Mammoth in the Bad Lands, Day 5

 Friday 6/24

Next stop, Chimney Rock Pioneer Crossing RV park.  But there were a lot of stops before there. First there was the dump station. A nice big one, but no threaded hose to let us clean out the tank.  So that didn't take too long.

On to the gas stop, in town. Then we headed north on a crappy Colorado state highway and it stunk to high heavens. Not the smell, but the road surface and the size of it. The drive through the plains of eastern Colorado was beautiful--fields of wheat and newly planted corn. Lots of unused ground, full of glorious nothing. Pronghorn. I saw them about three times, twice in small bunches way off the road but never in time to warn Ed so he could see them. Then I saw a small group right beside the road--marvelous--and gone.

Finally, halfway through the drive, I saw a lone pronghorn in time to share it with Ed. And he saw it.

The ground started off really flat, almost like the Llano Estacado of Texas. Really, really treeless. But soon it became rolling grasslands, never exactly flat but never quite level, either.  That went on a long time.

But all the while we seemed to be gradually going up. The uphills were longer than the downhills, and there were more of them. eventually, after hours of boring driving, we were in "interesting" country.

 

 

Before that, however, we had to content with traffic and very few good passing zones. One truck in particular, with a Texas license plate, came up and passed us while we were slowed down for an uphill and some curves. And then we followed him, stuck, for a long time. The speed limit was 65, and we didn't care to exceed it all that much, but most of the time we were going less than that. Which was not at all necessary.

And then did I mention the one-lane road, with a flagman and a ten-minute delay while we were sitting in a line of cars?

 

So the drive wasn't great, but the ending was just fine. Chimney Rock Pioneer--oh, just call it CRPCRVP--is just a cleared spot in a hayfield. But it has 50-amp electricity, water, sewer, nice level pull-through graveled spots with grass in between them, and plenty of room for dog walking all around.  Plus, a view--

 

For a private RV park, it was way better than adequate. We were due to spend two nights there and could have happily spent more. There's no hiking nearby but there are two wildlife management areas within a 15-minute drive. But more on that later.

REVIEW
Chimney Rock Pioneer Crossing  
All sites were pull-through with 30- and 50-amp electric, water and sewer. There were three rows of side-by-side sites, but they're angled so that everyone has a view of Chimney Rock and the really big hill behind it.   Each site is separated from its neighbor by a grassy area with a picnic table. So, yeah--you're packed in like sardines, but no--it's not obnoxious for a private RV park.  The second best I've ever stayed at that's owned by an individual person. Awfully expensive--$94 after the online reservation fees. You might want to check if you can call the park directly and skip the "Rover Pass" overhead.

Plenty of room for walking dogs around in the hayfield that surrounds it, and for bigger dogs you can walk along the road, which is very lightly traveled. In a 45-minute walk, I saw maybe 10 cars.

You can hear highway noise when the wind is right, but it's not obnoxious. And a train runs nearby but in the two nights that we spent there, we didn't feel like it was running right through the park. Just a pleasant rumble in the distance.

Extremely clean and well-kept up. The lady manning the "trading post"/registration desk was very nice and efficient. The only shortcoming in that regard is that she closes up at 5pm--if you're going to arrive later than that, you'll need to make arrangements via email or phone in advance. The gate is left open and there's no fence, but it's so far out in the country that we didn't feel worried at all about leaving our stuff behind while we went driving around.