Gunnison Lakeside RV Park & Cabins

After five plus years on the road we have finally made a long overdue visit to Colorado.  We previously have only stayed overnight as we passed through the state; this time however we went all in and made a plan to stay for one month at the Gunnison Lakeside RV Park on Rt 50.  The best part was that we had a meet up planned with our good friends Michelle and Jim from Wallops, now living in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.  We moved down from our summer spot in Idaho, while Michelle & Jim traveled over 1,700 miles from North Carolina with their new to them Micro-Lite Travel Trailer.  Michelle & Jim were able to stay at the park for two full weeks, and during that time we explored the area and just had a great old time.

This is an example of one of the trout streams that we visited and fished.  This particular spot is the Taylor River below the Taylor Park Reservoir near Almont, Colorado.

We arrived a few days before Michelle & Jim rolled in.  We were full of anticipation as we waited anxiously on their arrival.  This cool old boat greets the guests as they arrive at the RV Park.

On the day of their scheduled arrival, we went down and sat at the picnic tables by the park office building.  There's Gari waiting in the shade below.

While we were waiting we noticed the Hummingbirds feeding on the flowers in the garden.

Here they come!

The next order of business is to set up camp and get settled in.  Our sites are up near the top of the hill.

There we are on adjacent sites 6 & 7.

While we were in camp, we were able to work on several RV projects, all successfully.  In this shot below Steve was able to assist our neighbor Preston air up his Class A coach tires to 125 psi with our heavy duty air compressor.  As a return favor, Preston shared some local fishing tips and even gave us a few flies from his considerable collection.  Preston pulled out one booklet of flies after another from his fishing vest, looking for the fly varieties that he wanted to set us up with.

It is amazing all the bugs these trout fisherman know.  Our philosophy is, if it looks like a bug, we  think it will fish!

Jim, Michelle, Gari & Steve all worked together fixing an electrical outage on Jim's trailer.  It appeared that a wire broke, so the resolution was to replace it, and that did the trick.  There's always one more thing to repair on an RV.

Later Jim & Michelle performed a little slide-out work, in a very small space, it should be noted!  That's big Jim in that little compartment!

After all that work it is time for a noon time snack.

We enjoyed cooking together and serving many meals together while the visit lasted.  Below Gari & Michelle cook two pounds of BACON!!! for a BLT supper.

BACON!!!  ....see the little piggies?

Michelle roasts fresh Hatch Peppers on the camp stove, while Steve peels the skins.  We used these peppers with our Mexican Fajita night meal.  When Gari was buying the peppers she asked if Medium was OK.  Steve thought that Medium was the size of the peppers and said Yes.  Well it turned out that Medium was the heat of the peppers and they pretty much burned all of us down as soon as we ate them!

We received a grand surprise from Shilo in Sun City West, AZ.  Shilo sent us a super Francis Ford Coppola Wine Basket for our reunion celebration.
Even the RV Park got in on community meals as they threw a pancake breakfast.  Hungry visitors queue up to score a plate of hotcakes.

There's a table full of happy campers; not a single hotcake left!

In addition to all the eating, we formulated plans on how to obtain more food...  Fishing the local waters seemed like a good plan and lots of fun.  We worked together to get all of the fishing tackle rigged and ready.  Working with the tiny flies was a challenge for Jim & Steve's tired eyes.  Michelle finds humor in the dilemma.

We are all laughing now!

No kidding, these flies are tiny!  Just try threading 3 lb test line through that eyelet!
Persistence paid off and we finished the job; all the tackle is ready to go.

We will post more pictures of our fishing expeditions and our exploring and hiking expeditions in subsequent blog posts.  Until then we will leave you with a photo of the Dillon Pinnacles that were a short way down the road from our camp.  We even fished a bit just beneath the Pinnacles in the Blue Mesa Reservoir.

Wildflowers of Wolf Creek, Alpine, Wyoming

This will be the last post from Idaho.  The Wolf Creek trail head was a short ride over the state line into Wyoming.  It was about 25 miles from the RV.  This hike up Wolf Creek, which empties into the Snake River, we observed the greatest variety of wildflowers this season.  On our ride home we made a stop at the Lunch Counter, which is an observation area, overlooking the Snake River, for white water rafters.  It was quite a show.

Gari stops to smell the wildflowers.

Gari pauses to review the trailhead bulletin board before we depart down Wolf Creek Trail.

The entrance to Wolf Creek.

We are no authority on wild flower species, but we sure think they are beautiful.  We appreciate being able to walk through such a beautiful natural garden without so much as lifting a finger to cultivate it.

Just a splash of purple in the left corner among the white blooms.

Narrow pedals on these Daisy looking flowers.

We thought these were Cattails at first glance, but no...  They had a little Saturn ring of yellow around the bud.

Wolf Creek pushes debris downstream.

Red and green moss near and in the water.

Gari makes her way through the tall lush grasses.

Lots of berries up here today.... keeping a lookout for munching bears.

An intricate array of tiny blooms on this white flower.

A bee collects the pollen from the Saturn ring on this bud.

 We like the purple flowers.

This downed tree trunk had a large rock encased in it.

Miniature waterfall on Wolf Creek.

Dark berries... still no bears, yay!

Gari gets a canyon wall shot behind the yellow flowers.

This might be that canyon wall shot.

These looked like wild raspberries, but we were certain that they were not.

Pretty purple thistle bloom.

 A bouquet of variety.

These blooms look like they came from the Tree of Souls in the Avatar movie.

 Thin pedaled Daisy flowers.

This stump looked like a bear to us.

Delicate perfection.

On the way back to the RV we made a stop to watch the white water rafters come down the Snake River. A view upstream on the Snake River looking at the Lunch Counter.  There is a Class III rapid at the Lunch Counter seen below by the large rock on the right side of the river.

 Gari surveys downstream on the Snake River from her rock perch.

Steve stands at the Lunch Counter observation overlook on the Snake River by the Class III rapid below.

One raft after another provides endless entertainment at the Lunch Counter.  This crew experiences a moment of terror passing through the rapid.

This crew looks like they are riding a roller coaster at Coney Island.

The crew expressions are priceless on this raft.

Did we lose the captain?

Knee caps and elbows fly as this raft is launched over the rapid!

This inflatable kayak rider decides to hold onto the kayak and stop paddling...

... not a great idea!