We made a short move the beginning of August from Island Acres State Park to Fruita State Park (a total of 28 miles!). For the past month we have had the Colorado River and the Colorado National Monument as a back yard and you can see from the above collage the views are quite impressive – and we love opening the shades each morning. This is one of the very few volunteer position parks we have ever come back to more than once.
Besides our grueling move to Fruita we took a couple of trips around western Colorado to visit other state parks and towns in the area. Since we had been hearing about Ridgeway State Park and the town of Ouray south of here – that’s where we headed. It was definitely worth the trip!
Our next stop was at the little town of Ouray (pronounced You-ray) also known as Little Switzerland. The area was first settled by miners around 1875 that were chasing the silver and gold in the surrounding mountains. The town at one time had about 30 active mines, and like quite a few of the western mining towns, had more horses and mules than people. Today, the entire Main Street is registered as a National Historic District with most of the buildings dating back to the late nineteenth century. Most of the buildings are dedicated to the tourist trade with a very nice hot spring pool and extra large spas that attracts people from all over the world. They have their own wineries and breweries (doesn’t everybody?) and whatsit shops with all the expensive t-shirts and accessories you could possibly want. The real reason people come here are the views – the incredible and wonderful views! We must have looked like a couple of
“never been traveling” dorks the way we were looking up and around with our eyes bugged out and our mouths hanging open. The pictures I’ve included just does not do it justice!
This picture on the right has Linda standing near the base of one of the waterfalls in the area appropriately named Cascade Falls. She still likes to do the mountain goat thing and climb over and around anything that looks like you shouldn’t try it.
We took a hike on the Ouray Perimeter trail that goes about a third of the way up the mountains above the town and then goes around. It wasn’t too bad (at first) but when we found ourselves on some of the sheer cliffs it was time to find a way down and go visit the falls and the town.
Our next little trek in the area was to Box Canyon Park and Falls. This is one of the more unique waterfalls we have seen – it is in the back of a slot canyon. You have to take a catwalk that is attached to the side of the canyon about a quarter mile back to find this hidden falls and the rush and roar of the water once you get there is deafening! You can walk down a series of steps to get to the base of the falls – past all kinds of warning signs about doing just that – yes we did it!
Along the trail, which is at about 8,200 ft above sea level, you can find a tunnel (complete with pipes) that was used to provide water to the town in the early days. Also there is a walking bridge that spans the slot canyon 500 ft below with excellent views of the town and valley.
Here is a view from inside the slot canyon looking out. In this pic we were near the main opening and could view a bit of old mining gear left behind when they stopped mining the canyon. It really has surprised us over the years at the level of effort (and danger) that people go to for those little gold nuggets.
Here is a little different view of the slot canyon from above on the little walking bridge I mentioned earlier – quite the drop! You can see this bridge from the town when your walking down main street.
Once we were done roaming around Ouray we headed back towards home (Fruita) and decided to stop at the town of Ridgeway which is just south of the state park we visited on the way up. I knew they had a micro brewery there and we also knew of the railway museum just off the highway. We found out that the micro brewery I wanted to go to was actually on/in the original “True Grit” movie set – complete with mega posters of John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn. It turned out that the entire main street of the town of Ridgeway is a preserved movie set turned into a tourist trap (nice, but still a tourist trap).
The Denver & Rio Grande Narrow Gauge Railway arrived in Ridgeway and Ouray on December 21, 1887. It stayed until the automobiles and trucks (and new roads) caused the usage of this unique railway to drop. The last regularly scheduled passenger train ran on September 14, 1930. Vehicles like the one above – which was a mail car - ran between Ouray and Ridgway until the early 1950s and was abandoned on March 21, 1953. We wandered around the museum for awhile then headed on home.
We got a weekend visit from Linda’s sister, Jeanette, and her husband, Keith, just a bit before we moved to Fruita and took them on a quick tour of the area. The first stop was the Grand Mesa and the view is to the west over the Grand Junction valley. We were at an overlook called Lands End which was appropriate because almost all around you are sheer drops of a couple of thousand feet!
