Ridgeway & Ouray Colorado, & the Uncompahgre Wilderness

We will be coming back here to spend more time!  And next time we will be renting a high clearance 4-wheel drive Jeep...………...The mountains and the surrounding valleys and streams are calling for discovery!

We spent a couple of days at Ridgway State Park at the Elkridge campground high above the valley.  A great opportunity to use our E-Bikes, especially on the climb back to our campsite.  We biked twice to Ridgway.  Once for ice cream, and once for the Friday farmers market.  Beautiful biking on the paved 6 mile trail.

Then on to Ouray where we decided to camp in town where we could walk Main Street and more easily access the trails.  One day we walked the Uncompahgre River trail and then ended at the Ouray Brewing Company for some refreshments.

The second day, we walked up hill to Lower Cascade Falls and then continued on the Perimeter Trail, a total of almost 4 miles as the trail stays as much as 500 feet above the town of Ouray.  Every turn in the trail presented more and more awesome views of the surrounding mountains.  Fall colors, particularly the golden aspen and the reddish browns of the Gamble Oaks, covered the hill sides.

And now for a story...and its a true story.  We know that when you hit the trails, you should be prepared.  Considering the trail plans, the sun was shining, and being a Sunday, we expected many other hikers.  So the rain ponchos and the bear spray were left at the RV.  Although we didn't get into a downpour, we did experience wind blown rain as the clouds scurried over the mountain peaks.  And yes, no rain ponchos.

But the real deal was when Morey decided to take a short cut (an approved trail) as we were both getting tired from all of the climbing.  All of a sudden, Ruthie stops and says.."Morey, I think there is a bear coming toward us, ah Morey...there are two bears!"  Sure enough up ahead less than 100 feet were two bears taking our trail.  And NO bear spray.  So we did as we were told, we made noises, talked, and the bears got off the path...……..after giving us the once over...…...and headed up the hill.  Whew!  And with all of the excitement, Ruthie didn't take any pictures of the bears...……..So thanks to the following gettyimages photo for a close facsimile.

We finished the Perimeter trail.  A beautiful day with a little extra excitement!

Black Canyon of the Gunnison -- Wow is this deep!

We were excited to return to the Black Canyon, as six years earlier, we were escorted out the entrance gate due to a government shutdown.  We're so glad we returned.  First, we secured a beautiful campground site; even had electric and TV reception (but no cell service - can't have it all!).

Then off with our rental car on a drive to one of the many dams and reservoirs at the bottom of the canyon.  Glad we took a car to handle the grades of 16% to get to the bottom of the 2,000 foot canyon.  We began to understand why this is called the "Black" canyon.  The walls are so vertical and the canyon so deep, that the light rarely lights up the Gunnison River rushing through the chasm far below.

 

Over the next few days we drove both the south and north roads along the canyon walls.  Every view was just awesome!  Got out our E-Bikes and biked the south rim road. 

We also drove through the Curecanti National Recreation Area where there are many large reservoirs formed by the Gunnison River.  We hiked the Dillion Pinnacles and also hiked along the Gunnison River through part of the canyon.

We took a side trip to Crested Butte, as we have had this mountain resort town on our bucket list for many years.  A fun adventure town, with the coming snow, the highlight for all of the winter activities. We drove further north from CB along a gravel road which progressively became less passable.  The fall colors of the Aspen, the Gamble Oak, and all of the other foliage made for a spectacular drive. 
Ruthie found the Slogar restaurant in town for dinner.  Family style fried chicken and all of the sides....(better than Frankenmuth, Michigan?!)

Colorado National Monument, Grand Junction

After a week of unscheduled happenings, we got back on our trip plans with a two day stop at Colorado National Monument.  Pulled into Saddle Horn Campground at the top of the mesa.  First we needed to climb 2,000 feet from the valley as the road wound up and went through two tunnels where we needed to drive down the center line to keep from knocking off our roof air conditioners...but fortunately little traffic.  We had reservations at Saddle Horn campground, but our chosen site was really unlevel.  We were able to swap with another open site, but a warning that this campground has a wonderful location on the top of the mesa, but few sites are level.

We then walked over to the visitor center, watched the video about how the CCC built the 11 mile "top of the mesa" road and most of the support buildings.....mostly with hand labor, and also listened to a Ranger talk on the geology of this region.  We learned that some of the exposed rock is some of the oldest in the world.

