Airstreaming the West: Trip #45 (13): Colorado Mountain Towns

June 3 - 15, 2012

Colorado mountain towns: Denver, Leadville, Gunnison, Crested Butte & Ridgway

Sunday, June 3
Our northern-most destination this trip will be Denver but today we’d go as far as Walsenburg in southeast Colorado. Nice weather, though warm, but smooth sailing. The NM wildfire is blazing north of Silver City, but we drove thru some heavy smoke west of Pagosa where they have their own wilderness fire burning away -- the Little Sand Fire. Along the way we stopped at a craft and river fest in Alamosa; well, that took about 12 minutes to do. Arrived at Walsenburg by 3 pm, and it was HOT. I remember seeing 88 on the thermometer so we stayed inside and watched the one of two TV channels with the a/c. This place has electric. Then we watched the clouds build for a potential storm that we never got, but we sure got some winds.

The Spanish Peaks

The lake at morning at Lathrop State Park

Dang hitchhikers.

The big gravel spill detour at Pueblo

Camp Cherry Creek -- say hi to Jed!

Monday, June 4
Today we head for Castle Rock outlet mall, I mean Denver, with a stop at the mall first. All was well on I-25 until we had to detour off the highway due to a gravel spill. The cops ushered us off the road to no specific detour, so we followed a semi which got us back on the highway north of the spill but not before a long tour of the suburbs of Pueblo. Had planned on a stop at Table Rock Llamas outside Colorado Springs in lieu of the Estes Wool Market, but they’re not open Mondays. But the mall was, and we arrived around noon. Took a few hours to do some good damage considering the horrid fashions that abound. (With all this traveling, our wardrobes are mostly souvenir T-shirts, not that I'm complaining.) That done, it was the short drive to Cherry Creek State Park in Denver where we’d park for the next four nights. Got the same place we had last time, Coyote Loop, #35, where the magpies scream. There were six babies and two adults, all yakking at once. Dinner with Bob & Sue in their beautiful new home, and after much wine I came home with a major migraine. It was gone by morning, but that was a rough one. Decapitation was considered as a relief option.

Tuesday, June 5

A prism of color streaked the sky at the Denver capital building. It was built in the 1890s, and in 1908,
the dome was plated in 24-karat gold.

The nights are not cold here, and the days will be warming during our stay, great. Today we toured the new Colorado History Museum, had lunch outside at the lunch trucks, then hit the downtown streets, including the Brown Palace and the 16th Street Mall, taking the bus down to LoDo and checking out Rockmount for western wear—the real western wear that buttons up like cowboys wear. Fun to look, but so hot in there that the thought of trying something on was out of the question. Back to bob and sues, and we went to dinner at Nana’s Italian.

Lunch out of a truck. We opted for the Brazilian sandwiches.

Free bus ride to 16th Street Mall! oh boy on this hot day, count me in.

Work on The Brown Palace began in 1888, designed in the Italian Renaissance style, using Colorado red granite and Arizona sandstone for the building's exterior. For a finishing touch, artist James Whitehouse was commissioned to create 26 medallions carved in stone, each depicting a native Rocky Mountain animal. The hotel's “silent guests” can still be seen between the seventh floor windows on the hotel’s exterior (wish I'd known to look up at the time)... After an expenditure of $1.6 million and another $400,000 for furniture, The Brown Palace Hotel opened on Aug. 12, 1892. It had 400 guest rooms (compared to 241 today) that rented for between $3 and $5 a night. The hotel was hailed as the second fire-proof building in America.

Wednesday June 6 - the Hailstorm

Got a late start today because we took a longer-than-planned bike ride in the morning. Thought we’d ride around the park, and we ended up riding AROUND the park, including the dam along the interstate! Good ride, about 12 miles, and it was early so it wasn’t too hot. Lots of people out riding on a Wednesday; doesn’t anyone work in this town? Next we drove way west to the foothills to see the Red Rocks Amphitheater and museum, and a peek at The Fort Restaurant, but they didn’t open until 5:30 and it was 5 and my driver wasn’t interested in waiting. We got a few raindrop at Red Rocks and the clouds continued to build, oh boy would we be in for it later. Our last stop of the day would be the new “hip swinging trendy” Highlands neighborhood, which was none of that. But it was a revived old neighborhood-business area, and we had dinner there at El Camino (Mexican of course) -- it was pretty good! I’d go back, so that’s a good sign (good margaritas). Back home at camp I snapped some pics of the darkening clouds but it wasn’t until 11:30 that the ran began, then the hail, and inside this tin can, let me tell you it’s loud. The rain is -- imagine the sound of the hail that soon started. All we could do is sit there and wonder what the truck and trailer would look like in the am. I tried to peek out but it was hard to tell the size, but it looked small so I went back to bed. Then it started again at 1:05, LOUDER, and I tried to go back to sleep, depressed at the thought of what we might really see in the morning...

