Mesa Verde 3rd day and road to the Black Canyon

July 14th – Monday (Morning hot, afternoon cool, 90’s to 70’s, Rainy then Dry)

The next stop for the Bailey’s is Black Canyon National Park. Looking at the GPS, this is a long drive and we got a late start leaving Mesa Verde. The drive this morning is to Wetheril Mesa. We left early in order to catch the ranger guided tour of the Long house pueblo community. The road is restricted to 25 foot motorhomes. We are a little bit bigger so I did not forsee a problem. It is another cliff community, only on this tour you can walk behind the rooms, mainly so we could see what is called a “seep”. This is the sole source of water that allowed these communities to exist. During rain storms, the rain would flow thorough the and stone into the cliff community. The Pueblos would dig out little troughs to catch the water. We also got to go down inside an actual kiva with a roof. We climbed down the ladder and sat in the kiva as the pueblos did in 1200’s. There are also storage areas used for food, and other necessities as well as a place for human refuse. Mainly the bathroom facility and garbage can was to do it or throw it over the cliff. Even the dead were slide down the cliffs and buried; remains have been found. Once back from the tour, we decided to see the older Pueblo communities.

We then visited the Kodiak and Badger communities. These communities are older from 550AD. It was fascinating to see the transformation from below ground dwellings to pit houses to cliff houses. The guides told us the move to the cliffs was mainly due to weather exposure. The ruins of Kodiak and Badger communities were representative of that time. Notice the Kivas looked very similar for over 1700 years.

We left Mesa Verde and traveled northeast on route 550 to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Not having a map, we had no idea why the GPS said it would take several hours to complete about 60 miles of road. Well we shortly found out why. I took a photo of the topo map for this area.

We started traveling on 550 towards Black Canyon National Park. It was a national monument until Bill Clinton in 1999 made it a national park. Most of the local residents are not real happy because it brought more tourism. As we took route 550 we began to climb up and up and up…6788 feet to be exact. This is called the Colorado Trail. It is one of the most spectacular drives in all of the US in my opinion. We drove on canyon ridges so close to the edge that Therese felt like we’d go over the edge. She literally looked out the window at cliffs that were a 1000 feet down to the bottom. At points in the road, the white line marking the edge of the road and the shoulder disappeared.

I asked later why there were no rails. I was told it is due to snow removal. The snow has to be pushed over the ledge. Most of these roads are not plowed between 9pm and 5am. At the peak of the road we stopped at Molas Pass which is 10,788 feet above sea level. Mesa Verde was at about 4000 feet. When we stopped, it was actually cold and rainy. We decided to eat dinner there. As we ate, the sun came out and the sky cleared. This is the first time we saw snow since last winter. The San Juan Forest gave us the first real Adirondack like surrounding since leaving Syracuse. Lots of Aspen trees, pine trees and green forests. Lakes as well. It was serene.
We left and began a big decent into Silverton an old mining community tucked away in a valley.
It looked like a place I’d retire to. Although they do get 190 – 250 inches of snow in the winter. Most folks leave for the winter. It is a ski and snowmobile area however. We stopped to see if it would be a good stopping place in the future and found a 3 day alpine loop you can do with a 4x4 jeep. Another day. We decided to continue to Ouray , another mining community that had hot springs. We thought that would feel great at night. We ascended then descended and negotiated hairpin turns for 30+ miles into Ouray. We found a RV Park, and claimed an open spot. RV etiquette says that if no one is present at the office and you find an open spot, take it and square up in the morning. We went to the hot springs which are outdoor pools of hot water that come from rain seeping deep into the earth and it springing up from the earth’s heat at different places in the country. Ouray happened to be one of those places. In the morning I went to the office. The man is selling his RV campground. He is done, I joked with him, so how much do you want. He told me he won’t sell it as an RV park but to a condo builder. He had been collecting John Deere memorabilia for a long time.