The Way I See It . . .: Colorado 2013: Day 8

June 9, 2013: After a good night's sleep, we're up early again. Our itinerary today includes exploring Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, doing a scenic drive thru Crested Butte and Snowmass, then on to Maroon Bells, and finally to Aspen, where we will spend the night.

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is a wonderful place; a place I never knew existed until I started planning this trip! It contains some of the most rugged landscape we've seen thus far, and includes some of the steepest cliffs, oldest rock and craggiest spires in North America. It is so named because the steepness of the cliffs makes it difficult for sunlight to penetrate very far down, so the rocky canyon walls are most often in shadow, causing them to appear black. At its narrowest point, the canyon is only 40 feet across at the river. The extreme steepness and depth of the Black Canyon formed as the result of several geologic processes. The Gunnison River, along with the forces of weathering, has sculpted this vertical wilderness over the past two million years, forming the canyon as it is seen today.

Here is the way we saw it, through photos:

Mountain Lupine is abundant everywhere!

Bob looking down from an overlook.

Mother Nature's artwork

Bob as part of Mother Nature's artwork :)

Looking down at the Gunnison River

Bob & Suzi Shadows

Stopping to smell (and photograph) the flowers

More Mountain Lupine

Along the hiking trail

Windswept landscape, from two different angles:

One more view of the canyonlands before leaving the park!

After leaving Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, we traveled east to the town of Gunnison, through Curecanti National Recreation Area, a man-made oasis in the high desert, formed by three reservoirs named for corresponding dams on the Gunnison River.

As we were driving along the side of the above reservoir, we spotted a couple of emergency vehicles ahead, lights flashing, and a dozen or so vehicles pulled off along side of the road.
An accident? As we got closer I thought I saw a statue (albeit a very realistic statue) of a very large Bighorn Sheep on the shoulder of the highway, but as we passed we realized it was real. The emergency vehicles belonged to Park Rangers, warning traffic to slow down and take care in passing.

After we passed, we turned into a pullout and joined the crowd of tourists watching and photographing the scene.

We then realized there was a second Bighorn Sheep on the steep mountainside, just beyond the highway barrier. At first we thought it was a male-female pair that got separated somehow by the highway, but then learned from the rangers that it was two RAMS who had been fighting over the "territory" all morning and kept crossing the highway.

Both Bob and I got many good shots before the ram on our side of the barrier finally leaped over it and climbed the mountainside in pursuit of the other male on the other side of the highway.

The ram on our side of the highway is getting ready to jump the barrier!

LEAP (missed shot!) . . . and there he goes...!!

Notice the broken tip of the ram's horn,

in this shot by Bob

(cropped, edited and enlarged by Suz)

But apparently this was just a lull in the drama - the rangers were not convinced it was over yet - but we still had many miles to drive, so we continued on with our journey. But it was an exciting and never-before-seen, [best-kind-of] interruption in our travels.

A collage of the drama

Back on the highway, we passed through the town of Gunnison, stopped and bought some picnic food, with the intention of finding a place to stop and eat along the road, and then headed north. We never did find the right spot to picnic before arriving in Crested Butte. I was immediately hooked by the town; it turned out to be just the kind of small, friendly, bohemian town that I love, and I wanted to spend some time here, so we decided to eat at an outside cafe instead. The food we bought can wait until later tonight or tomorrow.

On the road to Crested Butte

The ubiquitous Colorado biker!

We had some good food to eat, and some food for thought! We talked to some very nice, friendly locals who mentioned some things (like seasonal rentals) that helped us formulate the great idea that perhaps we really could do a reverse "snowbird" thing after retirement, by keeping a permanent residence near NYC, and spending summers in Colorado. It would give us the best of both worlds and help solve many of our issues about moving so far away from family and friends. Definitely something to research and think about over the coming months!!

More magnificent landscapes on the road to Aspen & Maroon Bells

More aspen in their spring green...!

We saw this wild turkey in a stand of aspen

And this little waterfall off the side of the road

And we saw a BEAR! It seemed to be a young cub, and it ran right across the road. It may have been following it's mother, who we just missed! I wasn't fast enough to get a photo, but I have this bear sign from earlier in the day to stand in it's place!

We saw the bear right here (below)!

I didn't get a photo of the bear, but I got the spot!

On the road to Maroon Bells.

The Maroon Bells are two peaks in the Elk Mountains Maroon Peak and North Maroon Peak, separated by about a third of a mile, and located in the Maroon Bells - Snowmass Wilderness of the White River National Forest, 12 miles southwest of Aspen. Both peaks are "fourteeners" at 14,156 feet and 14,014 feet respectively. Unlike other mountains in the Rockies that are composed of granite and limestone, the Bells are composed of metamorphic sedimentary mudstone that has hardened into rock over millions of years. Mudstone is weak and fractures readily, giving rise to dangerously loose rock along almost any route. The mudstone is responsible for the Bells' distinctive maroon color.

The view of the Maroon Bells to the southwest from the Maroon Creek valley, especially when reflected in Maroon Lake, is one of the most famous scenes in Colorado, and is reputed to be the "most-photographed spot in Colorado" and one of Colorado's premier scenic overlooks. Although this will be just one of so many wondrous sights we've seen, I am still excited to be seeing them, for the photographic opportunity!

First glimpse of the Bells!