Spending some time in and around Gunnison

June 28, 2010 Darn, it’s Monday and time to go back to work. NOT! But we did have to work a little to break camp and head north. Our ultimate destination is Gunnison, CO today, with stops in Silverton and Ouray. The highway from Durango to Ouray is called the Million Dollar Highway. Not much money in today’s terms, but when it was built in the early 1950’s, it was a huge sum. There’s something about driving a winding, narrow, two-lane road with very few guard rails up and down mountains in the 10-11,000 ft. elevation that makes me a little queasy. I couldn’t take my eyes off the road very often, and I hugged the yellow centerline when I could see no traffic in the other lane. Another day of amazing natural beauty. Another attraction is viewing the remnants of the mining heydays. Mining was/is such a major economic engine in Colorado – but before there was attention paid to the environmental impact of this industry, much damage was done. However, it is encouraging now to see the extent of the reclamation efforts that are underway. It just so happens that lunch time found us in Ouray, and it just so happens we came across O’Brien’s, another Irish Pub and Restaurant that lured us in with good food and World Cup Soccer on the screens – Brazil pummeled Chile as we enjoyed the fare. When you consider the back-breaking work that was necessary to build the roads, highways, railways, and mines, and the state of available technology and equipment back in the day, the results are almost unbelievable. Those were some tough hombres that labored to make this all happen – we are truly wimps in comparison. We had hoped to find some nice campsites in the area of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, but little did we realize that we would once again be in dessert-like conditions with a scarcity of trees. The day was getting late, so we drove on in to Gunnison and found a neat 50s era motel called the Island Acres Resort – a holdover from the days when Highway 50 was as active as Route 66. Doesn’t have all the amenities but it feels just right – a log cabin type Mom and Pop place with a nice screen porch on front. And made even more hospitable by Tyler, the man-in-charge. Tyler is a transplant from New Hampshire and a recent graduate (Business and Accounting) of Western State College here in Gunnison. Like many other new graduates in today’s economy, he is job searching, but in the meantime is staying in the area and running the motel (and is doing a fine job).

Last Day in Durango

June 27, 2010 One of the treats of staying at this campground was meeting our “neighbors” of a couple of days. Sonette Steyn and Lisa Herzog are enjoying their first camping experience and it involves 10 days in this location, to enjoy all the activities available in the Durango area. Sonnette is an author, poet, artist, photographer, and Lisa is an executive in the health care field. They are both from Santa Fe, but Sonette is originally from South Africa and Lisa from San Francisco. They were such a delight to visit with in the couple of days we lived next door to them! Our day was pretty much spent in town dealing with logistics and just scoping out the town. We went to the campus of Ft. Lewis College to view an exhibit on Mountain Lions, but it was closed on Sunday. We wanted to do some more looking in Earthen Vessels, a top-notch pottery gallery, but it was closed on Sunday. We visited Gardenswartz Outdoor store again just because they have so many neat camping gizmos. We were going to rent bikes to ride along the 5-mile trail along the Animas River as it winds through town, but a thunderstorm dashed those plans. So we went to Durango Joes and had a ‘brainfreeze’, a suitable name for the frozen caffeine concoction. Charlcie spent some time there while I walked down to try a little fly-fishing in the Animas – I didn’t do so hot and I’m blaming it on too much runoff and too many rafters passing by. Had to try Serious Texas BBQ for lunch. The cherry-chipotle sauce was quite good on the pulled pork sandwiches, but overall the BBQ did not measure up to KTs in Gassville, Penguin Ed’s in Fayetteville, or McClard’s in Hot Springs – all in Arkansas, of course. The temperature dropped down to 40-degrees at night in the campground. The temps, the sound of the stream, the smell of the fresh mountain air – cuddling up in those sleeping bags in the back of the truck was never so cozy!

Staying on in Durango

June 26, 2010 The Durango area is so nice, with much to do and see. We decided we would spend more time here if we could find a suitable camping area not too far from town. Charlcie did some on-line research and was able to locate a private campground in a canyon just a few miles up the road. Lightner Creek Campground is a very well managed facility with spotless restrooms/bathhouses/camping sites. We were able to secure a site on the bank of Lightner Creek, a stream fed primarily by snow runoff. The sound of the water riffling down the mountainside just outside our tent made for ideal sleeping conditions for the two nights we stayed here. We met a fellow named Bill Davis from Van Buren, AR, and a couple from Greers Ferry, AR on our evening walk. Always good to see fellow Arkies on our travels (well, almost always!). We went in to Durango to the Irish Embassy Pub/Restaurant to watch the USA play Ghana in the World Cup. The food was good, the standing-room-only crowd was boisterous, and we had a great time in spite of the loss. We were able to take an evening drive several miles up a canyon road in the Perino Peak State Wildlife Management area – saw only one deer, but the scenery was truly amazing. In fact, around every corner, we seem to come across yet another fabulously beautiful landscape out here. I am going to try uploading a couple of videos to see how they perform on the blog. One of them is when the USA scored a goal to tie the game – they turned the lights out when the game started, so you won’t see too much, but you can hear the excitement of the fans! The other is of the water in Lightner Creek tumbling over the rocks and down the mountain to its confluence with the Animas River in Durango.

