Blue Mesa Dam, Powerhouse & Reservoir

Location: Elk Creek Campground (National Forest); near Gunnison, Colorado (elev 7,600 ft)

all pictures taken with Nokia Lumia Icon 929 cell phone

Thru stop # 6

Today was exploring the Blue Mesa Reservoir and the Blue Mesa Dam that created it. The dam blocked the Gunnison River and created the second largest reservoir in the state of Colorado. The dam was built in the early 60's as part of the Colorado River Storage Project. There are many justifications for its construction. It is a Hydroelectric Dam and will generate electricity for the next 100+ years. It also regulates the amount of water the Gunnison River delivers to the Colorado River by regulating the amount of water it releases. This helps the farmers down stream. It also created a very nice looking lake for recreation. All in all,,,, it is money well spent. 

The Visitors Center and cloudy day to start the exploration.

The Gunnison River begins up in the Rockies near the Monarch Pass that I crossed the other day. It begins its flow west by collecting melting snow from nearby streams and underground springs. It meanders through a flood plain for several miles before it drops into a canyon. It is at this canyon entrance where the dam is located. It is an earth fill dam standing 390 feet tall. 

The dam is the beginning of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison which is not only a canyon but a National Park. I will explore the park in the next couple of days. Today was seeing the dam and a few miles downstream from a few overlooks along a state highway running along the north rim of the canyon.

A state highway runs along the top of the dam and this picture is taken from the dam looking upstream at just a small part of the reservoir/lake.

This taken from just downstream of the dam. Looking at the bottom left it appears to be the old diversion piping used to divert the river until the dam could be built. Also notice the two streams of water exiting real fast. That water has just spun the turbines which generates around 90 Mega Watts of electricity. The dirt road on the right is from maintenance worker to service the powerhouse and constantly inspect the dam.

This is from the same vantage point as the previous picture but now looking downstream. If you didn't know better, you could tell there was a dam just upstream.

This is taken at the end of a pathway leading to an outcropping of rock

This picture looked really great when I was taking it. I guess it is one of those things about "I guess you had to be there".

This is another one that looked better taking it than now. 

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.  

  

Over the Continental Divide at Monarch

Location: Elk Creek Campground (National Forest); Gunnison, Colorado (elev 7,600 feet)

all pictures taken with Nokia Lumia Icon 929 Cell Phone

Thru Stop # 6

It was a short tow of only 155 miles but it was over the Continental Divide. We topped out at 11,312 feet. That is an elevation increase of more than 2 miles since I left Louisiana 10 days ago. Freedom handled the up and down of the pass in stride. I checked her transmission temperature on the way up and it only varied a few degrees from her normal temperature. The tow/haul mode did it's job on the downhill side and brakes were barely used. Everything went well. Of course Liberty did her job too by "following the leader". I arrive at the campground, which is a first for me in that it is a National Forest Service Campground. There was no check-in process at all. I made the reservation online and my name was on the post at my campsite. It is good that I remembered my campsite number. 

The campsite is electric only so I had to fill up Liberty's fresh water tanks at the shower before setting up camp. It took all of my water hoses to reach the spigot but got the job done. Just to be safe about not running out of water before my four days are up, I'll fill one of my 2 1/2 gallon water jugs and use it to flush the toilet.

This was taken after some of the storm had passed last night. It isn't real nice, but it is good enough for me to look at in the coming years and it will take me right back here.

Had to pass through some of the foothills but the real mountains are in that direction

This was one of the things I was looking forward to seeing. It is the Arkansas River near it's headwaters. It will flow from here and dump into the Mighty Mississippi before finding it's way to the Gulf of Mexico. Notice the tree in the upper left growing out of the rocks. Life's struggle.

Sometimes the river was calm

There is a hint of the bigger mountains in the distance. Yeah, yeah, I know I'm straddling the white line. No one was behind me.

I really liked this picture. It was a "wow"

Taking a breather at the top of Monarch Pass. The mountains in the background was great.

Once you're on the west side of the Divide, the land opens up into a wide valley with a small stream meandering through it. I think it is the beginning Gunnison River

This gives a little idea of how wide the valley is

Anyone want a house on a hill??

The mountains are framed by the road cut

The campsite for the next four days.
That is the Blue Mesa Reservoir in the background

Elk Creek Campground.
Liberty is down there somewhere

After setting up camp, I went back into Gunnison to find the Walmart. I ordered something and had it delivered there. 

After I "donated" my X-chocks to the Holiday Park Campground, I ordered a new set and had them delivered to the Walmart in Gunnison. Walmart makes like easier for travelers. 

