Black Canyon of the Gunnison Area

Curecanti National Recreation Area is

right off Highway 50, named for the Ute chief Curicata. 

We found another great camping area right 

in the center of this photo. This is looking east. 

Here is the view from our front door looking west

 in Elk Creek Campground.

Life is good!

We found it interesting that the Blue Mesa Dam

is an earthen dam, not cement, for this large of 

an area.

We were here many years ago but didn't take the time to go 

to the north rim. A beautiful drive and the last seven miles 

is all gravel. Less than one mile from the Ranger Station

Scott saw a Black Bear only fifty yards from the road!! 

I couldn't get my camera out fast enough to take a picture. 

It was blonde about six feet tall. 

It stopped and looked right at us, then turned around to go back 

up the hill, stopped, looked at us again, and then was gone. 

Wow! What a great opportunity! 

We reported it to the ranger and went on our hike.

Duane & Sue were the winners of Guess Where This Is 

photo from the last blog!

 Black Canyon of the Gunnison 

We hiked to Exclamation Point!

It is a only 1 1/2 miles but we were constantly aware 

of the bear that was less than one mile away.  

This was our view as we ate our lunch. 

Then I looked over my should and said, 

"We need to get out of here!"

We stopped to get our ponchos on and got a little confused 

which trail to take, so we had to backtrack and find the sign again.

Confident we were going the right way, we hurried with

rain, thunder, and lightening overhead.

 That was the fastest 1 1/2 miles we have done in a while! 

At 7,700 ft in elevation, storms like that are scary!

This is Kneeling Camel Lookout. Can you see it on the left?

Another day we hiked to Dillion Pinnacles.

Did you notice the clouds in the last picture? Almost every
afternoon there was rain, then the steam rises and blankets
the mountains. Beautiful!

Here is the next Guess Where This Is photo.

Boondocking in Colorado

When you drive through Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska 

you see lots of corn fields. 

So we decided to try to find something interesting in Kansas,

and the answer to last blog's question:

Monument Rocks or Chalk Pyramids 

in western Kansas. It is south of I-70, near Oakley.

No winner to the trivia question. 

We know that was a hard one 

since most people don't get off of I-70. 

We stopped in Golden, Colorado on Saturday to go to the 

Farmer's Market. Scott's favorite jerky is there and we picked

up veggies and Palisade peaches. Yummy!

Please don't be this guy! 

We are still shaking our heads about this RV, with a car on a dollie.

They parked and slept the night on the on ramp to I-70 just west 

of Denver! They have one of their slides out and the curtains

pulled in the front. Amazingly, there wasn't an accident!

On our way to St. Mary's Glacier, which is west of Denver, 

we found this large, stone pig. 

One of the many roadside attractions you can find 

in the good old USA!

Here is the very rocky trail head.

Just under two miles with a steady incline. Oh boy!

It was worth the climb to see this beautiful mountain lake

and glacier at about 10,500 ft. elevation.

It is a favorite spot for the locals to hang out.

Kids brought saucers to slide down and some people 

hiked over just to get a snowball. 

You may have to zoom in to see the people. 

We spent two nights boondocking at Clear Creek Reservoir 

which is southwest of Denver near Granite. 

Boondocking is camping without any hook-ups. 

Since we have a self contained RV and a generator,

 we don't need anything except a place to park. 

Some of the apps we use to find dispersed camping areas are:

Campendium, FreeRoam and Boondocking. 

The views have been spectacular and you are not crowded. 

The dispersed camping is just over the pine trees in the center. 

This was another great place to stay in the Colorado mountains!

It was too cold to get our tubes in the water, but we enjoyed 

just sitting along the shore on the blanket relaxing.

The ground squirrels sure were entertaining, 

especially watching them check out to see 

if there were any vittles left in the pan. 

He found something!

Do you know where this is or have you been here?

Let us know. 

Answer in the next blog.