(Kim's Perspective)
The plan for today was to drive 2.5 hours to Mesa Verde National
Park. We woke up at 5 am and I consulted
my weather app. There were flood
warnings and all that comes with that in the mountains (i.e. rockslides and
mudslides), so after much discussion, we nixed the trip. :( I was highly disappointed
because I wanted to bag another national park from my bucket list, but it
seemed like a prudent decision so I just vowed to get out here again (soon!) and visit
during our next trip.
We went back to
sleep for a while and woke up around 7:30.
I checked the radar again and it looked like the weather was going to
clear, so around 8:30, we got ready to head out. I texted the Sitts and asked if they wanted
to go to the visitor center (we needed to renew for the day) but Mr. Sitt was still
sleeping so Shele said they'd catch up with us later. We went to the visitor center and purchased a
cool 4x4 Colorado book then headed into Ridgway and Ouray (pronounced Your-RAY or YOU-ray depending on where you're from apparently) to check out the
towns. It's better than Leicester, NC. At least they can agree on the number of syllables. Anywho...
Like you would imagine, the towns were quaint, charming, and downright adorable.
After driving around for a few minutes in Ridgway, we headed south on 550 towards Ouray and entered the Uncompahgre National Forest. We pulled over for a quick photo...
...and then continued on to...
Each town had their own unique charm, but from a cool building standpoint, I preferred Ridgway. Ouray, however, is the last stop before the start of the Million Dollar Highway and the million dollar views.
We took a quick detour to the access road to Yankee Boy Basin prior to committing to the drive on 550. We wanted to get a sneak peek of what we'd be riding when the weather cleared. Yankee Boy Basin was one of the "to-do's" on my list from my trip research. Bill had a more aggressive plan to ride Engineer Pass but the park
ranger advised against it given the recent torrential downpours. For the record, the whole San Juan and
Uncompaghre mountains were getting epic rainfall from a monsoon from the
Pacific and hurricane Norbert. Oh joy. Phoenix set a record for the most
rainfall since the late 1800s. They received more than 3 inches of rain in less
than a day - which is more rain than they normally receive during the months of
June, July, and August. The flooding was
so bad there that the I-10 was flooded.
Nice. So, needless to say, the weather impacted not only our decision to
nix MVNP but also our intent to ride Engineer Pass. I was mostly relieved by that based on the
YouTube videos of Engineer Pass I had watched prior to coming out here. I kept reminding Bill that trail ratings in
Colorado, much like Moab, are not the same as the trail ratings on the East
coast. Not even a little bit.
...and then headed back
towards 550 and swung by the falls area leading to the "Box Canyon Falls" - which, incidentally, is privately owned and requires a fee to view. Pass. With all this rain and flooding, I'm thinking we'll see plenty of waterfalls thank you very much. We stopped by the awesome viewing platform courtesy of Asolo. At $280 a pop, we've given them our fair share of GTX boot business over the years so I
would imagine we technically own some of this platform. :)
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| Yep, Keens. Sorry, Asolo, my knees can't handle your awesome backpacking boot anymore. |
I took one last photo....
....and then we jumped in the truck, headed south on 550, and stopped periodocally at the cool overlooks.
We pulled in to check out one of the access points to Engineer Pass.
Um...no thank you. We chatted with a couple from Denver who
drove the Pass yesterday. The woman
admitted she was "scared...", um, well, let's just say she was scared, but was
confident it would be better on a bike since we would have much more space away
from the cliff edge. This has been
Bill's philosophy all along. My
philosophy has been that, on a motorcycle, I have two contact patches about the
size of a quarter, not four beefy off road tires and a low, rock-crawling
gear. Whatever lady. Unless you ride a dirt bike, you don't get to
say which one would be better. Get
back in your truck. We walked up the
trail a ways just to investigate it a bit.
