And the Adventure Continues - Day 3

I have to say, and I think Adam will agree with me, that it was nice to stay in a hotel for more than one night. Not that we unpacked our stuff, but it just felt like we were a little more stable for a few more hours. And I will also add that we are both impressed with the Best Westerns we've stayed in so far; neither has been the Ritz, but we have had no complaints. Breakfast here in Montrose includes biscuits and gravy, plus the always popular make-it-yourself Belgian waffle!!!

Day three (Tues.) started off with a trip to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, to do a little bit of hiking and a little bit driving. Our visit to the canyon only included the south rim, as the north rim would have included a rather lengthy drive...and we were already on the south side. From the visitors center, we took the Oak Flat Loop, which is a complete oxymoron, as it was anything but flat. It was a two-mile loop and most of that was up and down. I really got a chance to experience the thin air from that hike! But the views were spectacular and we made friends with a squirrel that was hanging out on a giant rock. From that trail we took the Uplands Trail, and saw a couple of--what I am choosing to call--mountain deer.


After the hike, we drove the South Rim Road and visited the Painted Wall overlook, which is shown below. The pink rock is cooled magma that was pushed up from the mantle when volcanoes used to dot the landscape. One of my favorite things along the top of the mountain was the size of the oak "trees." I was much taller than most of them, but far be it from me to give anyone or anything a complex about size...so I choose to call them "shrubbertrees!"


On our way out of the park, we drove down the East Portal Road, a very twisty and steep road to the bottom of the canyon; a 16% grade! At the end was a dam that we couldn't get to, but it was a fun drive and we got some really neat pictures, including Adam standing on a rock!


After the canyon, we headed down to Ouray; a quaint little mountain village. It has a really neat downtown, a throw back to the when the town was founded...I can't imagine that it has changed much in appearance, except for the comings and goings of businesses. To highlight how quaint this town is, the police station is in the same building as the town library and when we were there it was CLOSED!!


We also visited Box Canon Falls (imagine a tilde above the first "n" and pronouncing it "canyon") and Cascade Falls. Box Canon was interesting because you actually got to walk over the falls on a 109 year old grate walkway! I wish you could see more of the falls, but being at the bottom in the "canyon"/cavern was pretty neat.


I got my Spider-man on at Cascade Falls scaling the wall to investigate, what I though was a cave, but turned out to be only an alcove. It would be neat to see the falls in the spring with the snow melt-off, but we wouldn't have been able to stand, literally, underneath the falls themselves.