Considering we were in Gunnison for just over 36 hours, it was a hell of a stay!
Salida: Week 2, and Departure
Our second week in Salida wasn’t nearly as adventurous as our first week and the weekend we were there. In fact, two of the four days in that second week, neither of us left the campground, and only left the cabin to walk Ash around the campground. One day, I did leave to go to the grocery store and another day we went back to the Salida River Trail and Sands Lake but that was it.
Thursday night, I finished up the last of our laundry and packed up as much as I could before we called it a night.
Friday, Brandy had a couple of morning meetings that she needed a solid internet connection for, so while she was on her first meeting on the Wi-Fi provided by the campground, I finished packing up our last minute things. Before she started her second meeting, we drove down to Sands Lake one more time. She sat in the truck to take her meeting as she still had a strong cellular signal. Meanwhile I walked Ash around the lake.
We made it back to the truck in the parking lot just as Brandy was finishing up her meeting- as soon as she did, we headed out and that was the end of our stay in Salida.
Additional pictures I took that weren’t categorized in specific adventures are in their own entry in the Photo Diary; make sure you check those out.
From Salida, we made our way north toward Buena Vista then started over Cottonwood Pass. Cottonwood Pass is notable in that it is the highest paved crossing of the Continental Divide at 12,119 feet.
As with most passes over the Continental Divide, the road is a long, winding mountain road with many areas lacking guardrails leaving exposed sheer drops on one side or the other.
We reached the summit right at noon, parked and got out to take some pictures. I noticed a sign indicating that there was a summit overlook a quarter mile up the CDT so I decided to head that way to see what there was to see.
While I didn’t make it all the way to the top (it’s thin air up there and I was pretty severely out of high elevation training), I still did manage to grab some pretty nice pictures from as high as I did get.
I made my way back down to Clyde and we continued the drive down the other side of the mountain, stopping at Taylor Park Trading Post (a must-stop for us any time we are in town.)
After we did a little browsing, we decided to head up Tincup, a small unincorporated community that is a borderline ghost town, similar to St. Elmo. As we entered the town, we took note of a small general store, but decided to head toward Mirror Lake, a lake noted on a sign as we passed through the tiny town.
We took a left turn, then a right and started down one of the roughest dirt roads we’ve had the pleasure of traveling on. Most of the time, we were moving in single digit speeds, averaging about SIX miles per hour. We were being jostled about, Ash bouncing around in the back seat as we hopped along the pitted track.
After what seemed like an hour, we decided we’d had enough and made to turn around and start heading back. We found a small turnout where we stopped, took some pictures, let Ash get out and stretch his legs, then we headed back in to “town”, stopping at that general store on the way.
Arrival in Gunnison
We made a very familiar drive down county road 742 from Taylor Reservoir, into Almont and down state highway 135 to the Tall Texan Campground, a campground we’d passed a hundred times before, on the drive between Gunnison and Crested Butte.
We pulled in to the campground, checked in at the office and made our way to the class A RV that was waiting for us.
The campground has a good mix of RV sites, both back-in and pull-through, of varying lengths, tent sites, cabins, and most interestingly, a couple of covered wagons staged as lodging. They were not occupied during our time there so I was able to peek into the window in the door of one of them and saw a bed (looked like a king from my vantage point), a bunk bed, and a small fridge. I couldn’t see around the bunk beds so I don’t know if there are any further amenities available while staying in the wagon, but it did not appear there was a bathroom. The bath house, however, is immediately adjacent to the wagons, so a quick and easy excursion if needed.
We unloaded the couple things we’d need for the short weekend then headed out for dinner at Garlic Mike’s.
The back patio of Garlic Mike’s is the home of River Bar, where happy hour is from 4:00 to 6:00 every night. We showed up right at 4:00 and took seats right on the Gunnison River as it flowed past us. We each ordered a drink, then the Fritto Misto, a platter with squash blossoms, arancini, and artichoke hearts, all fried to a crispy perfection. Together with our drinks, the river rushing by (with an occasional rafter, kayaker, and boater), and the sublime weather, it was a magnifico experience!
At 4:45 or so, we paid our tab and headed in for our 5:00 reservation in the restaurant. The problem we ran into though is that we were both stuffed from the fritto, so the food we ordered went largely untouched. Our server, Thomas, who was exceptionally personable, had no issues bringing boxes and boxing up our uneaten food for later consumption.
