Montrose, May 31, 2016

Montrose, May 31, 2016

Thinking you might be getting bored in my absence, I decided to go a wandering in hopes of discovering something that would amaze you.  You’re welcome.

Since arriving in Colorado, I have been inundated with recommendations for places to go and things to see.  One of the conundrums associated with traveling in this state is the ubiquitous tors.  I have travelled extensively on the highways and byways of the American southwest and while there are myriad roads beckoning the automotive adventurer within each of the states, it seems none have outdone the ambitious Coloradoans in their effort to build a pass over ever mountain range, a route through every river valley (and I haven’t even been tempted to leave the pavement yet).

A case in point is Colorado state route 133 (CO-133) which crosses the ridge in the vicinity of the Maroon Belles-Snowmass Wilderness at McClure Pass (8,755 ft. elev.) and drops down rapidly into the Crystal River Valley and the quaint town of Redstone.

The route starts at Delta, an agricultural center in the shadow of Grand Mesa (you know it when you see it, and yes it is grand, really grand… but I digress).  A trip down the central thoroughfare brings on a wave of nostalgia that we are really too young to experience.  Main Street is old US-50 (a frequent byway in our travels), no freeway bypass here. US-50 turns west out of town and our route (CO-92) steers ENE.  Once you are through the town its basically fruit orchards and alfalfa fields with the aforementioned mountain ranges as background.  The next town of note is Hotchkiss and a switch to CO-133 where you join the Gunnison River.  The landscape offers so many opportunities for photographs it is easy to get hypnotized into pulling off at any wide spot and start snapping away.  And as this is a visual medium, I will let you decide.

The road is not at all challenging until you reach the crest at McClure Pass, then the highway descends a steep wet of switchbacks, but still not too challenging, into the valley where we encounter Redstone, the cliff walls that give it its moniker and the lodge therein.  We arrived at about 1400 hrs and were the only patrons in the grill. The food was excellent, although as the experienced nomad would anticipate, resort priced.  But then, when breathing rarified air, a twelve-dollar cheeseburger is not quite as offensive.

Redstone Coke Ovens

Although CO-133 continues north, it eventually tees into I-70 which is all freeway; not suitable for earning your “I’m not lost, just a little confused.” merit badge.  So we opted to retrace our route over McClure Pass to the junction with 12 RD (no, I don’t understand the road-naming protocol either) and turn our voyage in the direction of Crested Butte.  Unfortunately, about one hundred yards after the turn, we encountered one of those generator-powered, portable, traffic-advisory trailers that informed us Kebler Pass was closed (no, I don’t know if there are cookie-baking elves living there).  That put the kibosh to any further exploration that day so back to Montrose we went.

Montrose, June 2, 2016

Yes, I was remiss in getting May 31 all polished up and posted before we took to the road again on June 2.  This outing targeted a man-made object of curiosity, The Gateway Auto Museum, in Gateway, Colorado.  Gateway isn’t a town per se but an area defined by the confluence of West Creek and the Dolores River (yes, the same Dolores… even more mobile than we previously credited her as she was active all the way up to Mesa County… tramp) in BLM land west of the Uncompahgre National Forest.  It was at this junction that John Hendricks, founder of The Discovery Network, decided to build a retreat resort and automobile museum. No, I do not know what one has to do with the other: Rich people, sheesh!

The museum is very nice and concentrates its collection on American cars from the early 1920s to the 1970s with cultural commentary as one would expect in such a museum.  But, not surprisingly, the star attraction of the trip is the geography.

The route begins with US-50 from Montrose to Whitewater where we transition to CO-141, cross the ever-present Gunnison River and enter Unaweep Canyon.  If you ever attempt this tour, note that the signage for the left turn onto CO-141 is scant and gives little warning that a left turn is at hand.  When you get to the Utah border (about 40 miles), you’ll know you missed it (I nailed it!).  And when they say canyon, they mean C-A-N-Y-O-N!  This is a spectacular drive with red walls rising vertically on both sides of the meadowland through which the road curves back and forth.  There are even a couple of waterfalls cascading down the north wall which you can photograph from wide spots in the road.  The terrain, geology and vegetation are more Utah than Colorado.  At this time of the year the meadow grass on the canyon floor and pinyon pine on the canyon walls are at their verdant best making for a picture post card contrast with the red cliffs.  It would be enough to make the cliffs at Redstone (no, you just read about it in the May 31 trip above… pay attention) blush.  That’s a joke… Redstone… blush. Aw, c’mon!

This drive is one of the best I have taken, and we’re only half-way through the day.  At any rate, John Hendricks decided to build a resort here and house his collection of classic American Iron.  They have everything from Model “T”s to a 1970 Chevy Malibu SS and a Chord to boot.  There is a 1956 Buick Special convertible that is original; no restoration.  The museum and restaurants are open to the public but access to the residence areas is pretty tightly controlled.  Probably to keep me out.

We ate lunch in the Paradox (the name’s a mystery to me… God I’m funny!) Grill.  I know it seems contrary to the nature of an accountant, but I had to try the nine-dollar homemade tortilla chips listed on the appetizer menu.  What could possibly justify nine-dollar chips?  It turns out they are served with freshly made guacamole and red and green hot sauce.  Would I pay that much for chips in San Diego?  No.  But this place is remote and they have to get their produce from Grand Junction, I imagine.  My sandwich was a combination of black forest ham and pulled pork.  Oh, yeah?  Well think again, it was excellent.

After lunch and maybe an hour in the museum we headed out to the southeast on CO-141 alongside, you guessed it the Delores River.  We traced the river through a series of deep canyons and when available, a look down a side canyon made us appreciate that we were in a maze of canyons that would be impossible to navigate without the aid of the Colorado Dept. of Highways and the effort they had expended to build this highway.  The road is so convoluted the trip takes about three hours while the road in was about one and three-quarters of an hour.

The Dolores River eventually combines with a confusion of smaller water tracks at Shamrock Mines and emerges as the San Miguel River.  The highway continues as it gently elevates to bring itself out of the canyons and onto a mesa.  Once through the farming and uranium mining area of Naturita, we transitioned from CO-141 to CO-145 and continued on to Placerville (yes, California has one too).  There we transitioned onto CO-62 which took us through some impressive pasture land and into Ridgeway (remember True Grit?) which put us on US-550 to Montrose.

One more thing:  Just outside of Ridgeway (north) is a park dedicated to local resident and television personality, Dennis Weaver (look it up, Tumbleweed).  We were coerced into stopping to view a twenty-two-foot-tall eagle statue commissioned by his wife.  The theme of the park is very spiritual.  I stated it should have been a statue of a carrot.  He was a vegetarian.  Yeah, my traveling companions didn’t think it was funny either.