We drove further west on Hwy 50 to the Elk Creek Campground in Curecanti National Recreation Area, near Gunnison. We really got into the “great outdoors” spirit of things here, so there’s a lot to talk about. There were a couple of unfortunate reminders for us on this leg of the trip, too — lessons that should not have needed learning:
Make sure all the drawers and cabinets are completely closed and latched before moving! I must have missed pushing our biggest and heaviest drawer all the way in, so it was upside down on the floor when we arrived. As it fell, one of the slides ripped off the side of the drawer and was bent with a twist, so that was a bummer. I couldn’t get it perfectly straightened, but thought it was close enough. I reattached it so that the drawer is now functioning but it’s temperamental. I guess we’ll be replacing it so I don’t have to be reminded of my mistake every time I open it!
Also, DON’T FORGET TO PLUG IN THE 7 PIN CABLE!!! Yikes! We drove all the way from Gunnison to Montrose with no trailer breaks or lights! There were some pretty steep grades too, so we were really fortunate the truck was able to break the entire rig without the help of the trailer breaks. That could have been disastrous. We may have had a few angels helping us out on that one!
I keep thinking we are doing all the steps in our checklist, but one way or another, things still get missed. I don’t feel like we’re in a hurry, but we’re just not being diligent about double checking ourselves. Anyway, we made it to the campground…
Elk Creek Campground was another one without water hookups, but we remembered to fill our fresh water tank at the dump station before we unhitched this time! Yay! While filling up, we chatted with a friendly young couple and got to talking about fishing. They recommended we go to Gene Taylor’s Sporting Goods in town, to let them hook us up with what we needed. It was a great recommendation that we’re glad we took. If you’re ever in Gunnison, stop by — it’s a cool sporting goods store, packed full of lots of goods!
We got mixed advice on whether or not it would be ok to float the river in our tubes, so we decided to give it a shot. We enjoyed it for about 10 minutes, then floated past a fly fisherman who calmly said “I think I’m in trouble.” He was so calm about it, it didn’t really register in my mind, and the river was moving pretty fast so it was hard to stop. But Randy managed to get out and over to the man. I eventually stopped and walked back far enough on some rocks to be able to watch, but not help. Evidently, the man had a bum knee to begin with and standing in the water had made it worse, so he couldn’t move on his own and had been struggling for about an hour. Randy helped him move a bit, but with slippery rocks and a fast current, he needed more help. He was eventually able to wave a fishing boat down that had two guys in it who were able to stop and help. They got the man to shore, then Randy got back in his tube and floated down to me.
Then another guy came past us in a boat and warned us about fallen trees ahead that wouldn’t be safe to go past in tubes. He suggested we get out and not chance going further. At that point, the sky was getting darker and it looked like the afternoon thunderstorm was rolling in. We were probably less than a mile from the put in still, so we played it safe and got out. By the time we walked back to the put in, it was thundering and sprinkling; but unfortunately the truck was parked a few miles down river where we were planning to get out. Randy had to ride his bike in the rain to get the truck while I waited with the tubes. Thankfully, I had put my rain jacket in the dry bag in case I got too cold, so I put it on and just sat and waited in the rain and lightening for about 20-30 minutes until he was able to drive back to pick me up. Well, things didn’t go exactly as planned, but it involved hiking, biking and tubing all in the same day, so quite the adventure none the less!!
We were so impressed and entertained by the ranger talk at the campground’s little amphitheater that we went back each night to listen. One guy was super funny, enthusiastic and engaging. He gave a great summary of the history of the National Park system which was extremely interesting. On the other two nights, we learned about mountain lions and bats.
We (and by “we”, I mean “Randy”) went fishing on the Blue Mesa Reservoir, just down the road from our campground. It was a really pretty area, with a small beach. We only bought a license for Randy to start with, since we just have the one pole so far. The weather was awesome, so we hung around for 2-3 hours, but Randy only got one bite. While Randy fished, I sat on the beach in my hammock chair, eating breakfast and reading.
I also walked down the beach a ways and met a fisherman named Larry. He was super friendly and gave me some advice on lures, bait and locations. When Randy and I walked back past him later, we talked some more and he showed Randy how to tie a swivel onto the line, since Randy had mentioned one of his lures flew off when he cast it. Oops! Hopefully what we learned will help Randy catch something next time. As he said, all that time trying to catch something will only seem worth it if he eventually catches something! I’m rooting for him!!
We also hiked the Dillon Pinnacles trail — a four mile hike (2 in and 2 back) with spectacular geological views. It was just a short drive to the trailhead and the weather was great! High 70s and sunny. It was a rocky/dirt/gravel single lane trail, which I like. There was a steady climb most of the way to the end of the trail, but it was worth it since the views did not disappoint. Facing one way was the Blue Mesa reservoir and the other was the huge pinnacle rock formations. Super pretty. We ate a picnic lunch at the turnaround point then headed back down. Much easier! We both felt good about our first real hike of the summer – enough of an effort to be tired but not exhausted, and hopefully not sore tomorrow.
After the hike, we drove back into Gunnison to check email and make sure we had the info we need for getting to the next campground (cause we learned THAT lesson already!) We found a place called Jermaine’s that had free WiFi AND smoothies, so we hung out there for an hour or two, enjoying our smoothies and catching up on techie stuff. Then, on our way out of town, we stopped at a cute little local market called Wilder’s Organic Market and picked up a few groceries. We’re trying to avoid chains as much as possible and patronize the small local businesses instead. Gunnison had some good ones!
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