Leadville, CO (Day 2)
Tuesday, September 15
Good morning from Leadville, CO!
Last night we dry-camped on some national forest land just outside Leadville city limits. There were some pretty amazing views of the mountains at some of the camping spots back in the woods, but unfortunately our RV doesn’t love bumpy, unmaintained roads. We still found ourselves a quiet (and free!) place to park for the night.
Andi had a few calls to make this morning and Tory needs Internet to do school, so we decided to drive into Leadville and park somewhere along Main Street to utilize the town’s free WIFI. It was a little challenging to navigate there — or anywhere, really! — because the entire town of Leadville felt like one big construction site. We weren’t very impressed with the town when we arrived yesterday evening, but today Leadville is growing on us. There’s so much potential here (I mean, those mountain views!) and it’s clear to see that new plans are underway to make Leadville better than ever.
Andi found us a parking spot along Hamilton Street, then hopped outside to make phone calls while Tory, Aden and I did school in the RV. I love that we can literally do school anywhere. From parking lots, city streets and kitchen tables, learning comes wherever we go.
Afterward, we made lunch in the RV and then drove a few blocks down to the start of the Mineral Belt Trail. This paved 12-mile trail looping through Leadville is both scenic and educational. Leadville was once a mining boomtown, and the walking/bike trail almost acts like an outdoor mining museum with interpretive signage placed along the way to share stories about the town’s history. We couldn’t have asked for more beautiful weather either — a perfect day to enjoy a bike ride outdoors.
Our two-hour bike ride was no joke! At over 10,000 feet in elevation and an average 3-5% grade in some parts, it’s safe to say Andi and I were huffing and puffing. Thank goodness for the assistance of our electric bikes!
Dispersed camping on national forest and BLM land has its advantages (aka: it’s free!), but it also means we have to get creative in finding water and dump stations to keep us RVing comfortably. Andi saw that Leadville had a public-use RV dump/filling station just outside of town, so we decided to take showers before we hit the dump station on our way out of town.
We also wanted to stop by Melanzana which is a locally-owned clothing company based in Leadville. Andi’s heard great things about their high quality, lightweight fleece sweatshirts and sweatpants, so we were excited to pick ourselves up a few souvenirs to remember our visit here.
Not surprisingly, the line to get into Melanzana wrapped around the block. The only place you can buy Melanzana products is at their outdoor store, right here in Leadville. Andi parked our RV across the street so I could take a shower while he waited in line at Melanzana for sweatshirts. After he returned, he showered and then we headed to the dump site.
Hot showers - check! Fresh water - check! Sewage dumped - check! Now, we’re clean and ready to roll again.
It continues to amaze us how the landscape in Colorado changes within a relatively short distance. We left mountain views and an elevation of 10,131 feet to find dry, arid land near the banks of the Arkansas River and not 30 minutes south of where we started. Andi heard about some great free camping spots along the river, so we drove toward the Railroad Bridge Recreation Area and found a spot that suited us on national forest land.
After we got settled into our camping spot, the four of us walked down to the river to check it out. What a beautiful sight! Tory and Aden had a blast climbing on the big boulders surrounding the river.
We walked along the road and came across a family bouldering. A young girl, probably in her teens, was halfway up the rock face climbing to the top. Tory was mesmerized with her! “I want to do that,” she said.
Tomorrow, we’re meeting a friend of Andi’s at another free camping area not far from this one. Looking forward to exploring this area outside Buena Vista.
