Sept 6, Sunday We’re only 35 miles from the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, and at 8:00 we were headed on our way. Going through Ridgeway we stopped for a peek of the John Wayne Café; this is the little town where True Grit was actually filmed. The town is not as big as Ouray, but it was very nice with signs of maintenance and upkeep everywhere. From there we drove thru Montrose before reaching the park 15 miles later. The park road follows 12 miles of the 48-mile Black Canyon of the Gunnison River. It is a long, narrow, climbing road that follows the canyon edge with periodic parking for twelve overlooks. It contains 12 miles of the 48 mile Black Canyon of the Gunnison River. The trails to these super-vistas are short with guard rails at the viewing points: Pulpit Rock, Devils Lookout, Painted Wall, Dragon Point, Gunnison Point, Sunset View, High Point and more. It was a truly vertical viewing experience as the canyon is the deepest and narrowest canyon in North America. The canyon is black, because very little sunlight gets to the bottom and the composition of the rock! It is interesting to note that only its rims, never the gorge, have shown evidence of human occupation - not even by Ute Indians that have lived in the area since written history began. The Visitor Center was small and limited entrance to 6 masked people at a time; rangers were set up at an outdoor table to provide their service. We were glad that we visited in the morning, as the parking spots at the overlooks were getting very crowded by 11:00 a.m. By 12:30 we were back in Montrose and eating KFC for lunch! In the afternoon we went back to the town of Ouray to restock some groceries. Even routine grocery-shopping is fun in a small mountain town, and it required several side-trips into touristy-type shops to get it all done. I love this little town of Ouray!
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October 2021
We don’t go camping any more . . . we go ‘streamin’ ! The “SIlvermine and His” is our 2018 25' Airstream Serenity with Salsa interior and front twin beds., and ‘streamin’ is the name we use to describe our adventures. Stream along as we document everything from weekend trips to longer summer excursions and full-blown vacations. You know what they say: if you’re not in an Airstream – you’re just camping!
Tom & Ella Brown |