Wed. July 3, 2019
On a cool, clear morning, we
commenced a day-trip on the West Elk Scenic Byway, a loop along the West Elk
Mountains and the north rim of the Gunnison Canyon. After coffee at Starbuck’s,
we headed north to Delta and took Colorado 92, across the Blue Mesa Dam to US
50, then back west to Montrose.
At Hotchkiss (1881), a high,
western-slope farm community, in the valley of the North Fork of the Gunnison
River, we admired the trees, historic buildings, and the farm and ranch
atmosphere of the area. The North Fork of the Gunnison River drains part of the
southwestern flank of the Elk Mountains and the valley, with a temperate
climate, is a center of fruit growing in southwestern Colorado. During spring
runoff, the North Fork is also a popular river-rafting venue. It’s a
picturesque little town and is becoming an attraction for tourism.
Next, we took a jaunt, on up
the North Fork, northwest, to Paonia, to find some Colorado cherries. The North
Fork Valley was inhabited by the Ute people until 1880, when the Ute Indian
Reservation was closed by the federal government following the infamous Meeker
Massacre. The peony roots that pioneer Samuel Wade brought with him to this
place in 1881 inspired him to submit the Latin name for peony, Paeonia, as a
town name. The post office wouldn't allow the extra vowel, so
"Paeonia" became "Paonia". Post Office names have lots of
interesting stories! We categorically found our Colorado cherries at the Stahl
Orchards, on the river, just south of town. Five generations have been
producing “Fruit of the Colorado Rockies” (cherries, apricots, peaches,
nectarines, plums, pears, apples) on this farm. We enjoyed an interesting and
informative visit with the Stahl’s and admired their farm scenes and
structures. We were attracted to a huge old cherry tree, loaded with sweet,
red, ripe cherries, so we made some pictures and enjoyed Mr. Stahl’s story
about this archetypal tree, in his yard. What a great stop and visit! We took
his card and promised to promote his orchard at Ridgway State Park. We brought
away lots of samples!
Our next segment was back to
Hotchkiss, where we continued on CO 62 to Crawford. This 1882 cow-town remains
a cow-town, but adopted by Joe Cocker as his retirement home, of the late rock
'n' roll legend, put the place “on the map”. They developed a bar and
restaurant for his memorabilia but when Joe Cocker passed, his wife, Pam, sold
out for $7 million and moved to
California. Now, Crawford continues the “fame story” trying to stay alive with
tourism. From the ornate gate, you can get a slight view of the famous
property, set on 243 acres on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains, and
15,873-square-foot mansion built to the couple's specifications which had been
their home since 1994.
From Crawford, we drove to the
north rim of the Gunnison Canyon, reached by taking a gravel road from
Crawford. The rustic, remote North Rim Road provides access to 6 overlooks. The
canyon walls on the North Rim are almost vertical, offering some of the most
impressive views found in the national park. The overlooks, are situated on
shear drops, straight down and we could hear the run-off roar of the river
through the narrows, 2000-feet below. The north rim is high, remote, and
unimproved, a strident contrast to the south rim. We loved experiencing the birds,
wildflowers, Gamble Oaks, Junipers, Aspens, Pinion Pines, and massive rock
formations!
Leaving the National Park, we
recrossed the mesas and canyons, back to Crawford for lunch at the former Joe
Cocker bar and restaurant. Crawford’s old buildings, trees, and streets remain
like the 1880’s setting. Like going back to the “old west”!
Our next surprise was
traveling east along the remainder of the canyon, which challenged us to
navigate around steep, winding side-canyons and high mountain roads. The route
was established in the 1920’s, paved by 1975 and the road is in good shape,
just scary to drive, as it nervously emphasizes how sheer these canyon walls
are. With cliff overlooks that drop several thousand vertical feet to the
canyon floor and the roaring waters of the Gunnison River, which in this runoff
season is as loud as a freight train. We now realize that the north rim is accessible
for almost the entire length of the canyon and it’s all an awesome experience!
