While we were here we took a side trip to visit Gunnison and Creede Colorado. On the way there we crossed the continental divide at Monarch Pass.
The shop has a display of maps showing where the divide is and a display of stuffed animals. There is also a large gift shop and a small restaurant. There are pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/jackbarbic/MonarkPass1 If you go to the web site to view more pictures I would suggest that you click on the “Side Show” or "Full Screen" icon then "F11". It will give you a bigger picture. I have added captions to some of the pictures.
We spent a day going to see the Black Canyon. On our way to the canyon the was a lot of beautiful scenery and interesting this to see.
There were many campgrounds with plenty of sites for tents and motorhomes.
The Blue Mesa Dam is made of rocks/earth and has a drop of 300+ feet.
More pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/jackbarbic/BlueMesaRegion1#
The Gunnison River is the tool that created the canyon, which is a very deep steep sided narrow gorge, ranging in depth from approximately 1970 to 2700 feet. The depth relative to the width is due to the velocity of the river. It is able to cut downward faster than other erosion forces can increase the width.
You can see the canyon from either the north or south rim; we chose to go to the north rim. There are more pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/jackbarbic/BlackCanyonVicinity1
We spent another day taken a drive to Creede Co. Along the way we went through the town of Lake City. In his book “A Walk Across America” Peter Jenkins describe Lake City as a friendly town, however, no place is perfect. The story of Alfred Parker might take some of the shine off but we certainly found friendly people there. They do have an excellent ice cream store; we stopped there on our return to Gunnison.
We did cross the continual divide again. North Clear Creek Falls, just off SH 149 near the summit of Spring Creek Pass, proclaims the honor as the most photographed waterfall in Colorado. It m
ay be true since there is very easy access to the falls.
Creede is an old silver mining town and now many old the old buildings that house restaurants, souvenir, nick-nack and what I would describe as tourist trap junk shops. There is an abandon mine just beyond the town.
There are more pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/jackbarbic/TripToCreedeCO1