Water running off the mountain created small streams that cut deep rivets
out of the mud and rearranged the rocks. As we
were walking back to the truck, a group of riders came zipping by. The lead rider was on a KTM Adventure 990 and
the other riders were on various street legal dirt bikes. Okay, boys.
You have fun with that. Keep in mind that it was raining pretty good so
everything was a slippery, sloppy mess.
We chuckled and continued on.
 |
| Why, yes, inattentive driving will mostly definitely lead to you quickly plummeting to your death. |
The fog was moving in fast so
knowing there wouldn't be much in the way of views at the top, we headed back
down the mountain and investigated one of the national forest campgrounds off
of 550. We got a text from the Sitts asking where we were. They were in
town and were getting ready to go to Box
Canyon Falls. We met them at a pullout off of 550, but since we had already checked out that area, we headed back
to the campground and ate lunch while they continued on. I copied photos and
worked on the blog for a few hours while Bill read. A few hours later, the sun popped out so we
decided to head back up and finish our drive on 550. We asked the Sitts if they
wanted to join us but Bill didn't want to do the drive again (Bill, you're a party pooper! lol) so they stayed at
the campground to chill. We retraced our
previous route on 550 (with much better views this time)...
and continued the climb to Red Mountain Pass.
No real wondering why the pass is called Red Mountain...
While not a world traveler, I have been fortunate enough to travel to all of the lower 48, so I've seen quite a variety of mountain ranges and peaks; however, this was the first time I had ever seen something like this and I just kept staring in wonder. Now, it's not Mt. Rainier mind you, but it had that same effect on me....the kind where you just keep leaning forward in your seat swiveling your head to look at it as you drive by.
The whole area around here was a mining mecca
in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Mining companies were the reason most of the small local towns were established
and they mined a variety of metals from gold and silver to zinc, copper, and lead. Red Mountain gets its name from the hues of
red rock that comprise the tundra level. The color comes from the metal contaminates that stain the rocks and the creek beds.
We stopped at another of the NF's camping areas....we'll need to log this away for next time.
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| Minus the flooding, this would make an awesome camping spot!! |
We continued our drive until we found ourselves in Silverton.
Oh,
this is cute!! It's a total cowboy-looking town with rustic wood fronted shops
and saloons.
We saw a sign for cherry limeades and funnel cakes and the truck
mysteriously parked itself in front of the store. We went into a few local shops and looked at their wares and then walked back towards the...
It was 6 o'clock, and while a funnel cake is
not appropriate dinner fare, it is appropriate snack fare so we indulged in a
multi fruit concoction.
The shop has a bit of history and a
pin-your-hometown-on-the-map tradition.
 |
| What's up with NV, WY, SD, ID and NE? You're soooo close....why would you not come here??? |
We obliged.
Not too many folks from WV
so I was happy to represent the wild and wonderful state (even though I feel
like an outsider living there).
We had
an interesting chat with the woman at the counter. She and her husband would spend their
vacation in Silverton every year (they're from Oklahoma) and loved to come to
the funnel cake shop. Three years ago, it was sold, so on a whim, they
approached the new owners with an offer to buy.
They both had good jobs. She worked for Delta airlines and he worked for
Whirlpool. He was laid off and she was getting ready to go through her 8th
acquisition and had had enough. So they took the plunge and did a total life
makeover. It was a very inspiring story.
Bill and I chatted about whether we'd be happy doling out funnel cakes or ice
cream to people every day. I think if
it's yours and it makes you happy, then it would be easy to do. That's why I enjoyed running Belgian Pup
Bakery. Now I just need to find
something that is enjoyable and actually pays the bills. :)
After our sugary treat, we headed back over the mountain towards
Ridgway and got to the campground around 8:30.
We talked to the Sitts about renting an ATV so they could go riding with
us tomorrow. Should be a beautiful day
and I think they'll have a blast riding some of the trails. We've talked several times about them getting
an ATV and hitting the Hatfield McCoy trails with us. I think they'll have a great time and will
quickly become addicted to the fun that is off-roading. :)
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