Fun in Ouray

Time really flies when you're having fun! It's been two weeks since our day in beautiful Ouray, and I am so sorry for not getting our pictures and experiences posted until now. Its not as easy as I had thought to keep a blog current, between working and playing to experience the adventures I would like to write about :-)! Well, I've got my pictures ready from our jeeping experience in Ouray, so sit back and enjoy! I have the full set loaded up here at Flickr for those who would like to see it all!

Our first adventure started with our arrival in Ouray. We had spent the day exploring the north rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, and as we drove to Ouray, it started to rain and a fierce thunderstorm rolled over us. We had rented a jeep from Farabee's Jeeps at the Riverside Inn, and they allow you to pick it up the night before so you can get an early start to your day the next morning. This seemed like a good idea to me, as rains usually arrive mid-afternoon, and they also have a firm "return by 5:00 PM policy" that you don't want to miss! So we picked up the jeep and had our lesson on driving it, and off we went to find our cabin we had reserved. It looked really nice online, and we were looking forward to getting settled in for the night.

Our glitch occurred upon finding our cabin. First I had a difficult time finding a place to park the truck, and upon finding that, I went to check in. The office was closed for the moment, but she had told me the cabin would be unlocked and to just go inside. That would be fine, except when I went around to the cabin, I saw through the window that there was already somebody inside, relaxing on the bed. Hmmm...ok, now what? I headed back for the office, and to make a long story short, they had written down my date of arrival incorrectly, and thought I was coming in the next day. She was extremely apologetic, and did make a few calls and found us another pet-friendly room nearby...whew, at least I had a place to lay my head :-)! The Ouray Victorian Inn was very nice, and I have to say the bathroom was awesome! I will say, having unlimited hot water in a shower that you can turn around in without hitting your elbows is a thing to be treasured :-). We had dinner at the historic Western Hotel that was very good, although the background music playing (80's disco) was a little odd ;-). Then it was into bed as we planned on heading out early for our adventure...we had a route suggested to us by the jeep company of driving down a portion of the "Million Dollar Highway" to a turn-off for Ophir Pass, go into Telluride, and then off-road again over Imogene Pass back to Ouray. The route should take us most of the day, taking into account time for lunch and pictures. And I have to say she was spot-on with the time guide! Onto the pictures....

The beautiful red-tinged mountains

The start of our off-road ride over Ophir Pass. The Ophir Pass has the reputation of being one of the easiest high mountain passes in the San Juan Mountains...a good way to start for us jeeping novices!!

The beautiful forested Middle Mineral Creek area

At the summit...11,789 feet. Great view to the west!

The kids ready to move on!

The trail...getting a little more intense! hang on and don't look down!

Driving through an awesome aspen forest as we approach the town of Ophir

I love this sign!

On to Telluride...a nice looking town that seemed very oriented towards the outdoorsy type of folks. We stopped here for a restroom break, and to pick up a sandwich to take on the next trail with us. We were SO happy when we checked out Clark's Market  and saw that their deli department made sandwiches and had Boarshead cold cuts! SCORE!! There's nothing better than thin sliced Boarshead boiled ham, and believe me, we both enjoyed our sandwiches very much :-).

Sandwiches in hand, we headed out of town towards Imogene Pass. Buzzed right past the turnoff, and ended up at the entrance to Black Bear Pass, which is NOT a drive we were looking for...that one is one of the most difficult jeeping roads there are, and the rental company actually had us sign a form that we WOULD NOT take their jeep on...no worries there! Turned around, re-oriented ourselves, and found the turn-off.

Far off view of Bridal Veil Falls. I love the house at the top, it reminds me of Carl's house in the Disney movie "Up" :-).

Imogene Pass is the second highest driveable pass in Colorado. It was also very scenic, although a careful eye was kept on the road, which, as you see, is very rocky, narrow, and a long drop off the side :-).

Social Tunnel

Ruins at the Tomboy Mining Ghost Town. The town closed in 1927 when the mine ran out. 900 folks lived here at one time!

Leaving Tomboy behind and headed to the summit....

How would you like to deliver mail to this spot??

At the top of the world...13,180 feet...awesome!

Wildflowers everywhere

Going down was just as exciting as going up :-). What made the trip down even more interesting was a jeep that had broken down on the way up, and no-one was able to pass at the spot he was in. Eventually, with some pushing help from Al, they got it rolling backwards down the road to a spot wide enough to allow others to pass. I wouldn't want that tow truck bill!

