thought it might be nice to post here, so fellow Land Rover owners, or those considering the platform, can see the vehicle out where it belongs, possibly in different part of the world.
This was a 9 day trip (2 days highway travel and 7 days of mostly trails). We explored Big Bend last winter, where the Rio Grande defines so much of the landscape and culture. When planning for a summer escape from the Phoenix heat, we noticed that the areas of New Mexico and Colorado where we were planning to explore roughly followed the arc of the Rio Grande, and we came up with a loose theme of checking in on the northern part of the Rio Grande - all the way to its headwaters in the San Juan mountains.
This trip made me appreciate again the versatility of the LR3: it's great for blasting down the highway at 75 mph, allowing us comfortably travel from Phoenix to the Jemez Mountains near Sante Fe in a single day. And then it's also a great platform for overlanding / camping / exploring for 7 days in remote, beautiful, rugged country.
Here are some photos highlighting the vehicle and the trip:
Sunrise in the Jemez Mountains - first campsite after a full day's drive from Phoenix. We're not in Phoenix anymore; my wife is wearing a coat!
Forest Road skirting the Valles Caldera. Nice and smooth here, but 5 min later, we were in low range, lifted mode, carefully picking a line through a rock garden.
One of our favorite dispersed sites - on the banks of the Rio Chama (near Abiquiu, NM -- Georgia O'Keeffe country).
The dawn of a beautiful day on the Rio Chama (good coffee just makes it better)!
Another nice campsite on the Rio Chiquito (near Taos)
Rio Grande gorge, north of Taos.
Medano Pass Trail starts at the Great Sand Dunes National Park (tallest dunes in the US) and goes over the Sangre de Cristo range
I got a kick out of the sign "Point of no return"!
Backcountry camping off of Medano Pass - some monsoon rains this day.
Alpine section of Medano Pass
Bishop's Castle in the middle of nowhere in CO - a funky, interesting, amazing building and story
As we headed up into the mountains, the Rio Grande became a mountain stream
We parked here and hiked toward where the Rio Grande first appears on our Benchmark Atlas
I stand astride the mighty Rio Grande
Here's a link to a photo-narrative trip report, in case anybody is interested in seeing/reading more.
-> "A Rio Good Trip - Checking in on the Rio Grande From New Mexico to Colorado"
This was a 9 day trip (2 days highway travel and 7 days of mostly trails). We explored Big Bend last winter, where the Rio Grande defines so much of the landscape and culture. When planning for a summer escape from the Phoenix heat, we noticed that the areas of New Mexico and Colorado where we were planning to explore roughly followed the arc of the Rio Grande, and we came up with a loose theme of checking in on the northern part of the Rio Grande - all the way to its headwaters in the San Juan mountains.
This trip made me appreciate again the versatility of the LR3: it's great for blasting down the highway at 75 mph, allowing us comfortably travel from Phoenix to the Jemez Mountains near Sante Fe in a single day. And then it's also a great platform for overlanding / camping / exploring for 7 days in remote, beautiful, rugged country.
Here are some photos highlighting the vehicle and the trip:
Sunrise in the Jemez Mountains - first campsite after a full day's drive from Phoenix. We're not in Phoenix anymore; my wife is wearing a coat!
Forest Road skirting the Valles Caldera. Nice and smooth here, but 5 min later, we were in low range, lifted mode, carefully picking a line through a rock garden.
One of our favorite dispersed sites - on the banks of the Rio Chama (near Abiquiu, NM -- Georgia O'Keeffe country).
The dawn of a beautiful day on the Rio Chama (good coffee just makes it better)!
Another nice campsite on the Rio Chiquito (near Taos)
Rio Grande gorge, north of Taos.
Medano Pass Trail starts at the Great Sand Dunes National Park (tallest dunes in the US) and goes over the Sangre de Cristo range
I got a kick out of the sign "Point of no return"!
Backcountry camping off of Medano Pass - some monsoon rains this day.
Alpine section of Medano Pass
Bishop's Castle in the middle of nowhere in CO - a funky, interesting, amazing building and story
As we headed up into the mountains, the Rio Grande became a mountain stream
We parked here and hiked toward where the Rio Grande first appears on our Benchmark Atlas
I stand astride the mighty Rio Grande
-> "A Rio Good Trip - Checking in on the Rio Grande From New Mexico to Colorado"