The Western Colorado Mountains, Canyons, Cliffs & Falls (Horsies too!)

 

We have been enjoying our stay at Island Acres State Park and started roaming around the area in search of new and wondrous sights and experiences.  That along with getting some elevation and cooler temperatures (since ours are now in the mid to upper 90’s) so we can do the things we enjoy – like hiking and biking. So one day we headed up to the Grand Mesa about 35 miles from here. It is a very large mesa in western Colorado and is considered the largest flat-topped mountain in the entire world.  It has an area of about 500 square miles (1,300 km2) and stretches for about 40 miles (64 km) east of Grand Junction between the Colorado River and the Gunnison River.  The mesa rises about 6,000 feet (1,800 m) above the surrounding river valleys, (we are already at 4,900+ feet here in the park) reaching an elevation of about 11,000 feet (3,400 m), and a maximum elevation of 11,333 feet (3,454 m) at Crater Peak.  On top it has over 300 lakes, and reservoirs (some are more like ponds) created and used for drinking and irrigation water.  The Grand Mesa is flat in some areas, but pretty rugged in others.

So we loaded up the bikes and headed up to the Flowing Path Lake horse and bike trail.  It was quite the ride – one because we started at an elevation close to 10,000 feet, so we ended up stopping a lot to catch our breath. The trail itself was fairly smooth (for me anyway) but there were some rocky sections that provided a bit of a challenge.  Not too many uphill's since we were already on top so we covered a pretty good distance in a fairly short time.  The views are incredible up there with the Book Cliffs to the north and the 14,000 ft. elevations of the San Juan Mountains to the south – which still had lots of snow on them.

Here’s Linda posing with her steed near Indian Point on the Grand Mesa.  Behind her is the point called Lands End also on the Grand Mesa.

 

After our little “getting high” ride we loaded up the bikes and headed back home passing by lots of lakes and incredible views.  On our way down we drove past the Powderhorn Ski Resort and I couldn’t help but think that just a few short years ago I would have never even considered trying to mountain bike above a world class ski resort – but now - I guess it’s time to head for Aspen!

 

 

 

On another one of our daytime excursions we headed towards the town of Rifle (there is a little restaurant there called Shooters, where even the waitress’s wear loaded sidearms – they get real good tips!) We headed up to the area to visit two of the state parks we had heard about from the staff here at the park. Rifle Gap State Park and its 360 surface acre reservoir lies at the foot of the rather scenic Grand Hogsback, a mountain ridge just nine miles north of the town of Rifle.  The light blue clear waters of this reservoir are just gorgeous and provide a good place for boating, fishing, waterskiing and swimming for the warm weather visitors.  We are considering coming back this way and volunteering in this area – maybe.

 

 

 

Rifle Falls State Park was just a couple of miles up the road from Rifle Gap State Park, and with its mysterious caves and beautiful triple waterfalls, is considered one of the gems of the Colorado State Parks system.  The waterfalls are quite the breathtaking sight when your up close to them.  It’s part of the East Rifle Creek and flows year round. 

 

 

 

 

 

Along the base of the falls and ridges are dark caves that honeycomb the limestone cliffs under the falls, including a 90 foot room that requires flashlights for exploration.  There had to be nine or ten of them complete with bats hanging from the nooks, crannies and ceilings.

The falls spill over these limestone cliffs that geologists think may have formed in the waters of a beaver dam – a really big beaver dam! The stagnant water behind the dam became saturated with chemicals forming thick limestone deposits that are now exposed as cliffs.

 

Below is a view from the top and side of the falls – quite the place.  We did a bit of geocaching while we were there and even found one at the top of the falls.

 

 

 

 

 On our way back home from the parks we ran into and were delayed by a cattle drive right down the middle of the road.  They were moving the little beefies to the upper pastures for the summer.  We had to wash the truck after we got home – the road was, shall we say, well fertilized by the time all of them had passed and of course the tires just kinda flung that juicy stuff up the sides of the truck as we made our way home. 

 

 

 As we were driving home we took a quick pic of the western portion of the Grand Hogsback Ridge running along Interstate 70.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On another day trip we made our way up to Glenwood Canyon and Hanging Lake. Glenwood Canyon is an extremely rugged and scenic 12.5 mi (20 km) canyon on the Colorado River along Interstate 70 in western Colorado.  Its canyon walls climb as high as 1,400 ft (400 m) above the Colorado River.  It is the largest such canyon on the Upper Colorado. It is one of the most scenic drives on the US interstate system and definitely one of my favorites. The canyon stretches from near Dotsero, where the Colorado receives the Eagle River, downstream in a west-southwest direction to just east of Glenwood Springs, on the mouth of the Roaring Fork River.