Larry Fishes, Charlcie Shops

June 25, 2010 I could not travel this far without spending more time on the San Juan, but there was nothing for Charlcie to do while I was fishing. Durango has a very fine trolley system that runs by our motel about every 20 minutes, so that allowed me to take the truck and travel the 50 miles back down to the San Juan. Charlcie was then able to spend the day doing the shopping and tourist thing. She visited most of the unique shops, bookstores, and galleries in town. At the river, it was very surprising that there were so few fishermen on the San Juan on a Friday. I was able to pretty much fish the Upper Flats anywhere I chose. Again, it was a very rewarding day for fishing – maybe I do know a little something about fly-fishing. Was able to land several rainbows in the 15”-17” range, although I didn’t manage to catch any of the 20”+ rainbows that this tailwater is known for. The fish are so colorful and healthy here. The walk from the river back to the truck was made a little more exciting as a small snake swam ahead of me on the watery trail, and then as I was climbing up the switchback trail, a three-foot long snake darted between my legs. I was able to tell it was not a rattler, but haven’t had the opportunity to check a reference to see which variety it was. I was able to return late afternoon so we had time to ride the trolley to the Historic District to have dinner on the patio at the Old Timers Café, a longtime local favorite. Dining on an outside patio under the trees in 60-degree, no humidity weather is such a treat this time of year. We are having such a fun time!

Leaving the desert for the mountains

June 24, 2010 According to folks around here, this has been a very dry, dusty spring. No campfires are allowed in the forests now as there have been several forest fires. We decided after two nights camping at the Cottonwood Campgrounds we would seek respite from the heat. In most places out here you can seek shade and it will provide a cool spot to escape the heat, but in the high dessert in the middle of the day, that doesn’t work. So we moved on to Durango. It’s incredible what 50 miles of highway brings in the way of changed topography and climate. On the way out of the state park we took some pictures that display the beauty of the river – our campground is on the far bank in the picture here. Also included here is a picture Charlcie took of the cottonwood up close – when the wind blows, the little cotton thingies fill the air and give the appearance of snow. Looks inviting doesn’t it? That’s because you can’t feel the heat, taste the dust, feel the grit in between your toes, or hear the buzz of the mosquitoes. Durango is a very nice town with many nice galleries, shops, and places to eat. After settling in the Spanish Trails motel, we got cleaned up (boy that feels good!) and enjoyed dinner at the Steamworks Brewery and Restaurant as recommended by one of the publications here. This town seemingly has a microbrewery every few blocks and all include restaurants, which produce some very tasty food.

Challenges and Someone is looking out for us!

We don't know if it's our organization, or lack thereof, or our brains (especially mine) are in full disengagement mode, or we're just having so much fun that we are losing focus, but we have had some anxious moments. Here are some examples: After we ordered the famous green chile chesseburger at The Sportsman, as we were talking, we realized that Charlcie did not have her sunglasses and I remembered I left the locking pin to the cargo hauler on the back bumper of the truck. Charlcie thought she might have dropped her sunglasses in the camp parking area and feared we had run over them. I knew that a trip across a couple of miles of bumpy dirt road had flipped the locking pin off the back bumper. We were a little bummed at the moment. But on the trip back to the campsite, we recovered the pin from the middle of the road. We found Charlcie's sunglasses under the hammock. Relief! The next day, my first day on the San Juan, my mind was certainly not tuned in to anything other than fishing. As I said, the trip from the parking area requires some work and takes about 30 minutes to reach the river. When Charlcie picked me up after about 3 hours, as I was loading my stuff in the truck I decided I wanted to show her the fish picture - only to discover that my camera was missing. I instantly remembered where I had left it, so I made the round-trip back to retrieve it. This old body was really worn out after that ordeal but very lucky to have the camera back. And that's not all! Charlcie had placed my very expensive fly rod on the luggage rack and we forgot to stow it IN the truck. I realized it some 10 miles later as we reached the entrance to the campground. Since the roads contain some very large potholes, which we managed to visit, I was absolutely sick knowing that there was no way the rod was still on top of the truck. Charlcie stopped the truck so I could check and amazingly the rod was still there. We're convinced even more now that this journey was meant to be - in spite of our old and crazy moments, someone is taking care of us!

