07/31/01:
The doctor's visit went as well as it could. The bleeding ulcer is almost healed but could flare up again anytime in the future. No alcohol, spices or aspirin.
Stopped at a motel in Provo to update the website but it's broken on the server side. I reloaded the FrontPage extensions but that had no effect. I got no response to my email to tech support. They have 24 hours to respond but I was gone by then. What do you want for $6.95 a month? I checked out a couple of other cheapy web hosts and will have to make up my mind in coming months. In the meantime, no web site.
I picked up CO 141 south of Grand Junction. Just before that on CO 50 I saw a herd of about six elk in a field. I dunno if they were wild or not, being so close to the road and some houses. In Utah I had seen an elk ranch but no elk. This herd had one male with a very large rack, two with smaller racks and a few females. I drove through the Uncompahgre National Forest looking for a camping spot and some hiking trails. Nada. What I've seen so far is another arid mountain. The drive was pretty until I got to Gateway... and then it turned spectacular. Mile after mile of red sandstone bluffs, cliffs and buttes rising up 100's of feet very close to the road on both sides. I finally found a camping spot in Dolores Canyon, right at the base of a 200 foot cliff. Cars going by sound like jet planes as their noises echoes within the canyon walls.
08/01/01
After being blasted out of my socks every time a diesel went by last night I was on my way on CO 141 early this morning. Switching on to CO 145 and CO 62 proved to be a fairly attractive drive. Montrose was much further than I thought but I eventually got there. I then headed out CO 50 towards the Black Canyon National Forest. I didn't expect the views from the South Rim to be any better than the North Rim I'd already seen so rather than spend 10 bucks for a campsite I turned back into the Uncompahgre National Forest nearby.
I followed Cimarron Road to P77 Road and continued on this dirt road 21 miles to Silver Jack Reservoir at 9000 feet. Here I found 3 campgrounds but only 2 marked hiking trails in the entire area. I found a free campsite and no sooner parked than the thunder started. It must have continued 30-40 minutes with no let up and I didn't see any lightning. Eventually it rained just enough to get everything soaked.
08/02/01:
This morning I continued along the dirt road through some very pretty country for another 21 miles and eventually got back to CO 550. On the way I spotted a 6 point mule deer buck with velvety antlers. Continuing south I came to Ouray. It nestles in the valley between huge 2000+ peaks and walls partially covered with spruce. As I started up these mountains in 2nd-3rd gear at 15-20mph, I'm thinking this reminds me of pictures I've seen of Swiss villages. I pulled off at a turnoff to look back and the name of the turnoff was Switzerland Point. Really awesome views. I should have taken a picture from the village but didn't and didn't find anything any more spectacular.
08/04/01 Hiking Bear Creek National Scenic Trail:
Yesterday proved to be cold and overcast with several showers throughout the day. I just hung out and took it easy. This morning was much different, sun shine, 60's, wind 10mph. However, after thinking about it, I decided it was Wednesday until I heard public radio talking about a weekend edition. Thinking it must be some kind of rerun I was surprised to find it was actually Saturday. I've lost a day here and there before but three days? I finally figured out I hadn't counted Monday at the doctor but I'm still missing a day or two. Such is the price of old age I guess.
I was going to move but decided not to on the weekend. I drove into Ouray to get a picture of Box Canyon from the other side of town. My impression of the hiking options in the area wasn't good. The mountain and ridge tops were a thousand feet or more straight up. On the way out of Ouray, however, I stopped at the Bear Creek National Scenic Trail sign just after the first tunnel heading south at 8600 feet. Three women were just heading out. They said the trail started with lots of switchbacks and then followed along a ledge. They didn't know what came after that.
Crossing to the trailhead on the other side of CO 550 at 8:30am, I followed the trail over the tunnel and hit the switchbacks right away. A trail sign soon appeared stating Grizzly Bear Mine was 2 1/2 miles, Yellow Jacket Mine 4 miles and Engineer Mountain 7 miles. It took me an hour to get up the switchbacks. 900 feet elevation gain and .22 GPS miles, straight down. In view the entire time was the huge wall on the other side of the road and across the copper colored/contaminated Uncompahgre River.
The trail leveled off after the switchbacks and I only got to about 9600 feet. The switchbacks did take most of my legs away though. This part of the trail was along narrow ledges of shale. A slip here would be down a very steep slope of shale and then over the edge and a long, long way down a deep ravine. The roar of Bear Creek can be heard as it tumbles down small waterfalls 1000 feet below. I continued along the trail for another 30-45 minutes before giving up. While resting my weary bones I watched a golden? eagle soar around a crown on top of the huge wall on the other side of the ravine. Turning around I saw ominous black clouds chewing up adjacent mountain tops. I didn't have my day pack so didn't have any rain gear.
On the way back I came to a narrow section on the ledge at a sharp corner. As I thought, 'someone will probably come around the corner right now' a couple appeared right where I expected. Spooky. Then a couple in their 30's came running along the trail with a dog. A short time later here comes a woman in her 50's... running. I doubt very much they ran up the switchbacks, or did they? Pretty soon I was running into lots more folks on their way up, 15-20 at least.
