Our Colorado backcountry adventure in a rental Sportsmobile

[Scoutman]

We love the Colorado backcountry. We love family vacations and road trips. We love (what we call) Overlanding, camping, and 4-wheeling. So what better way to spend our summer vacation doing all that in one trip? Last year we learned of some new rental opportunities in Colorado that would expose us to a different type of rig that we don't see many of in the south-eastern U.S., the Sportsmobile E-350. While at the Overland Expo East last fall we saw the booth for one such company, Adventure Travel Sports Rentals based in Golden Colorado. They had a few rigs to choose from but we knew we wanted the Sportsmobile from the beginning. Back home in Alabama, we personally run a slide in truck camper in my 1 ton Dodge Ram but as the kids keep getting bigger it challenges us to think of ways to sleep everyone comfortably. Renting something different would allow us to try out some new equipment we don't have and to try out a different sleeping and traveling arrangement. We were happy with what we learned.

Our thought was why not take what we would spend on a week's cabin in the mountains and a rental vehicle and roll it into one. A few e-mails to Gaylord and Matt at ATSR and our plans started to take shape. Earlier this year flights were booked and plans solidified over the next few months as we dialed in our itinerary and did our homework on places to see, roads to travel, and sites to camp at. I downloaded all the Motor Vehicle Use Maps for the area we planned on traveling and ran those through PDF maps on my RAM mounted tablet. Those helped us stay on track and gave us some guidance on finding dispersed camping sites along the way.

The trip was awesome and the rig was incredible. We all had a great time, saw some amazing scenery, and got to test out a different type of rig in the process. We're already planning our trip for next year.

I'm working through all the pictures now and will be posting our day by day report as I have time so stay tuned. :elkgrin:

 

[Scoutman]

Day 1 put us on flights from Alabama to Colorado landing us in Denver in the mid-afternoon. We were picked up at the airport baggage area and there our trip begins. We headed to the shop where the rigs and equipment are kept and after our briefing on the vehicle and all it's systems and features we loaded up our bags. It was then off to the grocery store for supplies and then to the mountains for our first night. Our plan was to stay at a relatively low elevation and head up to the west side of Gross Reservoir to the dispersed camping available down 359. We rounded the lake and as the trail got rougher, the woods got darker, and our criteria for a camping spot became more lax. It was now dark and we were using the many lights available on the Sportsmobile to guide our way. We were all tired and hungry so it was time to find a spot and dig into the bbq dinner and beer's provided by the guys at ATSM. We eventually found an established area and camped for the night even though it wasn't where we had intended.

I will say that it is near IMPOSSIBLE to stop ANYWHERE and not have someone come up to you and ask about the van. It was quite entertaining.

No great pictures here but we did dig the camera out to get a few shots in of the clean rig as we started the trip.

 

[Scoutman]

Day 2

Day 2 we woke up to our selected-in-the-dark campsite which wasn't half bad despite not being where we intended. The night was cool, just right for sleeping with the windows part way open. We put the kids on the couch/bed below while my wife and I slept up in the penthouse. It was nice sleeping North/South as opposed to our truck camper's East/West configuration. We took a lazy morning of getting familiar with where things were, where we thought things should be, and new ways to keep things in their place while underway. Coffee and breakfast were prepared as we got used to our abode for the week. After packing up and getting underway we made our way to Nederland. We had spent a week here at a cabin in the mountains just 3 years prior with a rental JK unlimited. It's a good area to base out of and has quite an eclectic mix of folks. We grabbed a few groceries that we had missed from the previous day, picked up some bungees at the local ACE hardware to secure stuff in the van, and some bath towels since we forgot to grab any from the ATSM guys.

My wife had spent summers interning in Denver while in college and had spent her weekends making trips to the mountains hiking. One of those places was to Indian Peaks Wilderness via the 4th of July Trail and Trail head. She wanted to go back and the map showed that there was camping available there so off we went. We're not sure if it was the fact it was a nice Sunday, or if it was just a day ending in Y but this place was PACKED! There were cars lining the road for what seemed like a mile and there were only a few sites that I would have even called camping spots, neither of which were ideal for our rig. It was time for a lunch break and it being a Sportsmobile meant that we were just a few seconds from having a full spread ready to go.

