Colorado Scenic Byways

We have spent the last two weeks in Colorado.  We have avoided the eastern half of the state (Denver and the plains) and instead have been exploring the “West Slope.”  We tripped over a brochure called Colorado – The Official Guide to the Scenic and Historic Byways and that gave us some ideas of where to go.

We started out in Steamboat Springs.  This is definitely a trendy tourist town with a major ski slope.  We pretty much ignored the town.  Instead, we decided to drive the Flat Tops Trail.  This was a 82 mile route that was advertised as taking two hours.  Wrong!  It took us four hours…all on dirt roads. 

Teddy Roosevelt hunted elk in this area.  We saw plenty of hunters and their tent encampments!

It was a beautiful drive to the start of the trail.

Yes, it was dirt road the whole way.

Near 10,000 feet elevation. it was beautiful!

Next we wandered down to Montrose, Colorado.  All we knew about Montrose is that it was near the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.  That’s a mouthful!  We were totally blown away by what we saw there!!!

The Gunnison is a river that runs through the area.  Over time, the river has cut a steep canyon into the rock to create a vertical wilderness. 

Once again, I have to put people in the picture so you can get a sense of how massive something is.  This canyon was VERY deep.  And you could get right up to the edge…which Jim enjoyed and I didn’t!

This is the Painted Wall. It is 1/2 mile high and is the tallest cliff in Colorado.

A bird friend joined us for lunch. I’m waiting for my friend Mary Ellen to tell me what kind of bird it is.

The day was very clear, we could see this mesa 60 miles away.

Once we were done exploring the top of the canyon, it was time to explore the bottom. The Black Canyon has a very interesting history. The city of Montrose is in a semi-arid environment. Around 1900 people started wondering if they tap into the Gunninson river for irrigation. The only way to get to the river was by going into the canyon, which many considered “impenetrable.” People could be lowered down, but then had difficulty moving downstream to survey what was there. Two gentleman finally managed to explore the canyon on rubber mattresses…in the early 1900’s! They had supplies lowered down to them from the upper edge. The gentleman were able to find a location in the canyon at which to dig an irrigation tunnel, now called the Gunninson Tunnel. The builders had to hack their way through 6 miles of rock!!! It is because of the Gunninson Tunnel (opened in 1909 and still in use) that Montrose is now a big agricultural area in Colorado.  It’s the longest irrigation tunnel in the world.

To get to the bottom on the Canyon, you had to take a VERY steep road.

The Gunninson River running through the Black Canyon. It was a beautiful Fall day.

We found people fly fishing at the spillway near the Gunninson Tunnel.

Next, we popped into New Mexico. The town of Farmington, New Mexico to be precise. There was an FMCA (Family Motor Coach Association) Rally going on there. We weren’t interested in attending the rally, but the company that installed our new awning last Spring were going to be there. We needed some warranty work done, so we took advantage of being kind of near them.

The drive to Farmington was beautiful. We took the San Juan Scenic Byway through the San Juan mountains and Telluride, another ski town. It was a rainy day, but the mountains were still beautiful.

We took the west leg of the San Juan Scenic Byway.

 

A not so fun part of the ride was the fact while doing his pre-drive checks that morning, Jim discovered one of the Jeep tires was low. Uh oh. We had to stop two times on the drive to re-inflate that tire.  Thank goodness we carry a portable compressor.

The start of the drive through the San Juan Mountains was stunning.

A mountain peak near Telluride.

The Blue Flame on the San Juan Scenic Byway. What you can’t see is Jim filling the Jeep tire…again.

By the end of the day’s drive, the landscape had really changed. We went from Alpine forest to desert formations.

Being the nice wife that I am, I let Jim deal with the awning. I went to get the tire fixed. I should also mention that this day was our 33rd Wedding Anniversary! We all know that the 25th wedding anniversary is the Silver Anniversary and the 50th is Gold. Well, apparently the 33rd wedding anniversary is the “New Tires” anniversary. Yup, I got to the tire store, they pulled the tire, and showed me it was almost bald. Oops. The Jeep only had 40,000 miles on it. But the tires had close to 80,000 miles since we town it behind the RV. “Happy Anniversary dear, I bought you a new set of tires!!!”

The tire installer  pulled the Jeep in, thinking all I need was a patch. But look! They provided balloons for our Anniversary!

Fifteen minutes and more than a few dollars later, we are getting new Jeep tires. Sigh.

After our thrilling Anniversary in Farmington, we headed back north to Colorado. We are now in between Cortez and Mancos, Colorado, still along the San Juan Scenic Byway.  We are in an RV park right at the entrance to Mesa Verde National Park. I’ll save those adventures for the next blog post.

6 thoughts on “Colorado Scenic Byways

    1. Corinne Post author

      Thanks Cindy! I know a whole slew of people celebrating their 33rd anniversaries this year…all 7 days apart from each other! 1984 was a good year. ๐Ÿ˜‰ Happy Anniversary right back at you.

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