Glenwood Canyon is considered  one of the iconic scenic views along Amtrak's California Zephyr passenger train routes, there is also a hiking and bike path that follows the river which we hope to ride while we are here. That would be one awesome ride!

 

 There's a good reason the trip up to Hanging Lake is one of the most popular hikes in the state of Colorado. The Hanging Lake trail-head is located approximately 10 miles east of Glenwood Springs along Interstate-70 in Glenwood Canyon. The trail follows a little creek called Dead Horse Creek, with foot bridges spanning it along the way. The trail is a little rigorous (and really rocky!), with an elevation change of just over 1,000 ft. in one mile.  Near the top, the trail becomes rocky and steep, with some rather severe exposure to sheer drop-offs but the handrails help guide the tourists, and like me, help prevent a severe case of the “HeeBees” (He be scared!) This leads to the boardwalk that frames a portion of the lake.  Geologically speaking, there are few places in the world that can compare to this wondrous marvel of Mother Nature.  Hanging Lake was designated a National Natural Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior in 2011.

  

 

Hanging Lake’s popularity with Colorado travelers has more to do with its awe-inspiring beauty. Suspended on the edge of Glenwood Canyon's cliffs, (and I do mean the edge!) the clear turquoise lake and the waterfall that spills into it are a breathtaking sight and quite the reward after the uphill climb. The lake is stocked and teeming with native cut throat trout, but don't even think about bringing fishing gear or even your pets up here, both are frowned upon by the rangers roaming around.

Just a short hike up from Hanging Lake is its little sister - Spouting Rock, where icy water from snow-melt high atop the Flat Tops spouts through a narrow hole in the limestone rock, spraying the visitors (like us) with a rather  invigorating  mist of cold water.  We walked behind these falls where there is a large alcove behind the falling water.  It is pretty cool to be on the back side of a water fall!

The history of the discovery of the lake and falls tells of a man searching for gold in the canyon. The man found a dead horse at the opening of a gulch (the possible origin of Dead Horse Gulch). When he followed the gulch up through the steep hillside through the canyon he came around the backside of the lake. This is how he first saw the small bowl-like basin hanging onto the cliffs below.

In the years following, the area served as a homestead and a private family retreat until it was purchased by Glenwood Springs after the Taylor Bill was passed by Congress in 1910.  Then passed on to the US Forest Service as part of the National Forest.

 

 

 

 

There is a bike and hiking trail we like to take every once in a while called Coal Canyon which is just a couple miles from here.  It’s an invigorating bike ride as it is an immediate uphill climb for almost 5 miles. It is just eight miles northeast of Grand Junction, and part of the Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Area. The area is a bit more than 36,000 acres of rugged canyons and plateaus.

The Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Area is managed for multiple uses, but wild horse habitat is the primary concern here. This range is one of only three ranges in the United States set aside specifically to protect wild and free roaming horses. From what I’ve been told there are about 140 wild horses that roam these rugged parks and Pinyon-Juniper covered hills.

 

Here are a few of the pics I’ve taken while out on my rides.  Sometimes the scenes are just perfect! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The Wisdom of “Oreo”

Oreo - our 14 year old Tom Cat, has lived and traveled with us for quite a few years. He likes being part of the Blog and will over time provide a few purr-fect bits of wisdom and cats eye view observations for all the blog readers out there as well as a few off-paw comments about the antics of his pride members and life on the road.

 

Since my pride and I started full-time RVing over eight years ago, we have run into some rather interesting, unique, and/or odd things along the way. Some, my pride actively sought out, (why – I don’t know) others were just there. Some are considered pieces of “art” others are intended to represent the local human or animal culture - or way of life or business. Then there are those where the reasoning just isn’t sound (even for a dog!) and are just plain “odd”. All are intended to catch your eye and your interest.

 

The Center of the World – Felicity California

A number of years ago when we were in the desert southwest for the winter my pride members really needed to center themselves (they always have been a bit on the scattered side – mentally that is – but I still love them). So we stopped and visited the Center of the World.   Some French dude named Jacques-Andre Istel built this place out in the Sonoran Desert – one of the hottest and driest places in the U.S. (makes me shed just thinking about it) just west of the Arizona border off of Interstate 10.  I fell in love with a little French kitten one year but she had this thing for an orange tabby – said I was too black and white for her – go figure!