If you think of Red Rocks Park as just a beautiful place to see a concert, think again! Around you are 868 acres of deer, dinosaurs, pines and prairie, geological wonders and spectacular vistas. At 6,450 feet above sea level, Red Rocks Park is a unique transitional zone where the Great Plains meet the Rocky Mountains. Red Rocks Amphitheatre is a geological phenomenon – the only naturally-occurring, acoustically perfect amphitheatre in the world. (Yeah sure, dinos, whatever -- BONO was here!)

El Camino in The Highlands. I'd give it four stars.

This park flood after last night's big storm cut our bike ride short today.

Thursday, June 7
Nothing! It was fine. I expected to see a hammered truck hood and trailer, but somehow we escaped a pounding. In fact, the sun was peeking out so we decided to take another bike ride, but this time with a camera to shoot those red-winged blackbirds we passed yesterday in the wetlands. But, after the big storm last night, we noticed a river where there was only grass the day before, and the road was flooded out and closed off. So much for that; so we just fed some mosquitos and went back. For the rest of the day we braved the traffic of the big city to get in some more shopping. After a stop at Cherry Creek Mall we took a stroll around the lake at Washington Park, which was a lovely spot in town. What a neat neighborhood. Lots of geese, families and dogs. One last dinner with Bob and Sue, they are great hosts, and we always enjoy drinking, I mean visiting, with them.

Turquoise Lake

Friday, June 8
Left Cherry Creek for Leadville. Good thing because Denver would be in the low 90s today; Leadville was about 70, whew. Our campground was about 8 miles out of Leadville at Turquoise Lake May Queen campground, #19. Small campground but liked by the fishermen, always someone walking by with a pole. Loaded the bikes on the truck and went back to town to check out the area. Rode up and down the streets looking at old homes. Found a nice vintage Airstream tho not for sale. Bill had a flat tire so we stopped to get a tube, and managed to get She’s bike gears adjusted at 4:45. WOW, now she’s ready to ride. (15 minutes and $20 and it’s like a new bike -- no more slipping gears.) Went to the Pastime Bar for a margarita and that ended our bike riding so we headed back to camp. Neighbor campers showed up (rafters) and must have been drinking, as they just walked over (crashing through the bushes and scaring sheila to death: one gal, then a man, then a teenager) and said they were here for the Airstream tour. Whaa? Sheila hemmed and hawed until they got the message and left. Communal campers, 5 cars and two Harleys showed up to share their spot. Cooked a steak dinner and retired early. Could get cell service here with our antenna which was nice. Also had a view of Leadville at the far end of the lake.

Camp Leadville

The town of Leadville was on the other side of the lake.

What a town: No locks on these bikes!

Built in 1879 by Horace Austin Warner Tabor, one of Colorado's most well known mining magnates, Leadville's Tabor Opera House was acclaimed "the largest and best, West of the Mississippi!" The Tabor was completed in only 100 days from the date of ground-breaking which was a record time.

Saturday, June 9
Today we headed up Hagerman Pass for a hike UP to Windsor Lake and the highest railroad tunnel in the U.S. at 11,520 ft., the Ivanhoe Tunnel. On the way up we passed thru the remains of Douglass City, where Italian railroad workers lived when building the tunnel, laying track and laying the soiled doves (hey, Bill must have written this one). Way up at the top came a friendly golden retriever named Blue who had a ball rolling in the old snow. Entered the tunnel past the fallen rock and got a feel of it; nice because usually they don't let you enter much of the old tunnels as far as I've seen. This hike was two slow miles up and a fast two miles down, but tiring enough to have us hang around camp the rest of the day. Finding this lack of oxygen makes one very lazy, or at least it's a good excuse. A little too high for Sheila.

Part of what's left of Douglass City

The old rail bed to the tunnel

In the tunnel, still full of ice. Like the sign says, Do Not Enter. Except you Billy.

Blue! This dog can hike! Just another doggie on the trail enjoying a face-plant in snow.

Pardon the huge image, but it deserves it, don't you agree? Except it was full of mosquitos! Run! BTW, that is the real sky, I did not retouch it!

