I went up to King Lake yesterday as planned. Harrowing drive, but excellent location! They may have been better earlier in July, but the flowers that are up there now are excellent! To be honest, though, I was quite distracted by the quality of the clouds. I missed the golds and oranges by about a half hour since I misjudged the drive time, but the standard white variety were fantastic. The complete photo essay from the trip can be found here - sorry if I used the wrong forum code.
To clarify the directions, since "Colorado's Best Wildflower Hikes" was wrong, and Jody was wrong and finding the place involved missing the turn twice and some guesswork: from Hwy 40, between mile markers 230 and 231, there's a sign for Moffat Road / The Hill Route, and this is the turn off. Several miles up this road, the road forks in four different directions, with no signs denoting where to do and nothing was mentioned about it in the book. If you look at them as 1, 2, 3, and 4 from left to right, you want #3. I chose it solely by chance and questionable intuition. Do not attempt this road without four wheel drive, as it is fifteen miles of nothing but washboard, potholes, and exposed mountain - so much for the "good dirt road" mentioned in the book. On the way back down, using the same left to right numbering, you want road #2.
Posted by Paul Beiser on August 6, 2006 at 3:22 PM
Nice Becky, I love the cloud formations and where you have put the horizon. Sounds like a pretty fun adventure too .
Posted by Mark Aultman on August 6, 2006 at 6:29 PM
that road used to be kept in much better condition, years ago when you could drive all the way over the pass and into Rollinsville. then again, I've found that they haven't maintained many of the roads on that side of the divide in recent years. the road into the heavily used Meadow Creek Reservoir area is just as bad.
wonderful shots Becky. you had some fantastic skies to work with.
Posted by Dan Walters on August 7, 2006 at 9:26 PM
Discussion
4 repliesTo clarify the directions, since "Colorado's Best Wildflower Hikes" was wrong, and Jody was wrong and finding the place involved missing the turn twice and some guesswork: from Hwy 40, between mile markers 230 and 231, there's a sign for Moffat Road / The Hill Route, and this is the turn off. Several miles up this road, the road forks in four different directions, with no signs denoting where to do and nothing was mentioned about it in the book. If you look at them as 1, 2, 3, and 4 from left to right, you want #3. I chose it solely by chance and questionable intuition. Do not attempt this road without four wheel drive, as it is fifteen miles of nothing but washboard, potholes, and exposed mountain - so much for the "good dirt road" mentioned in the book. On the way back down, using the same left to right numbering, you want road #2.
wonderful shots Becky. you had some fantastic skies to work with.