Attack of the Fruit Flies !!!

But before we explain the attack, thought you should know how we got into this predicament........

Camped in Telluride planning our date night out to the Johnny Cash concert-play at the Palms Theatre, we thought we better check the weather.  Well.....the storm was coming early.  Do we stay for the event, wake up to 6 inches of snow and temps dropping to the low 20s....Or do we head for the hills...errrr, the valley.  We headed for the valley.  (Johnny will have to wait for another time.)

The Grand Mesa, a tapestry of colors

Drove back out of the box canyon where Telluride resides, drove through Montrose and took the scenic highway 65; up, across, and down the Grand Mesa (the worlds largest mesa).  Very scenic views as we topped out at over 11,000 feet.  You could feel the incoming snow and cold weather.






And now, the attack.  We arrive at James Robb Colorado River State Park, on the edge of the Colorado River, and back at a low elevation under 5,000 feet (rain, not snow).  Set up camp, and celebrated our escape with a bottle of La Finca, a Malbec given to us by Joe (thanks!).  No sooner than the bottle was uncorked..........WHAM............an aerial attack!

Turns out, we are in the Palisade-Fruita area.  This is a major fruit and winery area. And with the early cold weather, the fruit flies were looking for a warm home [or RV].  We battened down the hatches, chased out the little buggers, and relaxed.

Today we headed out of the campground and drove the wine trail, stopping to do some tastings, [Canyon Winery was our favorite] and in the process have purchased a special selection of wines for Thanksgiving.  Also purchased some peaches, pears, apples, and melons.  Our few remaining fruit flies are also enjoying our selection.

What a place to live.....................

Surrounded by mountains on three sides, and with the Uncompaghre River flowing by, Ridgway Colorado is quite a place to camp.

To Telluride via Ridgway

We spent two days at Ridgway State Park.  Surrounded on three sides by mountains.  With a lower elevation, and electricity we kept warm after the snow in Ouray.  A great SP with hiking and bike trails, and a reservoir reflecting the mountains to the south.

We took advantage of the mostly paved bike trail into the town of Ridgway (roundtrip 13 miles).  Not a too exciting town, but we did manage to locate an ice cream store before heading back to the campground.  Great views while we biked the trail.

 

With warming weather (night time temps over 32), we drove to Telluride and camped at Town Park.  Just on the edge of town, the sites had no water or electric, but made up for this with views of the snow covered mountains.  We're now taking advantage of all that Telluride offers.  Free "Galloping Goose" bus transport, free gondola rides over the mountain to Mountain Village, free movies at the library, and tomorrow night a Johnny Cash Ring-of-Fire concert-play.  Ruthie says Telluride is like our home in Avalon; lots of real estate offices, coffee shops, restaurants, nail & hair salons, and art galleries -- although Telluride has mountains and no ocean.  Both offer great city services with the business tax income.

 

 

Some great hiking and biking here in Telluride also.  Hiked the 2 miles and 1,500 foot climb to Bear Creek Falls.  The fall colors and the wind blowing the leaves in the sunlight was awesome!  But we needed a rest when we reached the end of the trail. 

 

 

Should have brought our SKIs !!

Good thing we left our campsite at Amphitheater and drove down into Ouray, where we camped at a private campground.  Woke up to over 3 inches of snow, and up to a foot in the surrounding mountains. What a beautiful sight.






Perfect for an outing to the community hot springs, where there are swimming lanes, heated to 69 degrees; a general pool heated to 97; and the hot pool heated to 104.  Felt so good on this cold and snowy day, that we went back for a second time in the evening.  Sitting in the 104 degree pool and snow coming down from the dark skies was a delight.

 

Hooray for Ouray!

Plans for 4 days in Ouray, Colorado started with setting up camp at the Amphitheater Campground, a National Forest campground 1,500 feet above Ouray.  With the government shutdown and all National Parks closed, Morey gave the odds of 20% for this government campground to be open.  We parked the RV at the sign that said, "No Vehicles over 26 feet long Allowed", and began walking up the steep road to the campground a mile further.  (Our RV is 30 feet long)

 

All looked good, the road was a little narrow, but little traffic to share with.  No barricades, so we sought out the campground host.  The host said, "government shutdown, we haven't heard.  What they do in Washington DC doesnt mean anything here."  With this good news, we drove BIW to a primo campsight that even had a view of U.S. Mountain from our "living room."

 

Now the hiking and jeeping began.  We first hiked to Lower Cascade Falls, which took us to the edge of town (and down the 1,500 ft).  So we explored the town, enjoyed some microbrews and smoked trout spread, .....and then trudged back up the mountain to our campsite.  Phew!

The next day we took a Jeep tour to Imogene Pass, almost 12,000 feet high.  Glad we didn't drive this four wheel drive road!  Especially nice to be at the tongue of the glacier that we could see from our campground across the valley. Also saw gold and siver mine relics from the last 100 years, and learned that the entire mountain is filled with mining tunnels.

 

With temperatures expected tomorrow to drop to 23 degrees at night and only 38 in the day, we decided to head down to the private campground right in the town of Ouray.  Electrical hookups are a nice option with these temps.  But first, we parked near Box Canyon Falls and hiked the Canyon, and then along the Town Perimeter trail.

Tonight we sit in our RV, while the creek flows almost beneath our bedroom, and the rain begins.  We are nice and warm with our electric heater, and even watching television -- while we digest our ribs and steak dinner that we enjoyed at the Outlaw Restaurant in town.  Ben & Jerry's for dessert.
ROUGHING IT.....................

Government SHUTDOWN........

It was time for us to leave The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, but it was also time for ALL of the other campers, visitors, and rangers to leave as well.  The government shutdown happened at midnight last night, which meant that ALL National Parks were closed.  As we drove out of the park, the Jersey barriers were being installed closing the entrance road.  Absolutely stupid. 

Fortunately for us our next destination, Amphitheater Campground, a Natl Forest Campground was not closed.  We were pleasantly surprised.  It seems the local camp host had heard rumors of the shutdown, but up in the mountains overlooking Ouray, who cares about Washington DC?!  So we are enjoying this beautiful place and actually adding money to the government coffers.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison

The Black Canyon is deep & dark.  Over 1.4 billion, that's right billion!, years old; it was cut by the Gunnison River at one inch per century.  We drove up our motorhome the 2,000 feet from the tableland and set up camp at another terrific National Park campground.  First walked the mile to the visitor center to check out the geographic history of this canyon.
 

The next day we biked the rim road, only 6.5 miles each way, but many long dips and bobs.  Stopped at all of the overlooks and short hiking trails.  Looking down the shear walls to the Gunnison River 2,000 feet below, you could see the class 4 and 5 rapids, and hear the constant pounding of the water flowing down the narrow gorge.  We got a good workout biking the rim, and enjoyed most of it!