On the way to Chapman campground

After many miles driven, we have witnessed many signs that alert the driver to potential obstacles on the road: Deer Crossing Elk Crossing Bighorn Sheep Crossing Watch for Falling Rock Share the road with joggers, cyclists Fox Crossing Fox Crossing? Our first ever that we can recall. On a wide spot in the road to the campground there are postings at either end warning to slow down for fox crossing. We are not sure if that is really the case, or is a desperate measure by the residents along the road to slow down the traffic as it passes by their otherwise peaceful cabins.

It was meant to be..........

July 17, 2010 - ??? One of our original destinations was the area around Aspen, Basalt, Carbondale to take in the scenery and to fish the Fryingpan and Roaring Fork Rivers - two very well-known streams for fly-fishermen. It just so happened that we ended up here earlier than planned, but are we glad we did. We found a nice site in Chapman Campground, about 30 miles from Basalt, along the Fryingpan River. It sits among pine,fir,spruce,aspen, and a real favorite of ours, a boulder garden. Won't go into all the details of our days other than to say we pretty much do a little hiking, a little fishing, a little auto touring the Forest Service Roads, and probably too much relaxing. The Fryingpan flows into Ruedi Reservoir, and then is discharged thru the dam and runs down to Basalt, where it converges with the Roaring Fork. Near Glenwood Springs, the Roaring Fork runs into the Colorado River. Rather than a daily posting, will break some of the following segments into separate activities:

To Salida?

July 16, 2010 We left Gunnison today headed for Salida. Big mistake trying to find a camping spot on a Friday! We crossed the Continental Divide twice, traversed portions of at least four National Forests, drove over 300 miles, and could not find a vacant campsite. Well, there were a few available, but they were the ones without a single shade tree - tent camping in 100 degree heat is not for wimps like us. The plan was to camp near Salida and fish the Arkansas headwaters. Ended up staying in the Glenwood Springs Motor Inn, many miles away. After 10 hours on the road we were content to find a place to shower, sleep, and eat, and head out the next day to find a camping spot.

Obligatory, Gratuitous Wildflower pics

We are doing this blog at the request for friends and family, but we are also using it as a personal journal to document our trip. Since I sometimes need a roadmap to get home, this will serve as a memory jogger in the future. Since we are also captivated by the diversity of wildflowers out here, we will continue to record pics of them. If the narrative, subject matter, or anything else becomes boring, please fast-forward to a topic that might be more interesting to you.

Back to Gunnison to recharge

July 15, 2010 After 5 days in this campground, it is time to go into town to shower, do laundry, wash the truck, charge the batteries of all the technological toys, charge our batteries, and chart our next destination – not to mention, updating the blog. We decided to re-visit the Island Acres motel to get all this done. The folks here are super nice and we just appreciate the feel of this 50s era rest stop. While waiting on clothes to finish at the Laundromat, we took the opportunity to visit a little coffee shack and treat ourselves to a fresh huckleberry smoothie – well worth the $5 price tag! We did get a couple of photos on the road into town.

Tin Cup, Colorado

July 14, 2010 The East and Taylor rivers converge in the tiny town of Almont, Colorado to form the Gunnison River. Since I had fished two of the three, I wanted to get some angling time in the East River. After about 45 minutes of swatting at a mosquito air force, and watching a storm roll in, I wrapped it up after catching just one small fish. I did manage some more time on the Taylor, and hooked a few nice fish only to lose them. I’ve got the cast, the drift, the right fly, and now I’ve got to improve the hook-set. We did take the afternoon to make a trip up to Tin Cup, Colorado. Tin Cup was a gold and silver mining town in the mid-1800’s and had a reputation as one of the wildest towns in Colorado. For a time it was actually run by a gambling mob that hired lawmen to give the appearance of a law-abiding town, only to later fleece the belongings from those who stayed. After the mining operations dried up, Tin Cup was considered a ghost town, after once having a population of 6,000, and the home of 20 saloons. Today, all of the old cabins have been restored to their original condition and are inhabited full-time by some, and part-time by many. There is actually a small store and café that remain open. To us, the most fascinating place to visit is the cemetery, which sits in a beautiful meadow nestled among the mountains. Spread out around the small stream/beaver ponds are various burial knolls: Jewish, Protestant, Catholic, and Boot Hill. In addition, back in the woods, and not in a knoll, is one solitary grave marker of a black woman cook. The Protestant knoll is by far the largest and the graves are scattered seemingly randomly through the pine trees. Markers range from the very old to some very recent. Most are identified by outlines of native stones, some with faded wooden markers, and some fenced with logs or ornamental metal. We’re not for sure the significance of Boot Hill, which is mostly associated with the final resting place of gunslingers and/or paupers – which did not seem to apply to those markers we viewed. We could spend considerably more time in this area as there are so many more features and places to explore – hopefully we will be back and stay longer. For the meantime, we have booked one more night before heading back to town.

July 13, 2010 Well, the folks with the high-decibel generator cranked ‘er up at 7:00 a.m., followed by idling of the loudest diesel pick-up I have ever heard, tossing of left-over firewood into the back of the truck and all other kinds of banging and clanging and loud conversation. Much to our delight, they pulled the huge RV out and headed to another place and as they pulled away we couldn’t help but notice the auto tags were from Texas – ‘nuff said. Actually that’s not quite fair – we have met many nice folks from Texas on our trip. Very chilly this morning – I woke up early but didn’t get much done for awhile other than put a pot of coffee on. After it warmed up we headed up to the prime fishing water where I was able to fish for a couple of hours while Charlcie headed for the top of the mountain to get a cell signal and catch up on a few things. Although I didn’t catch any of the huge trout that populate this river, I was able to catch a handful of brilliantly colored rainbows in the 6”-12” range. When fishing got slow, I decided to take a snapshot of the trout that were underfoot. A little experimentation with my Olympus waterproof camera. The water is so clear and the fish so close, that I actually took this snapshot by just holding the camera under water and snapping on auto setting. After reading my operations manual for this camera, I discovered, duh, that I can actually take photos or movies underwater with several available settings. For the future – perhaps with enhanced quality. After lunch, we were able to grab some hammock time. A little breeze gently sways the hammock and rustles the pines which produce a nice soothing sound and the aroma that signals you are truly in the great outdoors and a relaxing nap is the end result. We did make an attempt at post-nap fishing, but was ill-fated due to one of those typical afternoon storms that pop up out here. It continued to rain, so we had to alter our plans. I now know why Charlcie was not too keen on my suggestion to procure a dining tarp to put over the picnic table at our campsites. She had been hinting all day about wanting to drive over the mountain to eat at a restaurant – and guess what? Not wanting to prepare dinner in the rain, we ended up dining at The Nugget in Taylor Park.