Next we took them to the Colorado National Monument (which is basically our backyard now) to show them the views and the wonderful rock formations this area has to offer. Linda was driving and also being the tour guide as we twisted and turned up the narrow two lane. Being the tour guide she needed to look and point out the various attractions as we were motoring along – needless to say as she was looking and pointing the truck headed in the direction she was trying to direct our attention towards. Which in all cases was towards the side of the road where the sheer drops were, and in most cases no guard rails. We did find out that the repair to my heart is in fact doing quite well that day. She actually did great, we didn’t go over the cliff, we are all safe and have a new appreciation of what constitutes danger in her mind (believe me it takes a lot!).
Jeanette showed some of her sisters flare for the mountain goat syndrome when she crawled out on this rock above one of the small canyons in the monument. She walked right out there past the signs warning of the rocks being overhangs. I was over to the side and could see that there was very little rock under her – just a very thin rock jutting out over the canyon and a whole lot of air. I ran over to get this picture and put the camera on movie mode – just in case. She survived though – those two girls have many more than just nine lives!
The Coke Ovens formation at the Colorado National Monument.
The Grand View and Kissing Couple at the Colorado National Monument.
Independence Monument and view down to the town of Fruita (our backyard).
While here at Fruita one of my goals was to ride – ride – ride. But it seems that our days off have almost always been accompanied by rain. The trails here don’t like rain – they get very muddy or washed out totally. And the dry washes turn into flash flood areas. So we ride when we can. Here we are on the Kokopelli mountain biking trail, Linda’s first try at a real mountain biking single track. It’s a beginners ride to be sure but there were some difficult sections that she didn’t care for, such as the uphill stairsteps and a couple of the downhill drops that have a tendency to jar all the bones in your body when you hit them. She was awesome!
Here is a young (immature) Bald Eagle learning how to be a bad ass! You can tell by the look. He was still with mom and dad and getting all the info from them he could before going out on his own.
One of the rather odd things in the western Colorado area are the road names and signs. I’m not sure who or what group of numerically exacting personalities set this system up but it is based on (what I think) is a tenth of a mile system then broken down to fractions – all I can say about that is Wow – Really! What ever happened to the metric system? I have to admit we have never gotten lost but it is a challenge.
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.
A long time ago – I think I was only 10 years old then, we were driving through lower New Mexico and made a stop at a rest stop near the town of Las Cruces. Standing atop a hill nearby, overlooking Interstate 10, is a 20-foot Roadrunner sculpture made from trash from the roadsides. Like I’ve said before, “People are sooooo weird!” The bird was built from all kinds of stuff, including people toys, computer parts, and sheet metal, but its belly was made almost entirely from discarded white shoes. On these shoes, people have been writing graffiti for many years. There are many cute little human quotes of love and the no brain “I was here” posts. But my pride member looked at this for some time and says this was his favorite message: "I drive this truck so my boy can attend a good college and become something better than his old man ever dreamed. Look after me and my rig as I pass below, amigo.” Maybe there is some hope for you humans!
This next little oddity almost made my tail fall off – The Dressed Up Sheep of Buffalo, Wyoming! They seem to take great pride there in seeing who can make their sheep look prettier than the other guys and even go so far as making ceramic sheep bedazzled with semi-precious stones and beads. I may be a bit naïve on this subject but even an old Tom Cat does have his suspicions. I have noticed that you humans are dressing up your dogs more often also – Opps! my female pride member says I’ve gone beyond my (her) limits. But --- I always wondered why there weren’t that many human women around in Buffalo and all the cowboys (sheepboys) there wore those loose top boots. baaaaaah!
Time to run! - she’s coming to get me! See you next blog.
Oreo
With all that and us continuing to explore and experience the surrounding area, attractions and festivals we will be writing again soon.
We leave you with one of the “Super Moons” as seen from the base of the Colorado National
Monument, Colorado.
Home is where we park it!
Lee & Linda