Found a waterfall when we stopped to walk around at one point

Finally, back to Ouray. We had some time before the jeep needed to be returned, so it seemed like a good time to stop for some ice cream :-).

Dinner was at the True Grit Cafe, devoted to that American legend, John Wayne. It was very good, but way more food on the plate than we could eat! We both had chicken fried steak with country gravy and mashed potatoes, I think we could have shared a plate :-).

I was told by several people that no trip to Ouray was complete without a stop at Mouse's Chocolates, so who was I to say different. Some chocolate truffles and scrap cookies seemed just the way to wind up our day, wouldn't you say? Scrap cookies are their own creation...it's a sugar cookie dough, and then they throw in any scraps of chocolate and candies they have leftover from the day's baking...so the cookie is always different...but always good :-). Good thing Ouray isn't close to Chalk Creek!

So, that was our adventure in Ouray, our first time jeeping in the back country, and we had a great time. We will most definitely be returning to that area in the future. But stay tuned, we have more fun to show you as soon as I get pictures ready, and we've begun a foray into a new type of adventure...we've started geocaching...all kinds of new fun to be had... :-).

Ouray on Dwellable

Rim to Rim Expedition

Before I start today's adventure, I have a small blurb that I would like folks to hear: we have been working here at Chalk Creek Campground all summer, and I think we've managed to convey how great a time we have had here. We will be moving on to a different area of the country next year, which leaves a vacant workamper couple spot for next year. If any of my readers might be interested in information about working here, please drop me an email and I'll fill you in and put you in touch with the Karlsson's.

On our way to our adventure in Ouray last week, we stopped at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park both going to Ouray and coming back from Ouray. To do both rims of the Black Canyon is too much for one day, so wanting to experience both the North Rim and the South Rim, we split it up into the two days, incorporating the experience into our driving days. No sense wasting time, now, is there?

The Black Canyon is a deep, precipitous gorge hacked out of the ancient bedrock by the Gunnison River. The National Park protects 12 miles of the 50-mile-long canyon. The Black Canyon slices through an upift that reaches elevations above 8,000 feet. Time and the flowing river created the Canyon, which is between two and three million years old. The Gunnison River has one of the nation's steepest river gradients, dropping 2,150 feet from the canyon head at Sapinero (now under the Blue Mesa reservoir) to its North Fork junction, an average fall of 43 feet per mile. In the two miles from Pulpit Rock overview to Chasm View overlook, it descends and astounding 480 feet. That steep gradient, combined with the abrasion of tumbling boulders on the riverbed, gives the Gunnison a sharp cutting edge. Geologists estimate the river deepens the canyon by about one inch every century. But enough words, let's get onto some pictures!

We drove the North Rim on our first day...this is a picture of the pontoon boat at the dock from the Morrow Point Reservoir tour. 

View of the South Rim and the San Juan Mountain range in the distance

We drove to the ranger station to check in and get my National Park stamp :-), with the intention of hiking to Exclamation Point, described in my photography guide as the best view of the canyon in the park. However, there was a very bad sign at the trailhead, at least for us..."no dogs". Ugh! I was discussing this with the ranger, who agreed with me that we are the only user group discriminated against in the National Park system. We were allowed to walk them on the shorter overlook trails along the rim, so that's what we did. We had a picnic lunch in the campground, and then walked down the Chasm View Trail to see this view of the Painted Wall and the streaked walls.

There was no parking directly at any overlook, there was always a short trail to walk to the overlook. The trails are very well-maintained and easy to follow.

The river cutting its path through the canyon

Looking down at rock formations

This photo was taken at Kneeling Camel Overlook....can you see the camel??

Onto the South Rim. This is taken at Gunnison Point. We had elected to drive the South Rim on our return trip from Ouray to the campground. Even though the rims are only about 1100 feet apart at points, it is a long drive, 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive each way. And no, there is no bridge from rim to rim...apparently people do ask :-).

Al and the kids at Pulpit  Rock Overlook

View of the West Elk Mountains

A great view of the Painted Wall at Cedar Point overlook. Painted Wall is Colorado's highest cliff, with a 2,240-foot vertical rise from base to rim. The "painted" strips are pink pegmatite bands slashing across the cliff. (pegmatite is a coarse-grained igneous rock for the geologists in the crowd).

A final view of the canyon, and river. 

We really enjoyed our days exploring the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. For more adventurous, and hardy, souls there's hiking down into the canyon, fishing, even rock climbing. We did have an enjoyable day just driving the rims, and walking each of the overlook trails. 