Camp Gunnison

Sunday, June 10
Beautiful day for a drive south on 285 as we head for the Gunnison-Crested Butte area. Opted for a campground in the Taylor River Valley, one of many, but unfortunately the entire roadway was under construction for five miles so it was a slow drive up. After a few missteps, we landed at Lottis Campground, newly redone with electric spots. Basically empty so we chose the very lovely #17 pull through. And after this one, we’re thinking back-in spots are easier for us when it comes time to hook up again. Curves are confining. We had a choice between two campgrounds but chose the more open loop so we could see the mountains that surrounded us, just beautiful. Texan Al Goldberg was the camp host, and his extended family and their multitude of yappy dogs were in residence. Kind of annoying but what can you do. They also had a boil water order in effect but we took our chances on a few sips after learning that was because it was well water and the state requires it to be chlorinated, which it hadn’t been yet. Of course we bought water as soon as we could for the duration. Took a drive later further up the road to see the Lake View campground -- niiiiice. Took a little extra drive to see the tiny town of Tin Cup. We’ll have to come back sometime when the construction is over. This wasn’t simple road work: there was tree removal for widening, boulder breaking; paving will be the least of it. Tried a little mountain biking near the campground, but very rocky and not a lot of fun for us smooth-road types. Got down to 27 degrees that night, a cold one.

Tin Cup's Welcome Sign

Outside of Tin Cup.

A Tin Cup cabin window

What I'll always remember about the Taylor River Valley...

Cute little town of Crested Butte

Monday, June 11
Once we warmed up -- the sun took a while to reach us from behind the mountain -- we took a drive up to Crested Butte. Could this place be more beautiful, I don’t know. Probably because it was early Monday morning, about 11 am, the town was nice and quiet, but it would get busier by the time we left. Found the Montanya rum distillery at the other end of town and did a tasting -- hoo-ha, great way to start the day, before lunch -- fumes! They shared their kitchen with a baker so we left with a bottle of Oro rum and two loaves of bread. My kinda town. Next we drove up to a lake with the most beautiful and quiet campground (again, maybe cuz it’s a Monday), toured an old cemetery, watched some ravens from a bridge (ok, just I did that) and finally went over an old railroad pass to come out in the farmland of Gunnison. Did a little window shopping in Gunnison and had a happy hour margarita at a mexican place there, nice, got to sit outside. It seemed weak but dang if we both weren’t feelin’ that paint thinner buzz on the way back to camp. And through the construction once again.

A unique use of old car bumpers... I guess....

Mr. Bluebird, though not on my shoulder, was sure pretty in his natural setting.

Tuesday, June 12
Time to move on again, this is the time we had some issues hooking on with the curvature of the spot. A pain, but he finally got it. Took almost an hour of sitting at construction halts to get through the first 17 miles of our journey. sheesh. Finally on Hwy. 50 out of town, where our trip would take us past Blue Mesa Reservoir to our next stop which would be Black Canyon National Park. No cell service at camp but maybe 10 TV channels and lucked out getting the last usable spot in Loop B #17 with electric. Love this spot, it’s like a bird sanctuary out back, robins running all over and others singing in the trees and bushes, a deer wandering through, a hummer found my little feeder AND I put out water so everyone is hydrated on my watch. Not hot out, maybe low or mid 80s, but in the sun it feels so much hotter so we decided to do the park drive and check out the overlooks. Nice deep canyon but it’s got nuttin’ on the Grand Canyon. Caught a red-tailed hawk soaring through the canyon, that was a nice photo op. After that, about 5pm, we drove the 5-mile, 16% grade road down into the canyon to see the river. After dinner we took a little walk and later accidentally slept with the windows open, oops, not too cold so not bad, except those birds were extra loud this am. Now we know why.

Camp Black Canyon, the birder's spot

Lucky shot of that day: caught this red-tailed hawk soaring through the canyon.

The 16% grade drive down into the canyon

The Gunnison River.

The river from above.

Shot of the Day: Boy, tough mothers in this park.

Wednesday, June 13Thought we’d get out early today before the heat, and also to photograph the canyon walls that needed morning light. But first -- the camp deer walked through for a snack; Bill was able to shoot him, if I can say that. Now of course, “early” for me is 10 am... But it was good, saw better light on the walls plus a cottontail bunny, and two collared lizards were not shy. Did the 1.5 mile hike at Warner’s Point, and though it was only 80 degrees, wow, in the sun it felt like 250. But it was worth it, got some good photos.

Bill gets credit for catching this shot of the day. Here the deer pretends to like eating leaves.

A park ranger told me it's a healthy environment when the bunnies are around; because they feed everyone.
awwwwwww

What? Another shot of the day? Yes! Got the cottontail on the run! and look at that fuzzy tail.

Overlook south from the hike at Gunnison. That's Ouray or Telluride way, close enough

A Collared Lizard along the trail

Thursday, June 14

One last stop for a night in Ridgway before we head home. Camped at Dutch Charlie campground and managed to get a spot with electric. Went to town for lunch and a bike ride along the river, beautiful ride, and even saw a curious spotted llama.