Colorado : Part II

Tuesday morning we woke up, cleaned up camp and drove to Crested Butte for breakfast and to check out the town.  Our camping spot was only about 15 minutes from town.  We got some breakfast sandwiches from a little shop and then walked around the town for a bit.  Different vibe here.  You could definitely tell Crested Butte is an area filled with people with lots of money.  There were a lot of cool shops and tons of great views.

From Crested Butte we headed further west towards Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.  Along the way, we drove by the biggest reservoir in Colorado, Blue Mesa Reservoir.

After about an hour and a half drive, we arrived at the Black Canyon.  It was quite an impressive sight.  We entered the park on the south rim and stopped by the Visitors Center to see what the major attractions were.  From the Visitors Center we took a two mile hike down into canyon to get a different vantage point than from the rim.  The views were stunning.  The canyon reminded me of the Grand Canyon in a lot of ways.  It wasn't on the same scale but visually stunning in the same way that the Grand Canyon is.  After the hike down, we drove along the rim drive and stopped at a couple of the overlooks.

After visiting the Park for a couple hours we headed for Ridgway State Park for the night.  This was our first night staying in a campground with amenities (a shower!).  We checked in and got one of the walk-in campsites.  As soon as we got camp set up we immediately headed for the showers.  It felt pretty fantastic after four days of dirt and sweat.

Wednesday morning we woke up, cooked breakfast, packed up camp again and then we were off down US 550 to Ouray.  Ouray is called the Switzerland of America.  The small, old mining town is tucked into a small valley surrounded by mountains.  It is an incredible.

After eating lunch at Ouray Brewery (great burgers!), we stopped in an outdoor shop to get a couple things and asked the owner for a recommendation for a hike near Ouray.  He recommended that we hike Bear Creek Trail which is about 2 miles south of town, so that's what we did.  The trail was pretty brutal the for the first mile rising about 1000' along a trail made up of slate that was falling down the mountain.  We were basically hiking switchbacks up the side of a cliff.  While hard, the climb was worth it.  The views of the surrounding mountains were spectacular.  Once to the top, the trail followed along Bear Creek canyon with the mountain on one side and shear cliffs down to Bear Creek on the other...definitely had to watch where you stepped.

After the hike we continued on US-550, which at this point is called the Million Dollar Highway, towards Silverton.  Ouray and Silverton are about 25 miles apart and the MDH between the two is one of the most scenic drives in the country passing through the San Juan Mountains.  Unbelievable scenery with a couple of old mines along the way.

I asked the owner of Ouray Mountain Sports for a camping recommendation near Silverton and he recommended that we stay along Mineral Creek just outside of town.  There is an official Forest Service campground at Mineral Creek but lots of people just set up camp along the creek for free since it is on Forest Service land.  Again, an incredible place to camp completely surrounded by mountains.  The Silverton - Ouray area was my favorite part of the trip.  The San Juan Mountains are unlike any I have ever seen before.  They provide jaw-dropping scenery every way you look.

Part III coming from Sara very soon...

Colorado : Part I

Sara and I took our first non-honeymoon vacation together as a married couple last week.  Ever since moving down to Louisiana for graduate school and then on to Dallas to start my career, I have badly missed the accessibility and views of mountains that East Tennessee gave me.  So, I have been planning a trip to Colorado to get back into the mountains for a long time.  The plan was to go to Colorado and camp and hike and do whatever else interesting and fun we found to do.  We were mostly winging it with the loan goal of enjoying the mountains and scenery.  While I was very excited, I'm not sure Sara quite shared the same excitement.  She enjoys to camp but I think 7 days, 6 nights of camping on the road had her a little nervous.

The only plan that we had set in stone was to meet college friends Jameson, Paul, and Jenna (who were coming down from the Denver area) near Salida, CO for the first couple of days.  We spent the majority of Friday after work making sure we had everything we need packed and a proper stash of groceries for the road trip.  Saturday morning the alarm went off at 5:15am and we were off for the 12ish hour drive to Salida.  The drive was mostly uneventful.  Not a lot going on in the Texas panhandle believe it or not.  We did make a stop in Amarillo to check out Cadillac Ranch on the recommendation from some friends in our small group.  Really strange display of public art.

We drove through some thunderstorms as soon as we got into Colorado (much needed to combat the wildfires) and finally got to Salida around 6pm.  Jameson met us in Salida and we immediately took off for the Angel of Shavano campground about 10 miles northwest of town.  The campground was our base camp for a couple of days.  After getting camp set up, Sara whipped up a delicious batch of chicken fajitas on the stove.  We had hoped to take advantage of campfires but there were fire bans almost all week due to the widespread forest fires throughout the state.  Pmount and Jenna showed up around 9 in there newly purchased conversion van, which is awesome.  We spent the night enjoying some cold beers and admiring the abundance of stars in the sky.

Sunday morning Paul cooked some egg and bacon breakfast burritos.  After getting motivated we decided to go for a hike.  The Colorado Trail runs right through the Angel of Shavano campground.  We walked from the campground around the base of Mt. Shavano (a 14er) for about three miles out and then back.  We briefly considered making the hike up Shavano but it was too late in the day to get started.  The hike included great views of Shavano and the surrounding mountains, meadows, and lots of aspen forest.  Jameson had to leave after the hike to head back to Denver for work on Monday.  We spent the rest of the afternoon lounging around in camp.

Monday morning we had another fantastic breakfast of eggs and bacon.  Really solid meals the first couple of days.  We enjoyed the beaming morning sun in camp for a couple hours before saying goodbye to Paul and Jenna around lunch time.  Sara wanted to head back to Salida to check out the small town.  Very typical Colorado mountain town...lots of small shops, art galleries, and restaurants with people walking and riding bicycles everywhere.  We ate lunch in Salida and then headed west towards the Gunnison and Crested Butte area.  We had no specific destination, just wanted to see the town of Crested Butte area which was close to the peak of its wildflower season.  Monarch Pass was the highlight of the hour drive.

We did a brief internet search on our phones on the way and found a campground called Cement Creek Campground (a Forest Service CG) and decided that would be our destination for the night.  When we arrived the campground was full.  Blessing in disguise.  We continued up Cement Creek Road which is on National Forest land (meaning we could camp almost anywhere we wanted).  The farther we went up Cement Creek, the more beautiful it got.  We finally decided on a spot and set up camp for the night.

Part II to follow...