2023 – Mid September – Ouray, CO; Black Canyon NP

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Molas Pass

Ouray

Waking to a cool clear morning, we head back into Durango for gas for the next part of our journey.  We stop at a farmer’s market for ‘Palisades’ peaches.  We happened across these a few years ago and are hooked.  We also find plums, crenshaw melons, and coffee; we are set to go.  The ride to Silverton turns into an adventure, first heavy rain, then sleet, enough to accumulate on the road.  The weather changes between rain and clear for the next 30 minutes before finally clearing, giving us dry pavement.  The road winds up and over mountain passes, dropping into valleys.  Passing Silverton, the mountains take on hues of gold, copper and cream.

Red Mountain

Yankee Girl Mine

Emerging through Red Mountain Pass we see the reason for the passes name, a line of red mountains.  Old mining operations, now under restoration, dot the foothills of the Red Mountains.   Continuing north towards Ouray the mountains change, the stone appears layered, pointing towards the sky.  Other places the layers are horizontal, resembling disorganized stacks of books.  Cresting the last pass of the day, Ouray comes into view, a small town surrounded by mountains, “Switzerland of America” the sign at the lookout spot says. 

Approach to Ouray

The Ouray visitor center is full of information, hiking, climbing, 4-wheel driving, there is a public large public pool filled with water from the local hot springs, water temperatures ranging from 87° to 105°. That is on our list of things to do.  The river flowing through town is the color of split pea soup.  Mary, one of the volunteers, informs us that color is from past mining of gold, silver, copper and lead, among other minerals.  Those mines the ones under restoration at the foothills of the Red Mountains, I mentioned earlier.  The perimeter hiking trail interests us, it is a six-mile trail that surrounds the town.  We are interested in one of the 4-wheel drive roads but after our adventure on the Cinnamon Pass, we are wary of going off road again.  Hungry for lunch, we walk the main street of Ouray.  A couple exiting the Thai Chili Restaurant enthusiastically suggest two meals from the menu.  We take their suggestions but order two different meals, and are equally happy with our lunch.  As we leave, we suggest our meals to another couple just entering the restaurant.  After relaxing for the afternoon, we head out for dinner, finding pizza, at a local bar/restaurant, equally good.

Part of the
Cascade Falls

The next day, we drive up to the trailhead of the perimeter trail.  The Cascade Falls are our destination.  We trek up multiple sets of stairs for bird’s eye views of town and surrounding mountains.  The trail follows along a cliff face to the falls.  The falls are quite high with minimal water flowing, due to the time of year, but it still worth the hike.  Working up an appetite, we stop at Maggie’s Restaurant for huge burgers, fries and onion rings.  Many others enjoy Maggie’s fare.  After lunch, we take the opportunity to work off our Christmas list.  In one of the shops, we run into a couple highly praising the Jeep tour they took into the surrounding mountains and basins earlier this day.  This sounds like a great alternative to us driving on our own.  We stop at a couple places offering tours, the first one has no openings.  A driver from a second company returns from a tour as we arrive at their office.  The couple returning, highly recommends going with them.  We speak with the driver at length, wanting information on a private, photography tour.  He gives us a brochure, suggesting we call the office.  An hour later we are booked with Alpine Scenics for a 4-hour tour starting at 9 tomorrow morning.

Waiting for winter

Ouray Pool/Hot Springs

Later in the afternoon we head to the Ouray Pool/Hot Springs.  There are a series of pools each one at a different temperature.  The air is cool with lots of clouds, so we are hoping for hot water to relax in.  The 87° water is a good place to start, we work our way up to 105° pool before leaving two hours later.

Beginning of our Jeep trip

The next morning, we pack, have breakfast, and check out of the hotel, before heading off to Alpine Scenics office.  We meet James, our driver and tour guide. We visit for a few minutes to determine what we want to see.  James is amiable, joking while giving us history on the area.  He takes his driving serious, having been doing this for the past six years.

View of Yankee Boy Basin

We are off towards Yankee Boy Basin, Governor Basin and Silver Basin, all providing spectacular views of a portion of the Uncompahgre National Forest.  The road starts out as smooth gravel road but, once we start climbing into the basins it degrades into a 4-wheel trail.  Our truck would have made it part way, but not where we ended in each basin.  A few aspens are turning, we are a week or two early for the full glowing mountainsides of peak fall color.  