From the restaurant, we headed right back to the RV waiting for us and it was a quick night for us. Good thing, too, we had a HELL of a day planned for Saturday.
Pictures from Friday can be found here.
Saturday in Gunnison
…and Crested Butte… and Gothic… and Ohio Pass…
With an early start, we said good bye to Ash and headed down the road to Gunnison-proper, stopping for a coffee at Mochas Coffeehouse & Bakery. I also got a breakfast burrito that promptly exploded and covered me in potatoes, eggs and grease that wound up staining my shirt and shorts.
We got to our first (second?) stop, the Gunnison Farmers market. We browsed around for a bit, picking up some produce and other deliciousness, like a pumpkin loaf and a jalapeno-cheddar biscuit, then crossed the street to a wonderful little store called Toggery Elevated, which got nearly $1,000 of our money the last time we were in town.
We spent several hundred more dollars there this time, then went immediately next door to a new store that had opened since that previous trip. We spent a bunch more money there too, then we headed over to the thrift store that Brandy frequents. I had to run over to Walmart to use the restroom, and while I was there, she messaged me that she was ready to go. I swung by and picked her up then we made the half hour drive up to Crested Butte for our usual stops: Secret Stash for lunch (which, again, went largely uneaten) then a stroll up and down Elk Street to give away even more money.
After we’d had our fill of shopping, we decided to take Clyde up Mount Crested Butte and on into Gothic.
Now, I’d been to Gothic once, on my very first visit to this part of the world, and Brandy drove so I really didn’t get the butt puckers like I did on this trip. I didn’t recognize at that time how narrow and treacherous the road was (course, we were in a smaller Lexus RX350 at that time, not a massive Ford Super Duty…)
On our way up the hill, we passed by a small campground that had several RVs parked in it. The rigs were parked in a rectangular fashion and made me think of the trope where the old frontier-era covered wagons would form a circle when stopping to protect the settlers from attack, both human and non-human.
Knuckles adequately whitened, we made it to the RMBL, a lab tucked high in the Rockies. There is a small town built around the lab, and within that town is a little coffee shop. We stopped in for another coffee and Brandy picked up a(nother) hoodie. We took some more pictures then headed back down the mountain, into Crested Butte once more, then up county road 734 for a bit, marveling at the stunning beauty of the surrounding scenery.
On our way up the road, we encountered a slew of free-roaming cows on the road.
And I DO mean, ON THE ROAD.
There were times when we’d have to fully stop as a momma cow was stopped in the middle of the road, looking at us, mockingly, almost as if to say, “I hope you weren’t in a hurry, because I’m not…”
We got up to Nicholson Lake where we turned around, just before the road turned to dirt, then made our way back through the herd of cows and on into Crested Butte once again. We drove through downtown and on to our next adventure, Ohio Pass.
Just like Gothic, I’d only ever been on Ohio Pass once before, again, on my first visit to the area, and, again, Brandy was driving this time as well. I do remember, on that trip, we approached from the opposite end, ending the drive in downtown Crested Butte, and I remember having a close encounter with a cow on that excursion as well.
This time, though, I was driving, and in Clyde, the drive was as nerve-wracking as the journey to Gothic.
We did stop for some pictures along the way, including for some shots of The Castles, some wonderful rock formations in the West Elk Mountains off in the distance from the pass.
As we descended from the West Elks, my butthole unclenched and we made the rest of the drive back to the Tall Texan without incident.
Pictures from this insane Saturday are, of course, on the ol’ Photo Diary.
Sunday Departure
The next morning, we left the RV just after 8:00 am for the drive back over Monarch Pass, through Salida (where we’d just left two days prior) and in to Walsenburg for the next stop on our attempt to escape the corn sweat.
After a stop at The Coffee Trader for a Mexican Latte (which I had the pleasure of enjoying at the Coffee Trader location in Montrose), we started the trip in earnest. We did stop at the peak at Monarch, then headed down the other side of the mountain. We passed through Salida, Canon City and Pueblo where we connected with I-25. We took the interstate south for about an hour, exited in Walsenburg, stopped at Carl’s Jr for a bite then checked in to our AirBnB for the week.
This trip to the Western Slope was just as beautiful as every other trip. Brandy was very happy and that made me happy. As usual, we spent way too much money, but well worth it to see the joy on her face.
Stay tuned for the next episode of this Summer’s excursion when I tell you about my THIRD Dodger game at my third stadium in my third time zone in the span of a couple of months.
Until then!
-Phil