It rained last night at the campground. We went outside around 9:30 and I heard something, then saw something moving about 60 feet away – it scared me at first and then I realized it was a deer. Had horns, wasn’t afraid of us and kept on grazing. We left Craig around 10:00. We stopped at the visitor’s center in Parachute, Colorado to get some information. She told us we should take a different route, going along the Grand Mesa scenic route. It was beautiful. The aspens were gold, we reached fir trees and we were in alpine meadows with beautiful lakes and talus fields (places on the mountains where piles of little rocks have broken off and are continually falling down the mountains – bears are often seen in there eating moths that hide under the rocks).
It’s National Forest – public lands, so there is free camping, most of them around the lakes. At the summit there was Grand Mesa Visitor Center – we went in and got some info. on camping. We might head back that way – about an hour from here – and “boondock” camp – no power or water. The air smelled wonderful up there and there are moose, elk, black bears, but no grizzlies and lots of trails to walk. The temperature had dropped to 55 degrees and we reached an altitude of 10810 feet. Elk season has begun for bow and black powder, so there were hunters in the National Forest. They said it would only be open 2 -3 more weeks before closing up for winter. We left, going downhill until we went through Ridgway and got to our campground. It’s just off the road, but we are on the backside and have a beautiful view of the mountains and the valley – a rancher’s pastures with cows. We rode into Ouray and saw the Court House – the same one in True Grit.
Look at those mountains behind the courthouse!
Tomorrow we’ll go exploring – up Owl Creek Pass, looking for the meadow where the shootout at the end occurred. There is lots to do around here – Durango, Silverton, Telluride, so much, and several scenic highways. We might stay longer than originally planned – I want to see the aspens turned golden in the meadow and we are at about 6,000 feet – they are just beginning to turn. Lots of pictures to share. Coming out of Craig, the landscape was just undescribable. Very dry and desolate and sagebrush.
Then we got on the other side of the mountains and everything is greener. They were still growing CORN and most of it had not matured yet. (Hard to take pictures out the window when you are moving at 60 mph – I kept thinking I was going to drop the camera.
It also rained before we got to the Pass at Grand Mesa and had rained a bit here at the campground. This campground is pretty, but there are others that we will check out tomorrow and decide if we stay here through at least Friday or Saturday or move to another one.
Rain clouds and just “purty” clouds. I’ve been out of GA so long, I’m afraid I’m losing my accent!
GA Gypsies - Fulltiming 