Road to Silver Basin

James tells us late spring is a great time to come, with the mountainside awash in spring wildflowers.  Each year spring appears at a different time in the mountains, it depends on when the previous winter’s snowpack disappears, letting people in, this year, it was July.  The roads back in this area are repurposed mining roads.  We can’t imagine trekking back here, to mine in the 1800’s; using mules to haul wagons, working at these elevations, somewhere over 12,000’, above the tree line, in the middle of winter.  People were tougher back then; I can’t see me doing that.  At each of our destinations we are surrounded by different mountains; Mount Sneffels, Teapot, and Cirque, are the only ones I can remember.

View from Silver Basin

Silver Basin

Tarn in Silver Basin

Driving towards Silver Basin, we pass a small pool of water, glacier blue in color from snow melt, surrounded by forest.  Arriving at Silver Basin we are at the edge of the tree line.  Small patches of pine trees are huddled together protecting each other against the elements.  We are in a cirque, a bowl-shaped amphitheater carved by glaciers surrounded by mountains.  At its lowest point, is a tarn, a pool of water, from this year’s snow melt.  It is shrinking, due to natural leakage into a stream, flowing down the valley.  The still air, which James tells us doesn’t occur very often, provides mirror-like reflections of the mountains.  We enjoy the solitude, watching billowy white clouds pass above.  We hear pikas chirping in the rock glacier wall.  This is a magnificent place; we would like to stay longer but we have other places to go.

Our return is slow, the ride up was a fun E-ticket Disney ride, the ride down is a more adventurous.  I always get this bad feeling when the hood of the truck blocks the view of the road, especially when we are going downhill, on uneven, twisty mountain ‘roads’.  James handles it without flinching, his eyes glued to the break in the trees knowing that the road is below.  I’m so glad I am not driving.  On our return we make several quick stops for photo ops, before arriving back in town.  We say our goodbyes to James, promising ourselves we have to come back to see this area at the peak of wildflower season.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison

After lunch we head off to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.  But first, we make a stop at Mouse’s Chocolates & Coffee for hot chocolate.  Nicida has a lavender hot chocolate, I have a Mexican hot chocolate.  Mine is spicy, the spiciest hot chocolate I’ve ever had.  It takes several sips before I decide like it and would order it again.  Our drive to Black Canyon is only 50 miles.  Once we leave Ouray the land transforms into an open plain with ranching and farming replacing the high reaching mountains.  At Montrose, we turn east, a few miles further we make the turn into the park, climbing almost 2,000’ above the open mesa.

Gunnison River in the
Black Canyon

Continuing through the park we get glimpses of a break in the landscape, seeing a darker strip between the near ground and the distant horizon.  Arriving at the visitor center we see the canyon and hear the turmoil of water from unseen rapids below.  It is very different from the Grand Canyon, which averages a mile deep, but it is also wide, from one mile to 18, at its widest.  The narrowest point of the Black Canyon is 1,100’ at the top, shrinking to 40’ across at river level, 1,820’ below.

Schist, Gneiss and
Pegmatite layers

We see the bedrock of the earth, metamorphic rock, from the Precambrian Era, approximately 1.8 billion years old.  Schist and gneiss, two forms of metamorphic rock, were formed by pressure on volcanic rock.  1.4 – 1.7 billion years ago magma squeezed into cracks in the schist and gneiss, minerals grew from the magma as it cooled, forming pegmatite, igneous rock.  This is the lighter colored stripes in the darker schist and gneiss.  The Gunnison Uplift pushed this metamorphic/igneous rock up, which was then buried by more volcanic activity.  Then, what we now call the Gunnison River, started flowing, cutting a path through the volcanic rock and into the metamorphic rock forming the Canyon.  All this activity occurred over the past tens of millions of years.  I skipped probably 99% of the details of how this all occurred, I’ll leave that for you to dig into.

We are at 8,000’ enjoying the cooler weather, settling in for the night.  We wake to light rain with on and off drizzle for most of the day, but not bad enough for us to stop our exploration of the park.  Low clouds weave in and out of the canyon walls.  Patches of sunlight illuminate spots on the canyon walls.  We stop at 11 of the 13 overlooks on the south side of the canyon, each providing a different view.  