I ran into a guy at the trail head (who oddly enough I'd also been talking to in the Nederland grocery store parking lot) and he gave us some recommendations on where to head to next. We talked with him for a bit more before he headed on to his hike. We finished up lunch and started making our way back to pavement and northward looking for our next site. The afternoon was quickly getting away from us and we needed something that was going to pan out lest we end up like the previous night searching in the dark. We settled on an area that had 2 established cg's with dispersed camping further along as a backup (Peaceful Valley and Camp ********). After seeing that the cg's weren't anything special we chose to put it in low range and lock the hubs to crawl our way up the trail a bit further past Camp ******** CG. I was surprised with how well this ~10k# rig would crawl over the rocks with ease. A short ways up the trail we hit a sign allowing camping once more and it just so happened to be at a perfect spot. We had a breeze, a nice cold creek that we could hear from the camp site, and a cold brew waiting for us. This ended up being one of our 2 most favorite camp sites of the entire trip. Since the sun was still out we snapped in the front window shade and put out the Fiama awning. I'd never had an awning on a vehicle so this was a first and other than rolling out more fabric than we needed (making it sag a bit) it was nice to have shade to cook dinner under.

Roasted poblano peppers, grilled chicken, sliced avocado, chips, salsa, and all the fixings made a Mexican camp dinner that the kids could tailor to their liking. After a few games of UNO and we were fast asleep listening to the creek bubbling away.

Nederland stop for supplies.


4th of July trailhead lunch stop. It seemed like most of our groceries were going to burst open at any moment.

 

[Scoutman]

Day 3

Day 3 brought us yet another gorgeous weather day. Packing up seemed to go a little quicker and we were back on the trail in no time. After reaching Dicks CG we air'd up and made last call for the toilet before hitting the road down into Estes Park.



Family shot at the Fall River Visitors Center


Horseshoe Park overlook as we were passing through RMNP. (big brother not wanting to hug up on his little sister)

 

[Scoutman]

Day 3 continued

Day 3 continued...

RMNP. The views were spectacular and the winds were cold and brisk. This was a much needed change from the hot humid southern summer. On the other hand the number of people up here was a bit of a downer. After a lunch stop in an RV parking spot (it's an RV, right?) at the Alpine Visitors center we were headed down the west side of the park where the crowds seemed to slowly decrease.


After descending into Grand Lake we made a fuel stop before diving back off into the wilderness on CR4



And eventually settling on a camp spot for the night on the east side of Gravel Mtn.

 

[Scoutman]

Day 4

Day 4. We had gone far enough down CR4 that we separated ourselves from the ATV folks and the occupied camp spots which gave us a nice quiet spot among the trees. I think we only had a few folks pass us by and chances are they never knew we were there.



Making our way down the mtn.


A shot my son took.


Back onto 125 we headed south to 40, then west through Kremmling and onto our lunch spot at the Wolford Mountain Reservoir.


We then continue heading North and West, over the pass, and down through Steamboat Springs. There we make another quick grocery stop before we begin heading for Buffalo Pass and Summit Lake CG.

 

[Scoutman]

After our quick stop in Steamboat for a real toilet and a few groceries we headed N/E into the Routt National Forest toward Buffalo Pass and Summit Lake CG. Our plan was to find some good dispersed camping along the way as we seem to prefer that over staying in an established CG. It was early afternoon and we had wanted to find a camp spot early enough to relax and take it easy for a bit. This afternoon had other plans. We passed what seemed like dozens of sites that either had someone in them, had someone's tent setup staking their claim, or just didn't check all the boxes we were looking for. It's funny cause when you have as many sites to choose from as you do in CO your selection criteria becomes tighter which Gaylord had warned us about. "Well this one is pretty good but lets mark it on the map and see if we can find something better" was a common statement. I had wanted to spend one of our nights among the aspen and that site never seemed to present itself.

