Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

On Sunday, August 12 we departed Ouray after spending 3 nights there.  Our next destination was Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park where we would spend just one night at South Rim Campground.  We only had a 49 mile driving day, and we stopped in Montrose, where we pumped just enough diesel to get us to the Denver area, where prices were much lower.  We then dropped in at the Walmart Supercenter, where we bought some groceries and a tabletop microwave oven to replace our broken built-in unit.  After our shopping trip, it was just a few miles up the hill to our camp at the National park.  By the way, several readers have offered us their older countertop microwave ovens, and we appreciate the offers, but of course, the logistics are impossible.  Location! Location! Location!  When we return home we will look into either repairing our Advantium or replacing it with another built-in unit.  Thanks to all for the offers!

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is a gorge carved by the Gunnison River that is a little over 2700 feet at the deepest point.  Our visit to the Black Canyon completed our sweep of visiting all four National parks in Colorado. 

Camp South Rim 

We had a reservation for site B-7.  It was a rather snug pull-through, but not a bad site for just one night.  We had 50A electric, but no cell signal, meaning no internet service.  That's always a handicap as I try to keep this journal current.  The Black Canyon's name may be due to the fact that parts of the gorge only receive 33 minutes of direct sunlight a day.  The Gunnison River is controlled by three dams upstream of the park, and water is diverted from the river to the Gunnison Tunnel.  Consequently, the flow of the Gunnison River through the park is now only about one-fifth what it once was.

This lady came by to have a drink.  I hope she didn't drink much!

After making camp we explored along the South Rim Road. 

Then we took the East Portal Road down to the river for a look-see.  

Let's not burn up those brakes!  No RVs allowed.

Gunnison River below the East Portal

Construction of the Gunnison Tunnel was started in 1905 to divert water from the Gunnison River to Uncompahgre Valley near Montrose.  It is 5.8 miles long and took four years to complete. It was built using manual hammer drills, and 26 men were killed during the construction.  I had really hoped to see the portal, but it was submerged and one could only see a concrete control structure above the actual portage.  Kinda anticlimactic.

Gunnison River below the East Portal

While hiking on the river below the East Portal, we met some government scientists who were packing up their gear.  They had just observed a mama bear and two cubs come to the river and scoop a large fish out.  We didn't see the bears, but we could hear them squealing and carrying on over the fish in the shrubs just across the river.  DANG! We were just 5 minutes late.

At most National parks there is an evening ranger presentation, and this park was no exception.  The presentation this night was about light pollution and dark skies. Black Canyon is known for its dark skies and has identified and mitigated every light in the park to reduce light scatter.  After the presentation we were to watch the Perseid meteor shower, which was predicted to be at its peak this evening.  Unfortunately the clouds prevailed, and there was no celestial show.  DRAT!!!

Early the next morning we hiked down Pine Creek Trail to the Gunnison River for a boat tour on the Morrow Point Reservoir.  This part of the river is in the Curecanti National Recreation Area, rather than in the National park.  The Curecanti National Recreation Area consists of a number of recreational facilities along the 3 reservoirs on the Gunnison River upstream of the National park.  It is a 3/4 mile hike and a descent of 232 stairs to get to the boat. 

These were perhaps the nicest of the 232 stairs; many were of stone and uneven. 

See the old Denver and Rio Grande Railroad grade along the river

Our trail down the river to the boat took us along the old grade for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad.  From Wikipedia:

• "In 1881, William Jackson Palmer's Denver and Rio Grande Railroad had reached Gunnison from Denver. The line was built to provide a link to the burgeoning gold and silver mines of the San Juan mountains. The rugged terrain precluded using 4' 8 1/2" standard rail; Palmer decided to go with the narrower 3' gauge. It took over a year for Irish and Italian laborers to carve out a 15-mile roadbed from Sapinero to Cimarron, costing a staggering $165,000 a mile. The last mile is said to have cost more than the entire Royal Gorge project."

When we got on the boat the river depth was about 7 feet and there was an observable flow. Shortly after leaving the dock and heading down river on the reservoir, there was no perceptible flow, and the old railroad grade was submerged. At our turnaround point, about 7 miles downstream, the river (reservoir) was about 180 feet deep.

 

The Curecanti Needle is a 700-ft granite spire located on the southern bank of Morrow Point Reservoir. 

The Curecanti Needle

The Curecanti Needle is featured in the logo for the D&RGRR

After our boat tour on the Morrow Point Reservoir, we departed the Gunnison River area and began working our way north and east, with our next primary destination being Rocky Mountain National Park (again) the next day. 

