Buckle Up, Girl: Scotty B Takes on Colorado

Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

August 20, 2026

Last fall, I met up with Sara DePape in Florida to assist her in her horse shopping journey. We had so much fun reconnecting over those few days that she suggested Scott and I come out to visit her and her husband Joey at their home in Denver, Colorado at some point. When I relayed this invitation to Scott he was giddy with the idea and immediately started trip planning.

We picked dates in the late summer, as Sara and Joey suggested that would be the best if we were wanting to do any camping since early summer can still be snowy in the higher elevations. This would also be after the busy season for me when I am here, there, and everywhere with camps, clinics, preps, and mounted meetings, and would be a welcome vacation after dedicating the entire summer to getting ready for my USPC “A” certification.

We flew on miles and were happy to have found direct flights from GSP. We were treated to a nice surprise as we were boarding when we discovered that a Foothills Paddling Club friend from Travelers Rest was seated in the row directly behind us! We compared itineraries which had some similarities and shared what we would be doing on our respective trips. When we landed, we bid Susan adieu and began the long trek out of the Denver airport¹ to collect our luggage and to find Sara and Joey who were picking us up. We connected with them and then headed to grab dinner in the town of Arvada, a cute suburb a little northwest of Denver, where they live.

Over dinner and drinks we caught up and brought each other up to speed on what fun and exciting things we had been up to. We loved hearing about Sara and Joey’s travel adventures- Sara’s job allows her to fly anywhere in the world relatively inexpensively and they have been taking advantage of it and have enjoyed visiting various countries. They had just returned from a hut-to-hut hiking trip in the Dolomites, part of the Italian Alps, which was made more challenging by the fact that Sara was rehabbing a broken ankle. Despite this handicap it sounds like their trip was incredible and we took good notes because northern Italy has been on our radar for future travel.

August 21, 2026

After breakfast and coffee with Sara, she took us to pick up our rental car. When we got back we packed it with camping gear that we were borrowing from them and then Scott and I set off on our five day road trip. Thank goodness I was in peak physical condition, having recently prepared for the “A” certification… because, buckle up girl, you are about to experience one epic road trip adventure led by Scotty B in his absolute element, living his best road-tripping life. We were about to tackle Colorado.

When we reached Colorado Springs we stopped for lunch, then at a grocery store to get provisions for the next few days. We packed the cooler in the parking lot and then headed to visit the Garden of the Gods.

I had been to the park a few years back when in town for a Pony Club certification that was hosted by my good friend Allyson Hartenburg, but we only did a quick drive through. Scott drove us through and we enjoyed spotting wildlife as we looked at the impressive deep red rock spires that jutted up around us. Scott had picked out an easy hike for us to do, and amazingly we found parking. It was hot and we had a long drive ahead of us to reach Great Sand Dunes National Park and try to set up camp with enough time to catch the sunset so we intentionally wanted something that wouldn’t take much time. We strolled through the rock columns of the Central Gardens, walking past Pulpit Rock, and I read placards along the way. On our way back to the car we saw several mule deer, some foraging, and some bedded down in the shade to cope with the sweltering heat.

Scott had mapped out a scenic route for us to take to reach Great Sand Dunes, so we headed towards Cripple Creek. In Cripple Creek we turned off the pavement and onto Scott’s favorite type of road- a gravel road- this one was called Shelf Road, and it is a 14 mile long former stagecoach route and “historic unpaved dirt road and world-class limestone sport climbing area.” The first bit of it was peppered with abandoned mines with very visible NO TRESPASSING signs posted. Scott remarked that it would be fun to explore the mines, and I pointed out the No Trespassing signs, to which he replied “I am pretty sure they are meant for someone else.” I closed my eyes and prayed that he wouldn’t stop and get out, a la Jurassic Park car tour adventure style, and find himself in a collapsed mine, a la Lassie style.

Five miles of the dirt road is the “shelf” and you cling to a narrow track with the mountain on one side of your car and a steep drop off into the Fourmile Creek canyon on your other side. Our rental car handled it like a champ and we stopped frequently for pictures. Eventually the gravel road deposited us back on the pavement near Cañon City and we settled in for a few more hours of driving across the huge open expanses of rural grasslands in the high desert foothills of the state. Route 50 where we paralleled the Arkansas River was my favorite and I saw a bald eagle and a herd of bighorn sheep.

We got to Great Sand Dunes much later than we had intended so we had to quickly set up camp so that we could catch the sunset from our campsite. We did not want to be setting up an unfamiliar tent in the dark but also didn’t want to miss the sunset. We were successful and were able to enjoy the dramatic sunset over the dunes from the comfort of our site- Scott thankfully had scoped out the sites on the park website before booking which was pretty clever. As we watched, we ate sections of a behemoth sub sandwich that we had bought earlier in the day, and Scott shared stories of his past visits to this park, including one where we let his kids go hiking on their own.!alt text

We eventually went to bed and were sleeping soundly until gale force winds awoke us in the middle of the night. I now know what it must feel like to camp on a beach during a class 3 hurricane, just minus the ocean. I thought that our tent was going to be lifted up with us in it and we would be swept out to the dunes, or at the very least, that the tent’s fly was going to get ripped off the tent’s body, but finally the winds subsided and we were able to sleep for a few more hours. In the morning, everything in our tent was coated in a fine layer of sandy dust, which shouldn’t be a surprise, it being a national park dedicated to the Great Sand Dunes, and all that.

The Denver airport is huge! It also has lots of lore, urban legends, and conspiracies surrounding it. We spotted “Blucifer” the iconic blue slightly demonic looking rearing horse statue on our drive out of the airport. ↩︎

2026 Colorado on There B and B

Buckle Up, Girl: Scotty B Takes on Colorado

August 20, 2026

August 21, 2026