In The Shadow of Longs Peak
Southwest Colorado, Spring 2019
12 May 2019 - 17 May 2019
Saturday 11 May 2019
We were packed up and headed away from Longmont at about 3 PM. We were hoping to stay at Wine Country Inn in Palisade but there were not any rooms left. Looking around, there was the Ramada Inn on Horizon Drive in Grand Junction. We arrived at around 8 PM, checked in and unloaded. Due to the late arrival time, we skipped eating supper out and relied on food in the cooler which worked out quite well. It was really a very nice room, facing away from the highway so no traffic noise and there was a sliding glass door so not only did we get to sit outside but we got nice fresh air in the room.
Sunday 12 May 2019
We are up and ready to go by 8 AM. After breakfast at Village Inn and a stop at City Market for sushi (tonight’s supper) we are on our way south to Hwy 50 & Whitewater Colorado then south on Hwy 141 which runs across the Uncompahgre Plateau. As Dave Barnes said, this is more like Utah than Colorado. Some places along the way: Gateway, the Dolores River (pieces of an old flume run along here), the San Miguel River, then on into Naturita. Somewhere we cross the Disappointment Valley, then Egnar and then the old Hwy 666 (now Hwy 491) and east thru Dove Creek, Pleasant View and finally the turnoff to Lake McPhee and the campground. The host suggested Juniper Site 12 which turned out to be delightful. Next is a beer, then setting up the tent and sunshade, then another beer. Supper is sushi and sake, snap peas and an orange, which turns out to be just the right amount of food.
After supper, we walk along the loop and find a dozen ‘walk in’ sites, with # 12, the furthest from parking, being the best. Camping in these sites would require different gear: Smaller tent, smaller stove, no bab, 1 cooler and perhaps the small green gas canisters. We spy was we think at first is a grosbeak but on close inspection seems more likely to be an oriole. Around 8:15 the sun starts going down and it is not too cold, at least not immediately which is a nice treat. Tomorrow, our plan is to fetch Dave Barnes and return to Ruin Canyon for a hike, then return here for a supper of pizza and salad. Prepping for meals for this outing seemed like a lot of work at the time but now we will reap the rewards.
Monday 13 May 2019
Our destination today is Ruin Canyon. The problem though was that we could not find the trailhead that we’ve used previously. We did follow the creek up and around but there were no ruins and no pictographs nor petroglyph though we did find a couple of pot shards along the road in (which we left as is the rule).
Wednesday 15 May 2019
Today’s outing is to Sand Canyon. The trailhead is easy to get to, driving south and west from Cortez. I had printed a trail description from the web but when we got there found several trails including the Sand Canyon Trail. We should have simply hiked up the Sand Canyon Trail. Instead we did a loop and saw a number of ruins. Nice hike but it was hot! All the ruins on the Sand Canyon Trail were clearly marked with a spur.
Tuesday 14 May 2019
This is our paddling day. We drove down to the boat ramp, put in, and explored the arm to the northwest which terminated at the “Great Cut Dike” which we had driven over on our way to the campground on Sunday. We retraced our steps and paddled down lake a bit further to the House Creek Area. The House Creek Area Campgroud is closer to the water and has a nice boat ramp but the drive there is much more off the beaten path. A nice destination if we were only going to paddle.
Thursday 16 May 2019
Today is another paddling day. It was a bit overcast when we got up. After a cup of coffee, we decided to skip breakfast and get on the water quickly as it seemed like the weather and forecast was not going to improve.
We had 2 choices for today’s paddle: either down lake to the dam or up lake to the inlet at the Dolores River near the town of Dolores, which is about half as long. We choose the latter since it seemed like the weather was continuing to deteriorate.
From the dock, we go right and head south-east. The wind is steady at about 10 mph, not too bad. The landscape is the same juniper / pinon as we paddled thru yesterday but the hillsides are progressively lower. After turning a corner, we are in the lee of the wind. It looks like we are about to run out of water, but we continue, round another corner and see hwy 145 ahead. We pass a fishing access but still no sign of a river. We continue into a delta-like area, still no sign of a river but the water has changed from a muddy brown to clear. We push thru the bush until we were blocked. Now we turn around and head back. We paddled about 3 hours (2 out, 1 back) … not bad for the 4th day of activity.
Friday 17 May 2019
It was cold and rainy when we got up. So we packed up and headed home, coming back thru Dolores, Telluride, Ridgeway and Montrose. Places in Colorado I had not yet driven thru.