Matilda rolling in some rare green grass at the town park in Gunnison

The winding road continues, now with a little rain

Sometimes the winding road just straightens out for a while

After a half day boat ride and a 179 mile drive we looked for an RV park in the town of Fairplay to spend the night.  We first went to the Western Motel and RV Park, where the lady said she had one site left.  After spending almost 1/2 hour getting checked in (among other things she had to make us keys for the restrooms) she pointed me out back to site 7.  However, we found site 7 to be occupied.  CRAP!!!!  I walked back to the office in the rain for a refund and tried my best to be civil.  In the meantime Dorcas had called the only other RV park in town, and they claimed to have a space.  It turns out that the Middlefork RV Park was much nicer than the Western and $6 cheaper.

Our camp at Middlefork RV Park

The population of Fairplay is 679 and is the most populous town and the county seat of Park County. Fairplay is located in South Park at an elevation of 9,953 feet.  The town is the fifth-highest incorporated town in Colorado.  It is the highest elevation we will have slept on our Rocky Mountain adventure.

From Wikipedia:

• "South Park is a grassland flat within the basin formed by the Rocky Mountains' Mosquito and Park Mountain Ranges within central Colorado. This high valley ranges in elevation from approximately 9,000 to 10,000 ft in elevation. It encompasses approximately 1,000 square miles around the headwaters of the South Platte River."

• "Since the late 1990s, South Park has been best known as the eponymous setting of the animated series South Park. Trey Parker, one of the creators of the South Park series, grew up in Conifer, about 40 miles east of Fairplay."

11,312 is up there!

The next morning we departed Fairplay and crested Monarch Pass, one of the more significant passes we ave hencountered.  In case the pass is not high enough, there was a gondola at Monarch pass that would take you even higher up the mountain.   We passed.

I guess that's us

This afternoon we will return to Rocky Mountain National Park, where we will spend the next seven nights.  It will be nice to park in one spot for a while.

Silverton, Ouray and Telluride

After 7 nights in Durango we moved a whopping 51 miles to Silverton on Tuesday Aug 7.  We parked at Silver Summit RV Park for 2 nights.   The facilities are nice, but the sites are a little too close together.  My neighbor's picnic table on the driver's side was so close I had to walk around it on his site to get from one storage bay to the next.  As much vacant land as there is in this area, I don't understand why they can't give you some elbow room at the camp sites.

Our camp in Silverton

In spite of the crowded sites, the owners at Silver Summit were great folks.  The owner's sister lives in Winston-Salem.

Sardines with a view: Great view from camp if you can see past your neighbor's rig

Silverton Colorado is a former mining camp that has a population of only 630 people, but has two brew pubs, several dozen saloons and at least one cannabis shop.   Party on!  It is located at EL 9318', so what it lacks in oxygen, it makes up in spirits.  The overnight temperatures while we were here were in the upper 30s.  It was refreshing.

Avalanche Brewing Company

This was our second visit to Silverton.  A few days back we took the train here from Durango.  We only had about 2 hours then to spend in town, and we squandered half of that time in the Golden Block Brewery.  On this trip we visited the other brew pub, Avalanche Brewing Company.

Avalanche Brewing is a rather casual place with a limited brew list

Matilda met some locals, including a red merle Aussie named Canyon 

There is an excellent museum in Silverton, the San Juan County Historical Society Mining Heritage Center.  It would be easy to spend all day in the museum.

Anyone for a hand of poker?

The old jail is at the museum site

Work table in the mining exhibit

Wooden mining car on wooden rails

I think Ran would like this

"Consul" the Educated Monkey was a multiplication tool for children circa 1915

Silverton is an off-roading Mecca and allows unregistered 4-wheelers on town streets

Rentals galore

Denver & Rio Grande RR cattle cars and Anvil Mountain 

Loitering on the streets of Silverton

The bar at the Grand Imperial Hotel

While in Silverton calamity struck:  our microwave oven died!  Well actually, the display lights up, the motors and fans run and the convection function still works.  It just won't heat on the microwave function.  You don't realize how much you depend on your microwave oven until it's gone.  The direct replacement model will cost over $1100.  There are less expensive over-the-range convection models for about half that, but none are readily available to us.   Perhaps we will buy a cheap countertop model to get us home, but it will be about 5 days before we pass through a town where we can get even do that.

On Thursday, Aug 9 we departed Silverton and headed over the next pass to Ouray Colorado. In order to reach Ouray we had to negotiate US 550, known as the Million Dollar Highway and is considered to be one of the most dangerous highways in the world.

