Our stay in Gunnison

Sorry – no internet for DAYS!  Almost no phone…

Monday – Lisa, Simon, Luke, and I took a pontoon boat ride down the Gunnison River.  Mat would have joined us, but he tele works over the internet, so he needs to find civilization and wi-fi to contribute. ( “from trailer” and had to clock in.)

The Gunnison River is deep within the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.  It used to run freely and wildly, but is now subdued by 3 dams.  Now it just runs wildly.  The high walls of the canyon are up to 2300 feet above the beautiful green river.

One spot is Chipeta Falls.  Chipeta Falls is named for the wife of the regional Ute chief, Ourey.  About 200 feet high, the falls tumble and roar.

In addition to the awesome scenery, the amazing history of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison includes the construction of the 15 mile long,  Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad’s narrow gauge railroad through it in 1893. Below you see the remaining rail bed which we walked to reach our boat for the ranger guided trip down the river. The rail line became obsolete and the tracks pulled up in 1949.

Tuesday - we headed north of the canyon, looking down at the river and canyon where we floated the day before.  

Here is the first of the dams, the Blue Mesa dam, creating the Blue Mesa reservoir. This a 390 foot tall "earth fill" dam, with a 86 Megawatt generating capacity. Pretty impressive pile of rocks.

On top of the ridge, the spring flowers are in full bloom.  Thistle..

Sulphurflower…

Arrowleaf balsamroot

Later in the day, we all drove out to the tiny one-store town of Cimarron, location of the second dam, the Chrystal dam, a concrete "thin arch" dam, 323 ft tall..

Also located beside the Chrystal dam is the last remaining truss bridge of the old Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad’s narrow gauge railroad, routed through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.  An old restored engine and tender car are both located there, too, behind locked maintenance fencing….guess they will someday be again set on the old truss bridge.

The 15 miles of tracks laid at the base of the canyon took only 1 ½ years to complete – emigrant workers from Ireland and Italy did the work by hand, working through a winter of temperatures of down to -40F, through the hardest rock on earth.  The line was designed to carry agriculture and cattle but found itself to be more profitable as a tourist attraction.

Wednesday – Simon’s big 5^th birthday!  For a special day, the we all drove to Ourey, CO (named for that Ute Chief, Ourey!).  Ourey is a little western town, surrounded by high mountains. Towering walls line both sides of town. It really seems like the hybrid offspring of a western town and a Swiss village nestled in the Alps.

Ourey even has it’s own waterfall..

We did a little shopping, spent a long afternoon at the hot springs pool, and then a play time at the local park for Simon.

Thursday -  Luke and I drove to the Black  Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.   More wildflowers on the rim – multiple purple ones…

Pink cactus..

Yellow prickly pear cactus…

The view from the top of the rim was fantastic. This shows the painted wall, where molten lighter colored material once flowed to fill the fissures of the hard black rock. This is the highest cliff in Colorado, 2,350 ft down to the Gunnison River below. 

And with the clear, dry weather, you could see forever!

It’s Thursday evening and still no wi-fi.  We leave here tomorrow and will go to Longmont for a few days to see Erin’s family and help her 2 kids celebrate their birthdays!  Lisa and family will be there, too.  I hope to find internet en route and post this.  If not, I’ll post when we get to town!

Friday a.m. - posted!