This is a superb trail. I don't know how you could compare it to the trails in southern Utah. The're all great but totally different. It would be like trying to compare the paddling in Lake Powell (southern Utah) to the rivers of Florida in the wintertime. You can't do it but I keep trying to figure which are the best paddling and hiking trips. This one is at the top.
08/05/01 Hiking Bear Creek National Scenic Trail (again):
All those dark, mean looking clouds yesterday finally yielded a few boomers and sprinkles. Enough to get everything wet. This morning temperatures in the 50's-60's, no wind and bright sunshine.
I got to thinking about yesterday's hike and how much I enjoyed it, I decided to do it again today. I was on the trail at 8:30am again and yes, I tackled the switchbacks again. They're actually about 1 1/4 miles long. 100+ spruce trees grow where ever they can. When you look down you can see Uncompahgre River (creek) below. It's contaminated mostly by the copper in it but also the iron oxide that seeps down from Red Mountain. It's the color of a manila office envelope as it flows through this area.
It took me longer to get up the switchback today than yesterday. I guess because I stopped to admire the scenery more often. Diesels and Harleys make a terrible racket as they struggle up the steep grade of US 550 below. They're not too bad going down hill.
After the switchbacks, the trail levels off to smaller and gentler inclines. There are no downs on the way up. A small wooden bridge provides an easy crossing where there's a big crack in the trail. This is the most dangerous part. The trail is pretty narrow as it follows the base of a bluff and has some sharp corners. A slip over the edge won't stop for a 1000+ feet at the bottom of the ravine.
Past the bridge and corners the trail begins a gradual ascent again but not as steep as the switchbacks but the old legs noticed it. I hadn't gotten this far yesterday. The rock face soon gave way to dirt slopes and there was much more room on the down side of the trail.
I'd only gone half a mile when I came to the Grizzly Bear (gold?) Mine. Big deal! Some collapsed corrugated buildings. Also a cast iron boiler type thing, a good size fly wheel and some other cast iron stuff. I dunno how the boiler thing got up there. It was about the size of an oil heating tank (150 gallons?) and weighed 500+ pounds. There's not enough room on the trail for paired teams so they must have been hitched single file. A mine shaft disappeared beyond site. They had a grate over top of it to keep the dummies from falling in. It was only 3 feet square. The wooden shoring was still present as was an old rickety leading down into the depths of hell or wherever.
I continued past this mine with the vague idea of making it to Yellow Jacket Mine, 1 1/2 miles further on. I passed a cave about 5 feet high and wide that went back quite a ways. A bed spring lay rusting near the entrance. 1/4 mile later the scenery degraded from spectacular to just very good. The 1000 foot ravine walls gave way to grassy slopes and such so I turned back.
I saw fewer people than yesterday on the way back. I guess everybody was on the way home. I did find another runner way up here around 10000 feet. I got back to the trailhead at 2pm with the sun shining brightly. Back at the campsite I had just finished bathing when the boomers started. And then the lightning started. Not much rain though. Hair washing and the shave will have to wait till another day. Mosquitoes and flies are bad enough to have to bathe inside the truck.
08/06/01:
I continued south on CO 550 this morning. Immediately on the other side of Red Mountain I found a bunch of abandoned gold and silver mines. These belonged to a subsidiary of Newmont Mining Company. A reclamation project is underway to clean up some of the pollution flowing into the Uncompahgre River. I also found the Molas Lake Trail somewhere around 11000 feet.
CO 550 proved to be a wonderful, wonderful drive through rugged mountain peaks heavily forested with large spruce trees. Around Purgatory, 20 miles north of Durango, ski resorts and condos and such began appearing and the scenery deteriorated.
I drove all the way to Cortez, past Mesa Verde National Park and up to Delores. From here I followed CO 145 into the San Juan National Forest. I passed a couple of trailheads at mile markers 34-35-36. The forecast was for thunderstorms with heavy rains. When the thunder clouds and the lightning and the boomers moved in I pulled off at the first dirt road I found and settled in for the night.c
The intent is to work my way up CO 145 through the San Juan National Forest to Montrose and then back down again through the Uncompahgre National Forest to Durango and do some more hiking there.
08/07/01:
I camped last night at 8100 feet. A lot of boomers and lightning produced a little rain. My biggest problem was fighting off chipmunks that kept trying to break into the truck. I had the tailgate down and they'd climb up on it and try to get at my food. They couldn't get past the screen I have Velcro'ed to the back though.
I was in back reading when a couple of mule deer entered the little meadow nearby. They saw the truck sitting there but didn't know what to make of it. It made them nervous enough that they were paying more attention to it than to grazing. Finally they went away. One of them came back an hour later and still wasn't sure if she should be afraid or not.
This morning was pretty cloudy with some sprinkles. I found another trailhead but decided just to drive around and explore a little more. I drove back towards Dolores and finally found FR 535 which leads to the Fish Creek State Recreation Area. I found one more trail at the end of the dirt road but was still getting sprinkled on.