Finally get to fish the famous San Juan River!

June 23, 2010 Finally get to fish the San Juan River this morning. Touted as one of the top fly-fishing destinations in the country, and I was soon to find out its reputation is befitting. Large numbers of quality fish, both in terms of size and beauty – and even I could catch them! In fact, on my first cast, hooked a very large fish, only to have the fly break off after a couple of minutes. On the very next cast, a 12” brown trout. All other fish caught on this gorgeous river were rainbow trout and none under 14”. Thanks to Michael and Todd at McLellan’s Fly Shop in Fayetteville for their advice and fly recommendations. I fished the Upper Flats area, which the lady at Abe’s recommended as the hottest wade-in spot. It takes some doing to get from the parking area to the river and back and is a little spooky on the first attempt. A hike down a steep embankment on a switchback trail, through some marsh, into tunnels of willow thickets on a watery trail, and trudge through a hundred yards of muck and then I’m in the river. For a first-timer, it was like negotiating a claustrophobic maze. Charlcie had planned to carry a chair, book, and camera to join me for the morning, but after seeing the challenge ahead, decided to retreat to the campsite to enjoy the hammock and some alone time. The pictures of the fish aren’t very good quality as I tried to minimize their time out of the water while I grabbed the camera to take the picture with one hand. The vivid colors are not captured in the images. In the afternoon we made a trip to Farmington, NM to gather some needed supplies. To us, a rather unremarkable town, but sporting the largest new Wal-Mart we have ever witnessed, and with prices much lower than we had been seeing out here.

To Navajo Lake State Park/San Juan River

June 22, 2010 I fished for about an hour in the Rio Chama that runs behind our motel, the Riverbend Lodge. Caught one fish, but added another stream to the list I have fished. Meanwhile, Charlcie was stalking a magpie - they omnipresent in these parts, but difficult to get near. After a traditional pancake breakfast at the Elkhorn Café (taking a break from the green chiles!) we headed for Navajo Lake State Park in far northwestern New Mexico. This is high dessert country and Navajo Lake is truly an oasis. The lake is beautiful and the San Juan River tailwater below it is known as one of the top fly-fishing destinations in the country. Notice all the houseboats anchored in uniform lines out into the lake - apparently the owners leave them there and are ferried out to their boats when they visit. For the next two nights, we camped at the Cottonwood Campground, the only one of several that has trees. After setting up camp, we took a short hike along the river and then headed to The Sportsman to share one of their famous green chile cheeseburgers (can’t get away from those green chiles!) There are two institutions in this part of the country, The Sportsman and Abe’s, and they are famous with fly-fishers. They, along with other establishments around here, are like mini Wal-Marts – they carry a little of everything. Some groceries, a restaurant or café, some hardware, some hunting and fishing supplies, and in the case of Abe’s, gas for your car, RV camping sites, and a motel. They’ve been around for over 50 years and still going.

Posted Pictures

The pictures posted are in reverse chronological order. I upload them in order and it stacks them most current to oldest. I am going to try to organize so that I put in reverse order and you are viewing in proper sequence. I will do this so your experience in reading the blog will be more fulfilling and possibly result in a life-changing experience. This is fun, but is cutting into my fishing time. Hope you are enjoying it, we are having a good time putting it together. We will get better as we go along.