I added the string and bungee clip to the X-chock. Hopefully, the bright string will catch my eye when I do my walk-around before pulling out.

My main reason for coming here is see the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. I may do that tomorrow unless it rains then I'll go get something from the post office and maybe a prescription filled. Any way, whatever I do, it will be in view of some great looking mountains.  

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.

Narrow Mountain Road to Get Your Heart Beating

Location: Haggard's RV Campground; between Pueblo West and Canon City, Colorado. (elevation: 3,275 feet)

all pictures taken with Nokia Lumia Icon 929 cell phone

Thru Stop #5

I've finished culling the pictures from yesterday and today. A storm is blowing in so I thought I would brew, drip, perk, boil K-cup me a cup of coffee to drink while making the post. Wow,,,,, Liberty just took a gust of wind that lifted her off the ground. I haven't felt that kind of gust hit Liberty since the time the wind blew her chocks out from under her. I went outside to see if there was any damage, but didn't see any. A lot of the other campers were out too. Maybe the wind will calm down once the rain starts. 

The storm blowing in. It must have been a micro-burst or something that hit us because it sure made Liberty jump up and down.

The tow from Raton was uneventful and the drive "down" Raton Pass went great,,,, not a problem. The drive run parallel with the foothills of the Rockies on the left (west) and the beginnings of the Great Plains on the right (east). One of the things I was looking for was the series of American flags along the eastern fence line of the interstate highway. I saw them when I passed through here back in September of 2016 and posted about them. They are still there. Some are a little ragged but still flying. They are staggered about every mile or so and usually sit on a piece of high ground. There are a lot of American Flags flying all over the country, but there should be more.

Notice the 48.7 number. That is the miles per gallon I was getting yesterday. Of course that was after coasting down the pass. 

Wide open country. House/ranches are scattered out and separated my miles and miles. 

She is still flying along with several others. The property owner should be congratulated.

Haggard's RV Campground

Today's exploration was to tour the local Royal Gorge and Regional Museum located in the old court house in Canon City (pronounced "canyon city"). As usual, I was the only one there and was given another guided tour. It was OK, but the guide was not nearly of the caliber as the Raton Museum curator. I guess I'm spoiled not. The most interesting thing was a lot of the artifacts was a gift from a wealthy and powerful local man and his family. There was one stipulation, the artifacts must always stay in the county. The guide said, universities, other museums, and even the Smithsonian have asked for some of the more unique items but have been turned down due to the stipulation. The donor was rightfully concerned that his artifacts would be dispersed around the country/world. He wanted them to be an attraction to this area and bring in tourists. Although the museum will never be much larger than it is now due to the lack of funds, there are precious artifacts that are going to waste. The guide said they had boxes and boxes of unknown items that the donor had acquired from around the world. They don't have a clue what they have or how to find out what is within their charge. The museum will not rank too high on my list.

I did find the War Memorial I was looking for near the airport. I've visited many of these small local memorial but this one had a unique item I wanted to see. 

I pulled out of the campground around 9:00 a.m. It looked like a pretty day for exploring. The forecast called for storms but they weren't due until late afternoon.

The memorial has the names of every person from Fremont County who died while in service to the country. It includes every war, conflict, peace time, etc. Notice too, the listings for the Civil War did not include which side the person served. Don't be fooled by this picture with it's few names.

This picture includes the entire wall. I didn't check to see how many names were on it, but there were quite a few. These are just from this county. Every county in the country should have a similar wall.

This is what I heard about and wanted to see for myself. At this distance, the "In God We Trust", doesn't look unusual. But the next picture zooms in on the "T".

It's a little hard to see, even in this zoom shot, but all of the letters were made using pennies. Neat idea, uh? By the way, the quote has had some vandalism done to it which marred some words. The quote is by Guy de Maupassant, a French writer who died at the early age of 43 in 1893. The words are: "You've never lived until you've almost died. For those who have fought for it, life has a flavor the protected shall never know."  

The other thing I came here to do was drive Canon City's Skyline Drive. It is a 2 1/2 mile long, very narrow, one lane road on top of a razorback ridge above the town. It was built by prisoners from the local prison back in 1905. There are places with steep drop offs on either side of the 9 to 10 foot wide road. 

The interesting thing is in 1999, after the road had been in use for almost 100 years, a young college student from the area notice dinosaur footprints alone the wall next to the road. Sure enough, the road was shut down and the prints were excavated. No telling how many people drove right by them and never noticed. I tried to get a picture but couldn't. I don't even want to think about how those footprints got there or how the footprint of a T-rex was found in a local coal mine. I didn't realize there were as many paleontology finds around this area. I don't have time to explore them now, so I guess that means I'll have to return in the future.