Driving along the road, we stopped to look down at the valley far below, and all of the unusual rock formations.  We also did a couple of short hikes back into the rocks.

Our Backpack trip to Big Sandy Lake

After months of planning, we finally did it!  With our friends the Zamostnys, we hiked to Big Sandy Lake in Wyoming's wild Wind River mountain range.  What was to be a 3 day trip to include a hike over Jackass Pass to the Cirque of Towers, became a shortened two day trip due to very cold (as in 19 degrees overnight) and snow from previous days of heavy rains.   We still marveled at the incredibly beautiful and majestic area.

Our hike started off with bright blue skies as we hiked the 5 miles to our base camp along the Big Sandy Lake.  Views of the snowy mountains and hiking along the Big Sandy River made this day of hiking, a wondrous event.  Since we knew we would need warm gear, we were packing in 40 lbs. on our backs.  Included were bear cannisters (picked up at the National Forest ranger station), our rated 20 degree sleeping bags (glad we had), and our food and supplies. 

Once arriving at the lake, we set up our camp.  A little challenging to locate tent sites where there was no snow, but we were able to find a site under the trees.  A little sloped as we discovered during the night as we kept sliding on our sleep pads toward the tent entrance.  Danny Z built a great camp fire that night that kept us warm until it was time to climb into our sleeping bags.   We stayed mostly warm and were glad to get up to another sunny day.  Hot coffee warmed us as we all agreed that one night was enough, but we still hiked around the lake and started to climb toward the pass for better views.

Then back to base camp where we packed up and hiked back the five miles to the trailhead.  And again incredible views.  What a great trip and a magnificent place!

A week in the Tetons

We've added the Tetons to our must "come back and spend time" list.  The Tetons are so dramatic when first viewed as you leave Yellowstone. The craggy mountains appear to rise out of the Teton Valley.

We chose Gros Ventre Campground as it is centrally located in this wondrous area.  We did arrive early in the morning so we would be sure to get a campsite.  GV is a large 300 site campground in the Teton Valley featuring Moose!  Everyday Moose were sighted...not just along the river where the
willows grow, but at the campgrounds amphitheater where they were showcased.

On our arrival we met again with the Zamostnys where we planned hikes into the Tetons.  We also met Dan's brother and his wife, and enjoyed sharing many of our adventures, including our first Teton hike, Taggart Lake.

On another day,  Ruthie headed out with Gail and Dan on the Cascade Canyon Trail following a short boat ride across Jenny Lake.  A beautiful day!

Morey stayed back at the campground as he needed a little R&R after his wisdom tooth was pulled,




On a rainy day, Morey & Ruthie, squeezed in a two hour bike ride between the rain drops, to Moose and the Visitor Center.   We wonder if the bike riders we passed on the well aintained paved trail knew we were riding E-bikes as us old guys passed the youngsters on the up hills!

Today we completed an 8 mile hike to Death Canyon which included over 1,600 feet in up hill hiking.  How magnificent, Phelps Lake, waterfalls, granite cliffs, and all of the foliage!  We're getting in shape for our upcoming 3 day backpack trip.

Yellowstone National Park

With our plans to meet up with our friends, the Zamostney's, at Gros Ventre Campground in the Tetons (prepare for our upcoming 3 day backpack trip), how could we not spend some time in Yellowstone.

This time we drove in at the northeast entrance, a much less traveled mountainous route.  The road lead us through the Lamar Valley.  We had hoped to see some native animals, but wow, did we hit it big!  Bison, Bison, and more Bison....herds along the valley and walking down the highway.

For our three days, we chose to stay at two new campgrounds for us.  First we spent a couple of days at Canyon Village Campground.  So happy to be back at elevations of 8,000 ft for cool nights.

Hiked to Point Sublime along Yellowstone Falls and Canyon with our friends.  Quintessential Yellowstone with the canyons and the rivers.  The second day we again got on our E-bikes and headed to Inspiration Point where we hiked our second trail on this brief sojourn.  Love hiking through the pines with incredible canyon views.

For our third day, we moved to Grant Village Campground, striking distance to the Tetons.  Waiting for us at check in was our replacement Pentax SLR (our old one died at the beginning of our trip).
A nice campground, and we again took advantage of our "free" shower tickets.

On the way to Grant, we stopped at a thermal area...………..how could we not?  We're in Yellowstone!

We both agree, that Yellowstone should always be a part of our western travels.  Now we have many great campgrounds to revisit.