Camping Stories... The perils of big cars on narrow roads

Now, I don't remember a lot of my childhood, maybe I blocked it out because of so many scary camping trips. lol So I don't know if these pieces are one camping trip or many.

Now, in the mountains here, there are a ton of dirt roads with steep inclines and sometimes there's barely enough room for one car to drive on, let alone two. I remember one road in particular that we went on a lot up near Georgetown. You couldn't see around the turn of the road, so you had no clue if a car was coming or not. You just had to hope that the if there was another car coming, that they honked their horn or heard you honk yours. Sometimes, you had to go in reverse when another car was coming the other way because you had to find a 'wide' spot in the road. yup, scary times but it happened so often that I think I got used to it despite looking out the window and seeing the cliff inches from your tires. lol

That brings me to another tidbit. I can remember we had a big blue van. I don't remember the year or anything, I just can remember seeing the van. Now, this part, I've pieced together from my parents. There was one dirt road that we managed to get the blue up, barely. One one turn, I vaguely remember we had to get out of the van while dad tried to get it back on the road. You see, one of the back tires was hanging off into the air. Mom and I think my aunt and brother, started getting rocks and basically built up a road underneath the tire that was just hanging out there. Once they had enough rocks, dad was able to move the van forward. we all breathed a sigh 0f relief and got back in the van.

I also remember an old hanging wooden bridge. It had gaps between the planks and hung low in the middle and it swayed freely with no supports on any part of it, nothing on the sides to grab on to and nothing holding it up. It was certainly wide enough for a car to go over but nobody in their right mind would try it. Right? Wrong! Dad decided he could take the van over it just fine. I believe mom called him names and everybody got out of the van and walked across the bridge, leaving dad alone in the van. We walked slowly and carefully across the bridge and it supported our weight just fine. Behind us, Dad started inching the van across the bridge and we hurried over and waited anxiously. Slowly the van crept across the van and miraculously, he made it across.

We all piled back into the van and went on our merry way. I think it was after that trip that mom decided staying at home was the better thing to do. After that, when we went camping, it was my dad with mom at home. I just emailed dad to see if he remembers where that bridge is. I was hoping to find a picture of it somewhere for you. my description does not do the scene justice. lol

I do remember another incident with my mom but I don't remember if it was that blue van or a different white van we had or what. I can remember we were driving pretty high in the mountains and it was a foggy day. Visibility wasn't that great that high up. The dirt road we were on was a bit bumpy and suddenly mom yelled "Stop the car!" Dad stopped the car and looked at mom. The fog lifted to reveal that the road ended abruptly only about 20 feet from where mom said to stop. Not only did it end abruptly, it was a cliff and the drop was at least 100 feet. Something told mom to stop because we couldn't see squat in front of us.

I think that's enough rambling today. Hope you enjoyed it! Tomorrow, I'll share a camping trip with our white pick up truck that had a camper shell on it.

Okay, so I emailed my dad and asked where the bridge was and he sent a link that shows the bridge. it wasn't what i remembered. I distinctly remember a reddish bridge that drooped. maybe that was a different one. lol Here's what my dad said and the link to the pictures.


"I drove past Blackhawk to Rollinsville on Highway 119 then took the old Moffat Road narrow gauge RR trail to the Needle Eye Tunnel (Now collapsed). The other side of the tunnel took us to a 200 foot trestle that wobbled and shook… you guys got out… I drove over… the road eventually went over Rollins Pass… there was a ghost town there with the old hotel… eventually you wound up in up in winter Park. There were snow sheds for the trains.. ghost towns of Penelope and Antelope…. We didn’t need no stinkin’ 4X4!!! We were invincible!!!



Go here… lots of pictures of the devils slide trestles!!!!Dad http://www.matts-place.com/trains/colorado/rollins.html "

Direct link to one of the pictures http://www.matts-place.com/trains/colorado/images/rp061800d.jpg