The whole area is very pretty, heavily forested with blue spruce and aspen. Nothing spectacular though. I hope the Box Canyon area didn't ruin me for just plain pretty. Once I got north of the town of Rico I began running into cyclists and soon figured out another bicycle tour/race was in progress. The scenery became more rugged also. When I got to Lizard Head Pass (10222 feet) it became spectacular again with rugged, jagged peas of different colors all around. The red of iron oxide, the green of blue spruce, gray rock faces and white snow patches combined for a pretty vista.
It also makes for some heavy breathing. I don't expect to sleep too well tonight with a lot of gasping for breath. I thought the road I'm on led down to some trailheads. A walk of a mile or so proved that to be false. A drive down for two miles still didn't reveal any trailheads. On the way back a short, skinny, rusty brown weasel type critter ran across the road.
Big boomers moved in with nasty clouds followed by 30 minutes of rain. Then it looked like it would clear up. I had another 30 minutes of nature at work as clouds moved in and around nearby mountain peaks. Then the clouds moved in again.
08/08/01 Hiking Lizard Head Trail:
I started off this morning at 10300 feet, 60's and the sun shining after last night's thunderstorms. It was really cold until the sun came up. The truck was covered with condensation and I'm surprised it wasn't covered with frost.
The first 1/2 mile of the Lizard Head Trail is through a meadow with knee/waist high grasses. It didn't take two minutes before I was soaked from the knees down. Then the trail entered a conifer forest. That didn't get rid of the grasses though. The trail was muddy from the rains and difficult to negotiate, especially the uphills. The 150 foot conifers alternated with stands of 100+ foot aspens.
I soon entered the Lizard Head Wilderness Area in the Uncompahgre National Forest. Uncompahgre? I thought I was in the San Juan National Forest. As it turns out Uncompahgre is on one side of the CO 145 and the San Juans on the other.
I had a few glimpses of nearby Trout Lake but didn't get a good look until I got to the switchbacks. Then several views presented themselves with the San Juan Mountains behind them. This is a commercially stocked lake. The many homes, etc. detracted from what would have been a gorgeous view.
I got to the junction with the Wilson Meadow Trail at 11100 feet (my 2nd highest hiking elevation ever) in 1.45 hours. Lizard head peak sits at 13000+ feet. I knew I would never make it. I had little sleep again last night, was breathing quite heavily and was chilled by being wet and the 5-10mph wind blowing. That combined with old age turned me around.
On the way back I passed a single ranger on horseback leading a pack horse. He was off into the wilderness to inventory wildlife? Had a large, handheld computer and everything.
08/09/01:
Well, here I am, right back where I started the other day. Last night in the San Juan National Forest was full of really big boomers. They had the old truck vibrating they were that close. I finished the drive through the San Juan and Uncompahgre National Forest on CO 145 this morning. The entire drive from Rico through Telluride is a great drive.
At Telluride I swung onto CO 62 which is a pretty drive. Unfortunately, it appears there had been some landslides of varying severity for about 5 miles. It had been cleaned up but things were still a mess. A lot of red sandstone rock and mud still littered the side of the road. The road itself was clear except for a thin, wet trace of mud. The tires kicked the mud up and soon my black truck was red. I should have taken a picture of it. I drove up to Wal-Mart in Montrose and got it washed while there.
Now I'm back down by Ouray and Box Canyon camped in the same spot. I explored a little looking for a campsite but couldn't find anything better. I found a series of trails but I'm really here to do a 4X4 road that looks great from the bottom. We'll see. I cut the exploration short as the daily black clouds moved in. I wanted to be at the campsite when the boomers started.
08/11/01 Hiking Alpine Loop Trail:
I lost another day somewhere. I thought today way the 10th. Yesterday was a washout with rain, without boomers, most of the day. This morning in the 60's with bright skies. I'm back in Ouray for the Alpine Loop. This is an access road to the National Forest but only for 4WD. It rises up between a huge wall on the left and a cascading creek and ravine on the right. I thought it would be a great hike.
A few ATV's were preparing to leave as I started up the road. They passed me on the way and soon a whole train of 4WDs, ATVs and dirt bikes came by. There must of been 30-40 people. That was an indication it might not be a weekday. Unfortunately, 1/2 mile up the steep road the heart rate got out of control and I turned back.
I drove up the road where I'd seen a sign for some beginner and intermediate trails. After wading through a lot of toilet paper and accompanying debris the intermediate trail turned into a lake. The beginner trail was totally overgrown so that was that.
I went back to a dirt road where I'd seen several ATV trailers the other day. This proved to be a road that leads back to CO 550. Covered with lots of standing and running water and mud it also proved to be quite buggy. I found several abandoned buildings and a mine across a valley. A copper contaminated stream passes through the area. The rocks are normal colored where the water flows but where they've had a dry they're copper colored.
Geesh! No wonder I haven't slept well since being back, I forgot I'm at 9800 feet.