Rocky Mountain High

Hallowe’en, 2010

Have to remember that food cooks differently at 7000 ft than it does at sea level, for example potatoes take longer to bake and water boils at a lower temperature. Still on the subject of cooking did you know that submariners cook with peanut oil because it has the highest smoke/flash point of any vegetable oil? Just had my first al fresco dinner at my picnic table in some time. Someone up the line must be getting their cistern filled, I’ve seen the water truck go by twice. While I was out made a campfire for one with ATD with pine cones—quick, fast, and over. Lots of fuel about, I’m camped in a pine grove. One more food item comes to mind. On a state visit to Italy the Queen let it be known she wanted no state dinners with garlic or runny tomato sauce on the menu—just about sums up a majority of popular Italian cuisine.

After a week being blown around and frosted in Cheyenne I finally made a break for it on Friday. Ironic that having gained 1000 ft in elevation I’ve had three warm nights here. Here being Mountaindale Resort Southwest of Colorado Springs, Colorado. Spent a very quiet week in Cheyenne. With heavy rains, plunging temperature, and gusting winds that rocked my world I stuck close to home. I finally got out on Thursday to shop at King Sooper where the staff were helpful and the prices economical. Filled at their gas bar for $2.49. The drive down to Denver placed me in more traffic than I’ve seen since I left Toronto. The highway through downtown bends around Mile High Stadium. Thirty-two miles inside the Colorado Border the Welcome Centre Staff greeted me at the door and were quite helpful. They also make good coffee.

My next stop was a pull-out overlooking the Airforce Academy in Colorado Springs with Pikes Peak in the background. Including the underground NORAD installation there are five major military bases hereabouts. In tourist season it seems things get crowded, I passed numerous LCD signs along the highway that would indicate how many hours and minutes to the next interchanges. Finding my way among the myriad new highways built since my GPS was encoded took some doing but I was glad to find my intended campground in a quiet canyon up among the hills surrounded by pine forests. After some of the places I’ve stayed at lately I’m happy to report that this one is a class act. Somehow I did not find it good form that after being introduced to the big screen TV and the other joys of the common room I found them dismantled for rug cleaning next day.

I’ve been out for a couple hikes among the hills watching out for prickly pear cactus which seem to be abundant here. Today I also spent a bit of time cleaning up my RV and finding nooks to store things. It may be Hallowe’en Night here but you’d never know it. I was just out for a look up at the sky. There are just enough lights about the campground, traffic, clouds, and mountains to make star identification difficult. It’s the dark of the moon so the milky way should be visible but the only constellations I’m certain I identified were Cassiopeia, Cygnus-the swan, and the summer triangle—Altair, Deneb, and Vega. I think I found Polaris but for all its significance it is not among the brightest stars in the sky and the rest of the Little Dipper fades away, the Big Dipper is too low in the sky to be seen here.

On Monday November 1st set out for Montrose Colorado heading down Hwy 115 to 50. After gassing up at the corner headed over to Cañon City where I stopped for groceries at Safeway and made the fateful decision to get a flu shot. The drive west takes one to the top of Monarch Pass 11,312 ft. As always it’s slow going on the up side and low gear and brakes on the downside. I saw one scary looking runaway lane complete with 10 sets of double bumpers. Paused for a drive up the mountain to the Visitors Centre at Black Canyon of the Gunnison to pick up some information. Spent the next day recuperating. Black Canon with its sheer 2000 ft black gneiss walls leading to a canyon as narrow as 40 ft is a sight that deserves the word awesome. Going for a 3-mile hike at 8500 ft may not have been the smartest thing I’ve ever done. The east portal road takes one down to the level of the Gunnison River but it involves a 2 mile drive on a road with a 16% grade, scary stuff and would be hard on the gas tank getting back up. I picked an alternate campsite for m last night in town.

Thursday, November 4th

At 6000 ft elevation Montrose is surrounded by mountains on all sides. Heading south on 550 on follows the Uncompahgre River as the forested peaks close in forming a narrow canyon and the outcroppings and rock cuts vividly demonstrate why these are the red mountains. Beyond the snow-capped treeless heights loom higher and higher in the distance. For the first thirty miles the road tends steadily downward until one reaches Ouray with its hot spring channelled into steaming pools beside the highway. At the south end of town the main street business section rises steeply toward the mountain. At the end of that block the switchbacks begin broken after about 5 by a look-off pullout that affords a panoramic view to the north. From that point the road is one continuous series of switchbacks and hairpin curves at either end with no letup in the steep uphill climb. Rock cuts barely wide enough for two lanes of traffic see drop-offs of up to 1500 ft at the very edge of the outside paved lane with no guard rails. This continues with posted speed limits as low as 10 miles per hour until one finally reaches a sign marking the downhill grade at 13,000 ft. Did you hear my ears pop?

At 9000 ft the mining town of Silverton sits in a valley among the surrounding heights. The remains of an old silver mine sit beside the highway. Before one finally reaches the straightaway just north of Durango there are two more passes 11,000 ft and 9000 ft. The million dollar highway was paved with gold ore considered at the time not worth refining. Turning right HWY 190 takes on west to Mancos and Mesa Verde National Park. Mancos is a quaint compact little town just east of the park. I parked in front of the Opera House where Thursday Night Michael Martin Murphey of Wildfire fame was to perform. I had fun wandering the art galleries, getting lunch beside the creek at the local bakery, and admiring the local architecture.

My pleasure was short-lived when I reached the campground where I planned to spend the next couple days and discovered that despite its online website, the guide books, and the local tourist board’s records the place was closed. The agent at the entrance to the National Park across the road couldn’t have been less helpful. Drove back to Mancos and found a Wi-Fi signal and discovered the possibility of open campgrounds in Cortez to the west. Fifteen miles later pulled into town to find the seediest looking hole in the wall parking lot beside a noisy garage I’ve ever seen. The electrical hookups actually used 30 amp fuses, the Wi-Fi didn’t work, and backing into many sites was not possible for one reason or another. I’ve come to discover that Pass Port America is synonymous with dump. After further looking and a brief search found Sundance RV Park more to my liking but by now I was ready to give up on the area and head south.

Friday, November 5th

Spent the day wandering around my immediate neighbourhood here in Cortez. Stopped at the Colorado Welcome Centre in town. Saturday morning backtracked to Mesa Verde National Park and met a more pleasant mannered ranger at the gate. Just getting there is part of the adventure of Mesa Verde; the museum and cliff dwellings are 25 miles from the entrance gate and since they sit at 8500 ft most of that drive is uphill, at least here there were guard rails. So little is known about these cliff-dwellings abandoned in 1250 and not rediscovered until ranchers searching for lost cattle stumbled upon them in 1888. Scrambling down metal and sandstone steps one wonders what drove 150 people to live in such close quarters under a rock overhang accessible only by ladders and hand and footholds carved in the rock. Driven from their homes it is suspected by drought they left behind everything they couldn’t carry; the tragedy is that so much was lost and damaged before the area was protected by park status. Most of the access points and park buildings were built in the thirties by the Civilian Conservation Corps, the CCC boys. I was fascinated to see the combination locks in the lock box lobby of the Park Post Office. The south-west style of building common to that era was interesting to see. On leaving I made the climb to the highest point in the park beside the ground-level fire tower to see the view.