Upper Black Canyon

We had read about Black Canyon before we arrived in the Gunnison area and knew this was one of the premier areas that we would want to visit.  We made exactly three visits to the Upper area of the Black Canyon.  We had heard that there was a 1.5 hour boat tour through the canyon and thought that would be an interesting sightseeing adventure.  Since there is virtually no cell service at our campground area, we figured out things the old fashioned way and drove to the place to find out about the boat tours.  That was our first visit to the Upper Black Canyon.  The second visit was for the actual boat tour, and the last visit was on a fishing expedition along the upper reaches of the Morrow Point Reservoir.

That's the Gunnison Crew on the 1.5 hour boat tour of the Upper Black Canyon on the Point Morrow Reservoir.  LtoR: Michelle, Jim, Gari, Steve

This area of the Gunnison National Forest is designated the Curecanti National Recreational Area.  Curecanti is named after a Ute Indian Sub-Chief Curicata who roamed and hunted this Colorado territory.  There are three reservoirs that make up the Curecanti Unit - Blue Mesa, Morrow Point and the Crystal Reservoirs.  The Colorado River Storage Project is the most complex and extensive river water storage project on earth.  It collects drainage from Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona, about half of the continental area of the United States.  Storage units of this project include Glen Canyon, Flaming Gorge, Navajo, and these three Curecanti Dams.  These units regulate the erratic flow of the Colorado River so water needs for irrigation, municipal, industrial, hydroelectric, recreation and wildlife purposes are met in the upper and lower basin states.  We marked the boat tour and our RV park on the map below.  The Lower Black Canyon area is farther to the west or left on the map and deserves it's own separate blog post to come at a later time.

We arrived at the Morrow Point Boat Tour location to be met by unattended public restrooms and a sign indicating that Boat Tours are offered everyday except Tuesday.  You know what day this is, Tuesday!  The sign also indicated reservations are needed for the Boat Tour and provided a phone number.  Remember there is no cell service here because of the remote mountain location!  But it also said we could stop at the Elk Creek Visitors Center to make reservations.  Perfect, that is close to where we came from at camp.  Michelle and Jim review the sign below with exasperation.

Not deterred we head down into the canyon and the 0.9 mile hike to the boat.  Sure were happy now, we are at the top of the canyon and the hike is just starting!  We are facing hundreds of stairs descending about 300 feet into the canyon bottom below.

Jim and Michelle stop for a hero shot at the top stairs.

We can see the last platform just above the river in the shot below.

We made it to the bottom, that was the easy part!

Jim enjoys the magnificent boulders and scenery along the canyon bottom,

Really beautiful down here...

Jim and Michelle spot an old abandoned Feldspar mine high up on the canyon wall.

There is the mine below; a wide angle and close in view all in one.

We can see the tour boat!  Steve and Michelle lead the way.

There it is and there we are!  OK we have learned a lot so far.  We know Tuesdays are deserted, not a good day for a boat tour, but perhaps a perfect day to come back to fish this beautiful stretch of river.  Actually this is water of the Gunnison River below the Blue Mesa Dam, but it is also above the Morrow Point Dam and therefore is actually the Morrow Point Reservoir. The water does flow like a river just below the Blue Mesa Dam, but as we hiked toward the boat, the current slowed and the waters became more reservoir like.

OK it's time to head back and get to the Visitors Center to make reservations.

No problem, there is beautiful scenery along the way, at the canyon bottom...

 ... and high along the canyon walls.

Michelle pauses for one last long look before we depart the canyon.

Jim and Steve find a huge river boulder for a memory hero shot.

 

 We have reached the dreaded stairs; the 7,500 ft elevation doesn't make the climb any easier.

More stairs! Dig deep!

We made it!  Exhausted, but back on top!

Promised a scenic overlook on the other side of the canyon, we decided to drive over the dam for a look see.   The hydroelectric plant at this Blue Mesa Dam generates 98 Mega-Watts!  This plant operates two turbines, capable together of supplying electricity to over 150,000 homes and is remote controlled by the Glen Canyon Dam in Page, Arizona.

A view from the top of the earthen dam looking upstream over the 940,800 acre foot Blue Mesa Reservoir, which boasts 96 miles of shoreline.

Looking downstream below the Blue Mesa Dam, we can see the hydroelectric plant and the transmission lines and towers ascending the canyon.

At the scenic overlook we look downstream toward Pioneer Point and Black Mesa.

A steep view down into and across the canyon, we can see the parking lot (near top left of frame) where we parked to descend into the canyon and even some of the stairs can be seen at the bottom center of frame.

A view from the scenic overlook to the north of Soap Mesa.

A parting shot of the Blue Mesa Dam as we head toward the Curecanti Visitor Center.

Next stop the 1.5 hour boat tour through part of the Upper Black Canyon.

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.