At each, we see small snippets of the river, but we always hear the rushing river.  The pegmatite looks like abstract brush strokes of white colored paint on the darker schist and gneiss.  The stokes appear different from each overlook.  We are anywhere from 1,800’ to 2,000’ feet above the river.  Geologists estimate the river erodes the rock at an average of 1” every 100 years.  Tomorrow, the north rim.

Even though the north rim is as close as 1,100’ from the south rim at the closest, we have to drive 70 miles, 90 minutes, to get to the north rim.  We pass more farms, and ranches with the Elk Mountains forming the backdrop as we head north.  The north rim portion of the park is small, 15 campsites, on a first come first serve basis.  It is full of what looks to be rock climbers; young, lanky, musclebound people, relaxing or looking over their gear.

We visit five of the six overlooks, ‘Wow’ is all we can say as we reach each overlook.  We have lengthy views of the river from the north side.  We can see why the river makes so much noise, there are very few spots of blue water; white water rapids, are followed by another, and yet another.  The river is rated class IV – V, far beyond our kayaking capabilities.  We recommend Chasm Nature Trail, trailhead near the campground, for great views of the canyon and Painted Wall.  Pick up a trail brochure explaining the flora, and a bit of history, along the trail.  Filled with more Black Canyon memories we make the 70-mile drive back to our campsite.  After dinner, we head back outside taking advantage of the dark skies for some Milky Way photography.

Gunnison River

The next day we start our trip home.  Before leaving the park, we detour to the East Portal, upstream from the canyon.  We descend 2,000’ feet to see the river at eye level.  It is calm and quiet, with a strong, fast current.  A tunnel was dug upstream from here to provide water to the farms on the mesa outside of the canyon.  It took 4 years, from 1905 to 1909, to dig the 11’ x 12’ x 6-mile-long tunnel.  We follow the five-mile-long road mules used pulling wagons from the top to the bottom of the canyon.  We are informed that the Interstate system builds the roads to a grade of not more than 6%.  This road has a maximum grade of 16%.

Return

Fall color

Exiting the park, we drive along the Gunnison Valley.  The river itself is far from the road, until we come to the Blue Mesa Reservoir, the largest lake within Colorado, stretching for miles.  Passing the reservoir, outside the town of Gunnison we see a smaller, upstream, version of the Gunnison River.  We stop for lunch enjoying the warm weather and sunshine.  Stopping in the visitor center, we find another volunteer, this time she is excited to tell us the wonders of the Gunnison area.  Inquiring further we find out that this area receives an average of 180” of snow annually.  Up on the mountain, the average is 300”, great for long season playing in the snow; XC-skiing, snow shoeing, and fat tire biking.  Leaving town, we find the last farmer set on the side of the highway selling Palisades peaches, stopping we stock up on the delicious fruit.  The land east of town becomes arid.  As the road starts up the foothills to Monarch Pass, trees reappear.  There is anywhere from 20 – 40% tree loss due to the dry conditions this area has been experiencing over the past decade and bark beetle infestation.  We crest Monarch Pass at 11,311’, the tree line, starting the long downward drive to Salida, CO.  Past Salida, we drive parallel to the Arkansas River, used by many for float trips and fly fishing.  We find a campground on the river enjoying listening to the gurgling water flow behind the camper.  It’s a very comfortable 70° and sunny as we have dinner.

Impending storm

Waking to a nice cool day we have breakfast before starting our three-day drive back home.  Following the Arkansas river, we notice all of the rafting companies are closed, the water in the river seems low, we see rocks protruding above the water level in many spots, making rafting or kayaking more of a challenge.  We turn west again, climbing up to 8,000’ seeing a string of 13,000’ and 14,000’ mountains, many of them with a light coating of fresh snow.  Once we join I-25 we are on the same road we took up to CO.  Some of the wildflowers seem to have come back to life, with the rain that passed through the area while we were on our trip.  We decide to stop in Dalhart, TX for the night.  Descending to 4,000’ we are back hotter weather – 90°.  Our drive the next day seems to drag.  We make it to Snyder, TX, staying in a hotel for the night.  We are at a lower elevation, and a higher temperature - 95°.  Our final day on the road passes uneventful, the temperatures have cooled from 100°+ when we left, to 90’s today, with the same 90’s forecast for the next several days.

After emptying the camper, doing laundry, and going out for dinner, I spot my next project…  Cleaning the mass of insects from the front of the truck and camper.

It was a good trip.

Thank you for stopping by.

Mark