This is one of the better ones that we found but the off camber parking turned us to look further.


We eventually came to a side trail called 306 which had offshoots A, B, and one that should have been labeled "the path less traveled". Since we liked being remote we decided to take the later. We did manage to see a moose on the way (note the little brown dot in the center of the photo).


Then we had a obstacle. There was a pair of trees that had fallen over the road and had not been cleared. The road was still in good shape so we weren't going to let this be our turn around point. My wife hiked ahead to make sure it was worth continuing on and I pulled out the bow saw. It made quick work of these logs and we were back rolling forward but loosing daylight.


The trail seemed to be working it's way toward a point and according to the map to an end. We noticed that there was a set of power lines running near by and we suspected this eventually went to one of those towers as a service road. We ended up being correct and about the time we were hoping for a good spot was when the trail started heading back down the mountain. We pushed on until we came across some ruts that didn't appear to be very deep and boy were we mistaken. Everything up here had been pretty dry thus far so we eased the beast onward and that's when forward progress stopped. Turns out they were deeper than we expected and the dirt was just wet enough that traction was nonexistent for these AT treads. Ok, so this rig is pretty well equipped so we began pulling all the tricks out of the bag. Nothing onboard was getting us forward or backward so out come the Maxtrax and a shovel. The ruts were deep enough that we had a hard time getting the tracks into position and the mosquitoes were on us by the thousands. After about 20 minutes of failed attempts to get out I started scoping out plan B. Thankfully we were right inline with plenty of strong trees to select from and we were freed with just a quick pull. Turns out this is where the trail ended anyway so we were forced to turn around and go back. We left the tracks in the ruts to get us back to the other side and after packing up our equipment we were back moving again.








Believe it or not there are 2 tracks in this picture. This 10K# beast made sure to pound them in the mud good. I see now why Maxtrax sells tethers to retrieve your tracks from the muck.


We pushed on and eventually gave up on finding a dispersed spot. It was late, we had lost most of our daylight, the kids were hungry and we had just arrived at Summit Lake CG with a few decent spots remaining. We paid our $10 and got settled. This ended up being one of the 2 nights that weren't dispersed. After listening and dealing with all the neighboring campers dogs, music, etc. we decided it would be our last if we could help it. Even my daughter decided pretty early on that it was much nicer to do her potty business in the woods than it was to deal with a pit toilet. Start them early right?

 

[Scoutman]

Day 5. We had kept a pretty leisurely pace thus far on the trip and that meant that we weren't getting on the road/trail till ~1000. This was a vacation after all right? Well that also meant for some longer days (even when we didn't get stuck) and we were really trying to make a goal of getting to an acceptable camp site by 1500. We got up and while the kids were still getting their brains in gear Allison and I started coffee and the packing process. I will say that it takes a few days to really get in a groove of living in one of these. A quick breakfast and a few pictures and we were on the road ~0800. Not bad.

The site we woke up to and a shot of Summit Lake.



Coming down the back side of the pass.


Airing back up after hitting the blacktop.


We headed north to Walden making a stop at the Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge overlook of the Illinois River. This made for a good stopping point to get our and stretch and read about the different terrain that this part of the state has.

It's trying to hide but doesn't do it very well.


Another stop at the Moose Visitors Center.

 

[Scoutman]

Our lunch stop was at a picnic area alongside the Cache La Poudre River where Tunnel Creek dumps in. We played at the waters edge looking for cool rocks and enjoyed our lunch among the aspens on the bank.