Next up on the adventure trail: our first experience with off-road jeeping in lovely Ouray, otherwise known as the Switzerland of America!

Blue Mesa and Morrow Point Reservoirs

We've spent the last few days off exploring the area known as the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. The Black Canyon's total length of 48 miles encompasses three distinct different areas: The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Curecanti National Recreation Area, and Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area. Today's blog is about our pontoon boat ride on the Morrow Point Reservoir section. This is a ranger-led excursion led by a National Park Service Ranger, and is a reservation only activity. We picked our date, made reservations, and cut a deal with our bosses: if they would walk the dogs for us while we were away for the day, we'd treat their two girls to the boat ride with us. Deal done, and we were ready to go!

The Morrow Point Reservoir is part of the Curecanti National Recreation Area, and together with its sister reservoirs, Blue Mesa Lake and Crystal Reservoir commands 40 miles of the Gunnison River. Blue Mesa Lake is the largest lake in Colorado (man-made, that is) and is a veritable summer playground for watersports and fishing. This reservoir system was created in 1965, and used primarily for water storage in the Upper Colorado River Basin. The recreation area was also created at the same time. We had a just over two hour drive to arrive at the parking area for the boat tour, some of it along this Blue Mesa Lake. Just west of the town of Gunnison, you drive through the beginning of the canyon, and then the lake comes into view.

Isn't it pretty? I really like looking at the flat top mesas. 

An intriguing geographical feature called the Dillon Pinnacles.

Now we had reservations on the 10AM boat tour, so we needed to leave early in the morning...in fact, we left at 6:30 in the morning. So, you're probably wondering, if its a two hour drive, why did we leave so early?

Well...that was just to get to the parking area. To get to the actual boat dock, there are 232 steps down, down, down to the river, and then a 3/4 mile walk to the boat dock. Yep, its true! And they do warn you about that when you call for reservations :-). Because, you know, if its 232 steps down, after the tour is over....its 232 steps back UP! Well we didn't think about that as we went down :-).

It was a really nice walk along the river

Jenna and Karina and Al as we get close to the boat

Our tour pontoon boat. It holds 42 passengers, is is full for every trip in the summer.

The canyon is very narrow and the walls steep. At its greatest depth, the Black Canyon is 2,722 feet deep; its narrowest point on the rim is about 1,100 feet across and at the river level, 40 feet wide. Other canyons in North America are deeper, but none combines such depth, narrow opening and sheer walls.

Chipeta Falls, named after the Indian wife of Chief Ouray of the Ute Indian tribe.

The Curecanti Needle is a distinct granite rock formation in the canyon. It rises approximately 700 feet from the floor of the canyon, and is one of the prominent landmarks of the Rocky Mountains. Its location remained remote to most humans until 1882 when the arrival of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad mailines significantly changed this. The ride along the Gunnison River greatly contributed to the railroad's reputation as a scenic railway.

This section of the river became the symbol of the railroad

Our turn-around point. The river continues westward, over Morrow Point Dam and down through the Black Canyon. The controlled rate of water flow on the river now is significantly less than the power it had when it was busy forming the Black Canyon two million years ago :-).

The girls humored me and posed for a picture :-)

The famous view of the Curecanti Needle that graces most publicity brochures for the National Park.

The sheer walls on each side had fascinating views at each turn

I am really sorry, but I have no pictures of us going back UP the stairs...I was too busy huffing and puffing and catching my breath to think about photos :-). It was lunchtime, and we had packed our lunches, but decided to go a little further down the road to the Cimarron Visitor's Center to eat...it seemed a more pleasant idea than sitting at tables by the outhouse at the parking area :-). Plus, the ranger told us there was an exhibit of trains there, and a short walk to view the Morrow Point Dam. Sounded good, so off we went.

Some old train cars

Morrow Point Dam...its pretty big!

We walked down to the river and had a lesson on skipping stones...the girls did pretty good!

The river continues down towards the Black Canyon....and that story will wait for another day! 

At this point it was time to head home and get ready for Thursday Potluck. We have potluck every Thursday, and have been getting a pretty good turnout of campers now that summer is in full swing. We had the whole weekend of work, right through Monday, and then we were off for three days of new exploration...off to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, then to Ouray and a new adventure for us...jeeping some off-road trails..stay tuned, and I guess we did all right, since I am still here to write about it for you :-).

And a special thank you to the girls for spending the day with us! It was fun sharing the tour with you :-).

Blue Mesa on Dwellable