Anyway, this French dude (who by the way is a U.S. Citizen now) Jacques-Andre Istel officially established the Center of the World there, and has even built a town around it named Felicity.  Population of 2! He's the mayor and his wife – Felicia (bet you couldn’t have guessed that!) takes care of all of the other duties for the town. The French Government has even provided signed documents to Mr. Istel proclaiming this to be the official “Center of the World”.  I guess Paris just didn’t cut it.

As the town was being built the Mayor needed a way to mark his “Center of the World”. So they built a pyramid - a 21-foot-tall, hollow, mirror-lined, pink granite pyramid. Humans are soooo weird!  My pride members went inside the pyramid to “The Spot”, which is a dot in the center of a bronze disk set into the pyramid's floor. They placed their toes on “The Spot” and found out that is an occasion for ceremony in Felicity, with a town official (who only works there and has to commute from Yuma) recording the exact moment on their certificate that they stepped on the Center of the World and asked them to make an obligatory wish.  (My pride member told me he asked for a French kitten for me – I think he fibbed.) My pride members even got an official certificate with the Mayor’s signature for standing at the Center of the World.

There are no billboards for the Center of the World, the restaurant here doesn’t serve cats and is only open four hours a day, and the Center itself is only open from December through March, when the outside temperature won't kill you.

This little desert town has quite a few "unique” things going for it.  Engraved granite monoliths hundreds of feet long with the History of Man, History of Flight, The Korean War, and the History of the French Foreign Legion, and even a small section of the original staircase of the Eiffel Tower.  In the central courtyard is a 15 ft. (4.6 m) Sundial with a three-dimensional bronze replica of Michelangelo's Arm of God. The sundial is only precisely accurate once a year and this was set at noon on Christmas Day.  Did I say Humans are weird?   Welcome to California - land of fruits and nuts!  (The cats are ok though!)

 

  

Mike the Headless Chicken

Fruita, Colorado – Whoa! – Dude!  Wicked Sick Catnip! (and edibles) Legal Pot! Breweries! Wineries! Mountain Biking Mecca! Unbelievable Hiking and Mousing! (I’ve caught six so far) White Water Rafting! Outdoor everything! Way too many big dogs! And last, but definitely one of the most memorable – Mike the Headless Chicken.  These crazy humans in Colorado have an annual festival around a half dead chicken!  (They taste better when they are totally dead and cooked!)  I should probably start by giving you a cats eye view on the history of this strange event.  It was September, 1945. The Second World War had been won. The Great Depression was over. The new generation of Baby Boomers were popping out (literally) all over the place. The human Americans could finally have a chicken in every pot (and give a bit to the cats now and then).   But Mike didn’t want to play that game.

Mike was a Wyandotte rooster. A Fruita farmer named Lloyd Olsen tried to cut off Mike's head on September 10. Mike ran around like a chicken without a head, but he didn't die. There was just enough brainy stemmy stuff left at the top of the neck to keep him going. Mike lived for 18 months. His human kept him alive by feeding him grain, one piece at a time, through the hole where his head used to be. All humans should be as dedicated to their owners!  He drank from an eye-dropper. Olsen got him in Life magazine, called him "Miracle Mike," and dispatched him on a tour of the country, charging people a quarter to take a peek.  My pride member said he would like to do something similar with me – didn’t work! – I couldn’t get past the headless thing.

Mike eventually choked to death on a kernel of corn in an Arizona motel room far from home.  No one knows where Mike is buried.  But my pride member told me there is a gravestone in the shape of a dinner plate somewhere.

But that hasn't stopped Fruita from "head-lining" its fowl celebrity. The Mike the Headless Chicken Festival is one of the town's annual highlights. Complete with T-shirts, music, lawnmower races, vendors, and the Festival website even displays photos of the real Mike.

On the corner of Mulberry and Aspen in Fruita is a statue of Mike, maybe five feet tall, an artistic rendition made of old metal implements such as horseshoes and hand tools.  If you didn't know the Mike story, you might walk right past the piece.

Many cities and towns have fiberglass statues, impressive skylines, and wonderful scenery, but only one has a Mike the Headless Chicken.

(My God that was a fowl piece – I’ll never make the cover of Cat Magazine - I think I need a new writer!)  

Anyway, after chastising my writer I will continue my take on all the interesting, unique and odd things my pride and I have run into in future blogs. I think it’s fairly safe to say it will be entertaining!

Oreo

 

 

 

With all that, we will leave you with a sunset and a wish that your next day is a good one.

As Always - Home Is Where We Park It

Lee & Linda