Back on the road again we turn off of 14 and head north up 69 toward the Red Feather Lakes area. A number of the dispersed camping areas here seemed to have a lot of fire or beetle damaged trees so it looked like the forest service had come in to try and clean some of that up. That also meant that some areas looked like a construction zone. We peeled off 69 and started working our way up 517 toward Bald Mtn running into a lot more depressed terrain. Somewhat disappointed, starting to run low on fuel, and the trail getting tighter and rockier we turned back and staked our claim on a site we had pinned earlier. Not a bad site but we did meet our goal of being in camp by 1500 for the day. It was early enough that we all took showers, cooked an amazing dinner, and built our first (and only fire of the trip). Dinner was grilled steaks, couscous, squash/zuchini, bread, and wine. Good eats for sure.

Navigating the beast back to our campsite. Notice the area to the right of the picture is void of trees. It was that way for thousands of acres. I'm not sure what happened here but it was depressing.


I looked at maps and enjoyed some camp chair time with a cold brew.


My wife best turns her brain off with a coloring book and a glass of wine. She's getting 'help' here.


And the kids doing what kids do. Playing in the dirt with cars and barbies, hide and go seek in the rocks, and just general outdoor fun. Good thing we were taking showers tonight.


Our one fire for the trip. We do them all the time back home but every time I'm out here I'm always more hesitant to make one after seeing all the damage it can create. We kept ours small, the wind was calm, and we made sure to flood it out when we were done. It was a good opportunity to talk to the kids about what forest fires are capable of. Tomorrow would hit that point home even more.

 

[Scoutman]

Day 6 had us up and on the trail early again since it was so nice to have the afternoon to unwind. We packed up and got moving with a fuel run being our first priority. What little cell signal we had pointed us to the community of Red Feather Lakes as we hadn't seen a fuel stop in quite some time. Sure enough we get there and there was this little general store called the Red Feather Trading Post with their all in one pump sitting out front. Interesting little place. Of course parking the Sportsmobile in front got some conversations going and once we were done I pulled out of the way to fill tires back up. Of course that also sparked more conversations with the locals. This rig has a people attraction for sure.



With a full tank and full tires it was off to find a source to fill our empty water tank. I failed to ask the nice folks in RFL if there was a spot to fill but once we made our way back to 14 we found an RV campground that charged us a few $$ to fill and use their facilities. Allison was the one who went inside and they thought it pretty strange why we would want to fill water and not dump septic. Back in Golden we had opted to leave the porta potty at the shop since it was just easier to not have to deal with it and it also gave us more storage space for groceries and such.

After a short drive east on 14, we headed south on Pingree/Pingree Park Road. We checked out a few sites and made a pass through Jacks Gulch CG but since it was only 1100 we decided to keep on and find something better. One note, Jacks Gulch had electricity, not that we needed it with 200W of solar and plenty of vehicle charging each day. The sites we found, as usual, had folks in them or weren't ideal so we press on. The MVUM for this area showed that Old Flowers Road had dispersed camping available. One thing we had learned over the past few days was just because it was available, didn't mean it was there. We stuck with the instruction of camp where there was a fire ring or evidence of past camping activity. The one site that was even worth staying at was where we decided to do lunch. The main problem with this entire area of forest was that it had be recently burned. The trees looked like scorched and naked toothpicks as far as you could see. Since the top cover was gone, the ground grasses and fast growing shrubs had begun to take the landscape back over. It was a surreal scene. Reading up later said that there was a fire here in 2012.


This Old Flowers Road proved to be a bust. It wasn't really a tough road but it was slow going and lots of steep and hilly portions. Our options were looking slim, we had hit the end of the road and now the day was slipping away from us. We consulted out maps, made a plan B and hit the blacktop once more. Our hearts began to feel heavy as we kept dropping in elevation. Plan B was a bust as the road was completely gated off with signs stating a reason of 'harassment of the wildlife'. We quickly formed a plan C and headed south to Hwy 34 and west toward Estes Park. We peeled off north in the town of Drake. The elevation started back up quickly and the washboard roads pushed us to pull over and air down. The smother ride and cooler air had our spirits lifted, now all we needed was and incredible site for the night as this was our last night in the mountains. The day was Thursday and we had just one more day to work our way to town to pack up and prepare for our flights home. Well we can say that the gamble paid off cause man did we find a site. It first looked like a nice area that was occupied by a car and some hammock campers but after getting out and scoping the area I found a road that went down to a point with a 270* view with a glimpse of Ft Collins in the distance.