Continuing east, we began to
drop-down to the Blue Mesa lake and crossed the dam over to US 50, and headed
west to Montrose. Again, we were reminded of the scenic features of this route,
along Colorado’s Cimarron River, over Cerro Pass, which divides the watershed
of the Cimarron River to the east and the Uncompahgre River to the west, both
of which eventually flow into the Gunnison River. This is a beautiful route for
a US highway!
At Montrose, we shopped and
then headed south, back to Ridgway State Park and a beautiful San Juan evening.
A delightful day-trip!
Monday, July 8, 2019
Today we grocery shopped, did
laundry, home chores, and had a leisurely day. Tonight, we went to the Wright
Opera House in Ouray for the melodrama.
The Wright family built the
(1881) Wright Opera House because the populace of Ouray needed to be provided with
cultural opportunities to offset the influence of the dance halls, saloons,
gambling dens, and houses of ill repute. They wanted to create a decent
establishment that would feature cultural and educational programs of high quality
for the entertainment and enlightenment of the young people and adults within
the community. Today, it’s still fulfilling that role.
On arrival, we were
entertained by the pianist, while we admired the very imposing hall, considered
“a wonder of the time.” The prelude music reminded me of my Uncle Atlie’s music
and style.
The program began with an
amusing olio, followed by the comedy melodrama. It was loads of fun and lots of
laughs. This is a nice attraction in Ouray!
Wednesday 7-10 and Thursday
7-11, 2019
We selected the “Grand Mesa
Loop”, for a two-day sightseeing adventure.
From the Gunnison River Valley
we followed Colorado 65, up Surface Creek and Surface Creek Valley. We bought
fresh-picked cherries at Orchard City and ate delicious cherries, spitting pits
along the stunning route.
Climbing Grand Mesa from the
south through Gamble Oak, Aspen, and plentiful wildflowers, was a steep road
with splendid views of the Gunnison River Valley. On top, the 10-thousand-plus-foot
Grand Mesa, largest mesa in the world, is not really flat, it just looks that
way from below. We drove the Skyline to Cow Camp and got my truck real dirty on
the dirt road but we enjoyed a nice hike and bountiful wildflowers, lakes,
large, scattered groves of Spruce trees, and old cabins from the pioneer days. Grand
Mesa has lots of lakes and water AND lots of mosquitoes, this time of year. We
managed with Deep-Woods Off.
Crossing the Grand Mesa, we followed
Plateau Creek down its deep, winding, magnificent canyon to the Colorado River,
on the north. We took a short-cut on CO 330 toward DeBeque and discovered that
it turned to a jeep-road, not an unusual experience in Colorado’s high country.
We back-tracked to the Colorado River and then made it to Rifle, where we spent
a nice night at the La Quinta. The 1882 town is named after Rifle Creek which
joins the Colorado River here. Yes, an old guy did leave his rifle on the
creek, probably running from the local Ute Indians.
Fortunately, lots of Colorado
hotels are dog-friendly and Daisy loves to be a hotel-guest. I usually bring
her bacon from the breakfast-buffet and she loves bacon! We had everything we
needed, within walking-distance of the hotel.
Following Thursday morning
breakfast, we hit the car wash and cleaned the dirt off our truck, then
Starbucks, and up the Colorado River to Glenwood Springs. We cruised Glenwood
Springs and were amazed at how the area has grown. The old town was
recognizable with the historic buildings and sites, and lots of tourists were
in town. Due to the unusual winter, run-off is histrionic and the Colorado and
all of its tributaries are swollen with snow-melt.
From Glenwood Springs, we
headed up the Roaring Fork River to Carbondale, shopped for a picnic lunch, and
then headed up the Krystal River to Redstone. Along the way, we could see
several 14ers over around Aspen. Redstone is a late 1800’s coal mining and coke
oven site, which has lots of historical structures and places. Millions were
made here in the wilderness!