To Chama, NM for the first day of summer

June 21, 2010 First day of summer! Coolest morning of our trip! We were able to break camp in about 45 minutes and head toward our destination for the day, Chama, NM. We stopped at Michael’s Kitchen in Taos for a breakfast with local flavor – which requires chili or green chile sauce on virtually everything, including the hash browns. Needless to say, by eating this breakfast, we avoided having to take any over-the-counter or prescription remedies to keep our sinuses in check – we have been in 7 to 8 thousand feet in altitude for the last 5 days, and will stay in that range for most of our trip. There are too many galleries in Taos to begin to think about visiting – we had to move on due to space and budgetary constraints. On the way out of Taos, we came upon the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, which was an unexpected treat – we didn’t realize we were going to drive over it and were very glad we did. The most unique residential development (or commune) we have ever seen appeared in the desert outside of Taos. Called Earthship, the area consisted of many different residences and a visitor center, all containing banks of solar panels, and fashioned into adobe spaceships that were neither gaudy nor too bizarre, in fact they were very appealing. We regret that we didn’t stop to photograph them for your viewing pleasure. Most of our travel today was up and over mountains in the Carson National Forest and we had to stop to photograph the wildflowers, the most imposing was a huge patch of wild iris, that were fronted by some plants that were also very attractive. The pictures won’t do them justice, but we had to return back up the mountain to capture them on the little digital thingy. We are going to make every effort to take our meals, when we dine out, from local establishments, to further enhance our appreciation of the places we visit. We are getting a late start in doing it, but we are also going to include a picture of each one. Tonight, we had dinner at High Mountain Restaurant and Saloon. Another one of those great places out here that cater to an eclectic clientele of real cowboys, fake cowboys, geeky tourists, local legends, local characters, professional types, and of course, the ever cool fly-fishers. Keeping with the local cuisine, we had some kind of New Mexican special dish that was smothered with the green chile sauce. Very tasty, very medicinal, and not too rough on the system, at least in the short-term. Another great finish to this meal: dishes of FX O’Reilly microcreamery ultra premium ice cream, Black Raspberry for me, Expresso Toffee for the lady. OMG! And here’s something really cool; the saloon was filled with the aforementioned mixture of characters, all of which were tuned in to a World Cup telecast on the big screen. First the world, then the US of A!

Hike on Clear Creek: Cimarron Canyon

June 20, 2010 The only thing that could have made this Father’s Day any better would have been to have our son and our fathers along for the ride. We know they would enjoy immensely. But the day started out perfectly with a call from Ben. And we were able to call our Dads too! We are getting organized and about have the camping routine down. We are getting very good at brewing the morning coffee in our Coleman percolator, and juggling a couple of menu items on our one-burner Coleman propane stove – although we’ve decided to probably expedite the process by buying one more one-burner. Who would think that a fried egg sandwich, fresh carrots, and a Little Debbie snack would be such a taste treat – but when done in the outdoors, it is hard to beat. Couscous w/chicken, Vienna sausage and saltines, some fruit, and we’re there. We went on an approximately 2-mile hike on Clear Creek trail. You have to remember that many others hike this trail so you can not think too much about rattlesnakes, bears, mountain lions, etc. This is a heavily forested area of conifers and aspen that pretty much encompass the trail and many downed trees to avoid. The beauty is enhanced by a little stream that runs beside the trail. Of course, I had to take my fly-rod after encouraged by the park ranger. It was a challenge to maneuver a nine-foot rod through all the brush and to avoid snags on all the limbs in the stream – for the opportunity to catch a 6-inch fish. However, these are wild fish that are so beautiful and have unbelievable survival skills to manage in their little, dangerous world. I lost several flies, but it was worth it to catch one fish.

To Red River and Back

June 19, 2010 We took a journey up to Red River, NM, which is a ski town northwest of where we are camping. It is bordered by the Carson National Forest, another one of those areas with spectacular scenery around every corner. We spent most of the afternoon in Red River, opting not to partake of the touristy activities, but rather at the Chamber of Commerce info center, which offered free Wi-Fi. We caught up on email, updated the blog, and enjoyed visiting and getting to know Katie, the very affable college student in charge of the information desk. We also observed our first clouds in three days, albeit just a few wispy, fast-moving puffs. Back at camp, I had another humbling experience trying to outsmart the very spooky trout that reside in this small, clear, mountain stream - made more difficult by incessant winds, persistent biting flies, and all kinds of hook-snagging brush, etc. But hey, this is the only way to improve my game! I was thrilled however that I identified a caddis hatch, tied on the correct fly, made the perfect cast to a rising fish that I had targeted, managed a perfect drift, and watched the fish slam the fly! Success? Not totally – in my excitement, I struck prematurely and was once more outsmarted by a prey with a pecan-sized brain.

CIMARRON DAY 2

Friday, June 18, 2010 Was able to fish for a little while this afternoon. There is a 1.5 mile stretch that is designated Special Trout Water that is inhabited by wild brown trout. I was enjoying this small stream that meanders through valley and canyon until the experience was ruined by five kids coming downstream. They were swimming, chasing fish, messing with the habitat, kicking up mud, etc. Not only did they ruin the fishing upstream, but because of their actions, the water was muddied all the way downstream. I did manage one fish and several missed strikes on dry flies before this happened. So much for the “Special” designation. Oh well, we will have many more opportunities as we scoot along.