We had front row seats to (well, one day shy of) the Blue Moon. It had been another long and wonderful day in Colorado. The campsite was just what we were looking for and quesadillas and the last of the cold brews were on the menu.

 

[Scoutman]

Day 7 was the beginning of the end of this trip for us. It's the day we work our way back to 'civilization' and stay in an established CG while prepping for our return home. I woke up just before the sun had begun to peek over the eastern ridge and so I slipped out to grab a few shots of the early morning. My wife followed suit and got the best shot of all, a full panorama of the sunrise with the Sportsmobile and the wide view we had before us. We liked the shot so well that we had a 4' wide canvas printed of it for the dining room.





This site is heavily used and I'm sure is a popular place with the locals. There was trash, shotgun shells, and shooting clay's strewed all over this point. It was sad to see how disrespectful some people can be to the outdoors. Before we left we each got a grocery bag to fill with trash and was our contribution to leaving it better than we found it.

We packed up and made our way back to the main road to air back up.


Afterwards we chose to go through Estes Park again and down to Boulder cause it kept us in the mountains longer. :elkgrin: We had to make a stop in Boulder at REI and then it was off to Beau Jo's for a pizza lunch and brew. From here we topped off fuel and found our last nights accommodations at the Indian Paintbrush CG in the Bear Creek Lake Park of Golden. It wasn't a bad spot but the heat of summer was definitely present here after being in the higher elevations all week. Our site was across from the playground and there was no shortage of little ones for our kids to play with. We began the process of digging our stuff our of every nook and cranny that this vehicle had to offer and got organized for the following day. Our evening finished up with showers and a good dinner using any leftovers that we couldn't take home with us. That meant panchetta wrapped NY strip steak and some sides that didn't matter (the steak was amazing!).

 

[Scoutman]

Random shot of our two happy travelers. They were champs all week and like any kids had their limits but overall they did great. Some mornings when we hit the road early meant PJ's were worn till a mid morning stop. Blanket forts were commonplace and snacks, movies, games, and coloring books were always plentiful and within reach. I will say that this rig is the ultimate road trip vehicle and it has challenged our thoughts on the best Overlanding rig for us. It has it all, can go just about anywhere, and has the space to spread out when needed. There's enough floor space that a dog would be very comfortable here too. For now we'll stay with the truck camper approach since it's what we have but we can definitely see one of these in our future.

 

[Scoutman]

Our last day is our fly home day. It was bittersweet leaving Colorado behind but nice to sleep back in our own beds again and try to incorporate some of the things we learned on this trip into our normal daily life. We were up early to give us plenty of time to debrief with Gaylord from ATSM and discuss our trip and still make the 45 min drive across Denver to get to the airport. The trip home was pretty uneventful and our layover in ATL gave the kids plenty of time to spread out and do their thing.

It's not the greatest picture cause the sun was in our eyes and the kids were still not awake yet but here's the lot of us preparing for the drive to the airport.



Layover fun in ATL.

 

[Scoutman]

Our 4' canvas panorama shot of one of the highlights of our year.



Hopefully y'all found this interesting. :coffeedrink:

 

[Scoutman]

BTW, I wanted to give a huge shout-out to the folks at Adventure Travel Sports Rentals. Gaylord and Matt really have a good thing going and do everything in their power to make your trip as successful as possible. Check them out if your in the market for a Sportsmobile and want to give it a whirl or if you just want to try something a little different for your next adventure no matter what time of year. They have a few different rigs and will help coordinate an itinerary that will fit your travel plans.

http://adventuretravelsportrentals.com/

https://www.facebook.com/goexploreit



Ok, I think I'm done with this writeup now and have all the posts edited and pictures posted. Enjoy.