Due to the unusual winter,
large boulders are falling and causing road delays for CDOT “rock mitigation”
and repairs. Up the Krystal River canyon, we saw evidence of house-size
boulders which fell from the canyon walls, tumbling across the road, into the
river. They can leave craters in the road and we bumped over one today.
On up to McClure Pass, only
8755-feet but very vertical, we had an exciting ride. The south side has some
very high, sheer canyon walls and rockfalls have been prevalent along this
section. We jarred across a significant road-crater here.
Down the North Fork of the
Gunnison to Paonia, we enjoyed a nice picnic lunch on the North Fork of the
Gunnison. Afterwards, we stopped in town for ice cream at Ollies Ice Cream
shop.
South of Paonia, we discovered
the Escalante Dominquez route described in Escalante’s meticulous diary. The
Domínguez–Escalante Expedition was undertaken in 1776 with the purpose of
finding a route across the largely unexplored continental interior from Santa
Fe, New Mexico to Spanish missions in Las Californias, such as the Spanish
presidio at Monterey, California. On July 29, 1776, Atanasio Domínguez led the
expedition from Santa Fe with fellow friar Silvestre Vélez de Escalante and
cartographer Bernardo de Miera y Pacheco. The initial part of their journey
followed the route taken by Juan Rivera eleven years earlier into the Ute
country of southwestern Colorado. Three Ute guides led them through Colorado
and Utah.
These Spanish colonists were
the first European men to travel through much of the Colorado Plateau into
Utah, and back through Arizona to New Mexico. During the course of their trip,
they documented the route and provided detailed information about the
"lush, mountainous land filled with game and timber, strange ruins of
stone cities and villages, and rivers showing signs of precious metals. They
made Catholics of some Utes but the Utes lost their religion during the
imminent Indian Wars of the 1880’s!
Back in the lower elevations
of the Gunnison River Valley, we were anxious to get back to our A/C. It was a
very good trip!
Last updates on HP
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
After breakfast, the day
became hot, so we decided to head to the high country. We choose to explore the
(just opened for the summer) Owl Creek Pass, an old road between Ridgway and
Cimarron. Owl Creek Pass in the Uncompahgre National Forest is a remote, rugged
mountain pass above 10,000 feet in the shadow of 13,000-foot peaks in the
Cimarron Range region of southwestern Colorado. The area incorporates not only
turrets and hoodoos of wonderfully shaped massifs, but also reservoirs, rivers,
creeks, and large aspen, fir and spruce forests.
John Wayne loved this country,
and so did we! Scenes from “How the West Was Won” and “True Grit” were filmed
along this magnificent route, winding through Uncompahgre National Forest and
river basin country. We did encounter some fairly aggressive mosquitos.
The stunning peaks of Chimney
Rock and Courthouse Mountain, on the Cimarron Ridge, pierce the blue Colorado
sky, as you journey along this 1885 cattle-drive trail. Tall white-barked aspen
trees, spruce and fir, rivers, reservoirs, and seas of wildflowers nestled
among towering peaks is the setting for the Owl Creek Pass drive.
This route provides access to
a variety of remarkable four-wheel drive roads and hiking/backpacking trails. We
took a picnic lunch, binoculars, and a camera and enjoyed one of Colorado's
most charming byways for rest and relaxation, western style!
A well-maintained gravel (but
be prepared for dust) road (4 WD but we didn’t use our 4WD) will take you up
and through the Uncompahgre National Forest, where you will crest Owl Creek
Pass at 10,114 feet. There are some “OMG” sheer drops and narrow switchbacks
but most of the time the wooded slopes would catch your fall. At the pass, we
took pictures, waded with Daisy in the clear, cold, mountain stream, and visited
with a couple from Ohio. Our next stop was at a high meadow (True Grit Meadow),
where we enjoyed our private (except for the mosquitoes) picnic lunch. After
lunch, we took another road and followed Cow Creek back down to Cow Creek
campground at RSP.