The gateway arch at the beginning of Skyline Drive. The arch was built by inmates in 1932 using stones from every state in country, except 3. I gave up trying to find out which 3.

Share the Road!! Yeah, it better be a small something.

That is U.S. 50 down below. A four lane divided highway. 

A panoramic picture from the top.

Freedom did a good job. She was a little nervous but I settled her down.

Wouldn't you know it. I found a bench on top. It was a great viewing bench. 

The road isn't bad when you can hug one side and get away from the drop-off side.

Uh-oh,,,, drop-offs on both side now.

And the road goes on forever and the journey never ends.
(I know, I para-phrased that quote)

That is the prison in the center of the picture. I wonder if the current inmates look up at the road with pride, knowing it was built by inmates from 100+ years ago.

A picture of Haggard's RV Campground to show how it is in the middle of nowhere.

Tomorrow is moving day and I'll arrive at the campground that I first noticed years ago on Google Earth. The tow should be a beautiful drive with the Arkansas River running alongside the highway for quite a while. I'll also pass over the Continental Divide when I cross Monarch Pass. I need to remember to clean Freedom's windshield before leaving tomorrow. 

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.  

Raton Museum (one of the best)

Location: Raton Pass Camp & Cafe; near Raton, New Mexico (elev. 7,850 feet)

all pictures taken with Nokia Lumia Icon 929 cell phone
click pictures to enlarge

Thru Stop # 4
Raton Pass

I visited the Raton Museum today and was blown away by the knowledge of the curator. It is a smallish museum and I showed up about 30 minutes after it opened. Lucky me, I was the only one there. The curator asked me if I wanted to walk around by myself or would I prefer him to show me around. Obviously, I opted for the tour and was not disappointed. I was there for a couple of hours and learned about this area from thousands of years ago until recent times. There is no way I can put everything I learned in this blog post and I realized I only took one picture while there. Most museums frown on taking pictures but it was not problem here, I just forgot to take them because the curator and I were talking about the exhibits. It was great. As usual, he introduced himself, but I don't remember his name. 

A nice town name and flag. It is also the location where the town's name was derived. 

One of the interesting stories was how Raton got it it's name. First it is pronounced, RAT-on. Apparently, a group of Spaniards were exploring the area in the early 1800's or thereabouts and camped for the night in the location where the American flag is flying on that outcropping. After dark, the camp was overrun by field mice. There were so many, the only way to keep them at bay was to build a circle of fire and sleep in the middle. In their official report, they called the location, "the place of mice". In Spanish, the word for "mice" is "raton", so the name stuck and the city that eventually grew up around here was called Raton. I didn't check to see if the high school mascot was Mice, I hope not.  

I also learned about how one group of people can co-opt another's sign/symbol and by doing so make it unusable because of the stigma attached to it. I had heard parts of this story in the past, but enjoyed hearing the curator tell it. Several American Indian tribes in this area used the swastika as a symbol of good luck and future prosperity. It was used by the Indians for several hundred years. One of the unknowns is how they discovered the symbol since it seems to have originated in India and Pakistan centuries ago. How did the symbol arrive in the U.S. to be adopted by some of the tribes of the American Southwest. It's one of those things that make you go,,,,hmmmmm. The American Indians had to quit using the symbol after Hitler adopted it for his evil ways. One thing to notice though is Hitler reversed the symbol, as though it is a mirror image of the ones used by the tribes. Whether that was intentional or accidental, who knows. The tribes and others who had used the symbol for centuries had to quit using it in the 1930's in fear of being labeled Nazi's. We have seen something similar to this in recent decades when some bad groups of people started using the stars and bars of the rebel flag. Many southerners have quit flying it in fear of being thrown in with those evil groups that are mis-using it. 

The one picture I took from inside the museum. I took this to remember the info and see the reverse image. 

This is an old bank building just a block away from the museum. The curator told me to go see it and look at the top row of decorations. It was built before the 1930's or the symbols could never have been placed up there. 

After I left the museum, I drove into a residential area nearer the mountain. An elk was walking through the front yards of the houses. I stopped and watch it for a while. It got a drink in a fountain at one house and grazed in the yard of a house who hadn't mowed in a while. It was nice and weird at the same time.

A friendly/wild Elk.

As I said in the last post, tomorrow is moving day and I'll be moving about 100 miles north. Immediately after leaving the campground, I will enter Colorado and begin the downhill portion of the Raton Pass. Going down these passes with Liberty in tow is harder and more dangerous than climbing them. It will be good practice for when I cross Monarch Pass (11,000 feet) on Sunday. Not to worry, I've crossed many high passes with Liberty and am still around to tell the tale. :) 

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.