Month: September 2017

Ridgway is an old railroad town with its claim to fame being the location for True Grit. The town is framed by mountains, covered with snow today. I have the morning free before my photography workshop and wander on foot to Main Street. Today is Farmers’ Market day and I load up with fresh apples from a local orchard that remind me of apple picking days in Illinois, sourdough bread baked by a young woman who grows her own wheat (chatting with her I learn she is from Marin), and  plum jam from a woman who tells me all about the filming of True Grit. Her older sister was totally smitten by Glen Campbell and John Wayne!

Colorado cannabis shop

Local history

The Uncompahgre River

Central Ridgway

After a relaxing breakfast with Phil and Psyche, we make our way westward on our journey to the SW of Colorado, following the Gunnison River, a tributary of the Colorado that flows for 164 miles from the Taylor River of yesterday’s blog post through Gunnison and fills the  Blue Mesa Reservoir, Morrow Point Reservoir and Crystal Reservoir forming the upper part of the Black Canyon. one of the longest, narrowest and deepest gorges in the world. Along its 164 mile path, it ranges from 3-50 ft deep and 10-100 ft wide.

This is the Blue Mesa Reservoir

Our back roads adventure is a hike along a narrow section of the Gunnison River as it passes the Blue Mesa dam. Here we are close enough to touch the water. In a few hours we will be high above it.

Back on the road, we take a spur before the town of Montrose, leading to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, National Park #2 on this visit. Of the three entrances, only the South Rim is easily accessible by car. East Portal has 16% grades and North Portal is a less traveled gravel road. 

Painted Wall, at 2,200 ft  is the highest vertical cliff in Colorado. It stands more than twice the height of the Empire State Building. The 3-dimensional patterns were formed billions of years ago by  molten rock squeezed into fractures and joints.

Nothing on the schedule, a day to kick back and explore. We drive north of Gunnison to Taylor Reservoir and Park so Ray can try fishing this river. We are surprised to see cattle grazing openly on the sides of the paved forest service highway and meandering on the road. This is apparently a grazing project with he US Forest Service – we maneuver our way amidst roaming cattle, hundreds of them along a stretch of about 20 miles. I make a mental note that driving this section after dark might not be a good idea!

I spend the day reading The Zookeeper’s Wife, a wonderful story about Polish zookeepers who saved over 300 people from the Nazis by hiding them in zoo cages. Ray fly fishes on the Taylor River below the Taylor Reservoir. and finds the fish to be somewhat elusive. The beautiful narrow river runs alongside multiple forest service campgrounds which we store in memory for a future trip.

Traveling in Colorado makes me more aware of the story of the Colorado River, which currently has 15 dams on the main river and hundreds more on its tributaries. The water wars in Colorado extend to neighboring states of California, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Nevada). The Colorado River is the most litigated body of water on the planet. With increased demand downstream and climate change, I wonder what the future of this river will be.

We end the day with a delicious meal at a gem of a place in downtown Gunnison, the Twisted Fork.
It is a small fusion restaurant and we enjoy a steaming bowl of ramen with fresh veggies and great fried chicken.

We start our day early as the weather report was predicting rain in the afternoon. We leave our Ponderosa Lodge cabin in Estes Park before 8 and head into the Rocky Mountain National Park and up Old Fall River Road, a one way dirt road with no guardrails that switchbacks higher and higher along the northernmost section of the Rock Mountain National Park. Riding in the car is about the right amount of activity for us today as we are still acclimating to the high altitude – even walking 50 ft on a flat trail leaves us breathless.

The aspens show their fall glory, and the pine covered mountainsides are aflame with golden yellow and fiery orange. Though the day is cloudy with intermittent sunshine and showers, I am able to capture the essence of the season.  We stop at numerous pull outs along the way, each with a different view of the rockies.

At mid day, we reach the summit at 11,796 ft. in elevation. The Alpine Visitor’s Center is a refuge from the gusty cold wind. I try to photograph from the deck but the winds are too strong. From inside, I can see a bull elk and his harem in the distance. It is rutting season in the Rockies.

Leaving the Visitors Center, the road intersects the Trail Ridge Road, the alpine highway generally open until mid October, that runs across the park. At 2:00, we decide on one more short walk before heading back to Estes Park along the Trail Ridge Road. As we head out of the parking lot and onto the road, the rain turns to light snow and we see a ranger’s truck ahead with it’s lights flashing. They had just closed the road due to winter conditions at the summit. Unfortunately this means we are unable to return to Estes Park via this highway and must make our way around the southern part of the park, turning a 1 1/2 hr. trip into a 4 hour one.

The conditions turn wintry with falling snow and white out visibility crossing the pass by Winter Park. It is a gorgeous sight but slow going.

San Francisco was clear with puffy white clouds as we depart early in the morning. Finding traffic congestion bad on Bay Area roadways? SFO is no different as today’s runway was bumper to bumper!

 As we fly over the east bay hills, the wind turbines appear to be matchsticks in the undulating hills.

I am surprised that Denver is so flat!. The colorful farm fields appear as sharp striations and as circular plots of land.

We arrive to 80 degree temperatures in Denver. After collecting our car, we head out to Estes Park. Our last visit here was 30 years ago, with 2 little kids ages 3 and 5 who both got altitude sickness. Not much looks familiar.

We spend the late afternoon with a quick stop at Bear Lake and Sprague Lake. Here is a teaser to what is to come, though rain, snow and cold weather is predicted for the next few days. We wonder if this is all the color we will see!