From Wikipedia:

• "Though the entire stretch has been called the Million Dollar Highway, it is really the twelve miles south of Ouray through the Uncompahgre Gorge to the summit of Red Mountain Pass which gains the highway its name. This stretch through the gorge is challenging and potentially hazardous to drive; it is characterized by steep cliffs, narrow lanes, and a lack of guardrails; the ascent of Red Mountain Pass (El 11,018') is marked with a number of hairpin curves used to gain elevation, and again, narrow lanes for traffic—many cut directly into the sides of mountains. During this ascent. Travel north from Silverton to Ouray allows drivers to hug the inside of curves; travel south from Ouray to Silverton perches drivers on the vertiginous outside edge of the highway. Large RVs travel in both directions, which adds a degree of excitement (or danger) to people in cars."

The Million Dollar Highway

Click HERE for a stunning video of our drive on the Million Dollar Highway.  The worst part of the drive for me were the squeals, hisses, howls and screams from Dorcas.

The origin of the name Million Dollar Highway is disputed. There are several legends, though, including that it cost a million dollars a mile to build in the 1920s, and that its fill dirt contains a million dollars in gold ore.  I think it is for the value of life insurance you should buy before driving over the pass.

This is a snow shed to protect the road and vehicles from rock fall and avalanche 

There are seventy named avalanche paths that intersect US 550 in the 23 miles between Ouray and Silverton.

Click HERE to view a video showing the switchbacks on our descent into Ouray.  I love my "Jake" brake!  I was able to essentially coast down the hill in 2nd gear, just occasionally tapping the service brake.

Approaching Ouray from the south on US 550

Ouray is named after Chief Ouray, a great Ute Indian Chief, "a friend of the white man and protector to the Indians."  It was formed as a mining district, and at one time there were more than 30 active mines.  The entirety of Main Street is registered as a National Historic District with most of the buildings dating back to the late nineteenth century.  In the fall of 1968 the film True Grit was filmed in Ouray County, including some scenes in the city of Ouray.   Ouray is also known as "Switzerland of America".

Our home for the next three nights

Ouray is the proclaimed "Jeep Capitol of the World".  I believe it.

Dorcas and Matilda at the office at Ouray RV Park

Our camp in Ouray

While the sites were fairly small there was a nice common area and walkway behind the sites

Downtown Ouray

Matilda smacks down Harley Two-chip (another Aussie) at the park

Click HERE to see a video of Matilda and three friends at play.

Uncompahgre River

More of downtown Ouray

"Daddy, I think you eddy on the left"

That's one way to do it.

One day we took a day trip to Telluride. As the crow flies Telluride in only about 8 miles from Ouray. One can drive to Telluride over the Imogene Pass with a 4-wheeler, but by paved highway it is about 60 miles.

The San Miguel River near Telluride

Downtown Telluride

The Galloping Goose

Typical jeep rig with rack for cooler and extra gas cans

So sad!

From downtown Telluride you can take a free tram up to Mountain Village, the ritzy town at the top of the mountain above Telluride near the ski area

View of Telluride from the tram

A plaza at Mountain Village

There was a free concert at Mountain Village

Meanwhile back in Ouray:

The Historic Western Hotel

Saloon at the Historic Western

You just can't visit Ouray without taking a jeep ride.  The area has dozens of 4-wheel trails going in all directions and across a number of high passes.  We considered renting a jeep, but ultimately decided to take a half-day tour.

Technically our ride was not a jeep, but a Dodge Ram 2500 with the bed removed and replaced with open-air seating.

Oncoming traffic

Steep and narrow!

We explored Governor's Basin and Sydney Basin and drove to about 12,800 feet elevation.

We picked a gorgeous day

Click HERE to see a video of our steep and twisty ride down the trail.

Broken jeep

On our way back down the mountain we met another tour jeep that had broken down.  With two broken leaf springs, it wasn't going anywhere.  There was no cell service and no other radio communication available.  Our guide had room for one more passenger, so he took one of their group back down the mountain and would relay news of the problem when he got back to town.  The others were forced to stay and wait for help.

All the jeep trails led to both active and abandoned mine sites up in the mountains. We stopped at one mine shaft near the road and went in for a peek.

"Hoo doos"

Jim was our guide

Towards the end of the ride, Jim let it all hang out, and we fairly flew down a smooth section of trail with steep drop-offs on the right side.  Click HERE to see a video of that ride. 

Sometimes folks don't come back

We spent three nights in Ouray.  Today we will continue north to Montrose, where we will likely buy a cheap microwave oven, and spend the next night in Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.