Letter 3, LaVita to Gunnison,

Letter 3, LaVita to Gunnison

Wednesday, Aug 6 we left from the campground to follow the Cordova Pass road. It turned out to be a circle drive. It was a beautiful cloudless sky which made our pictures outstanding. Our first stop was at the end of a

beautiful tall grass pasture near the beginning of the road to the pass. The town of Cuchara is in the valley below with a huge dike behind. 

From this stop we traveled on a gravel road through thick forests for several miles.

Fred gazed at West Spanish peak, elevation 13,626 feet. When we crested the pass (elev. 11,248’) we walked a short distance to view West peak. The temperature was in the low 50s with gusty winds.

The Ute Indians say through the Spanish Peaks mankind first emerged from the earth. The Pueblo referred to the peaks as “Wahatoya,” meaning “breasts of the world.” Through the centuries these two peaks have served as guideposts for all those crossing into the southern mountains.

For over 40 years Jose De Jesus Cordova operated a ranch near Aguilar, serving his community well, he worked three terms as a Las Animas County Commissioner. He dreamed of a road from Aguilar to Cuchara Pass and finally secured funding for the road project in 1928. The road was completed in 1934 by the Works Progress Admin/Civilian Conservation Corps. The pass and road were renamed to honor Cordova in 1978.

As you can see this

road wiggles all over and around the Spanish Peaks.

These peaks have a unique geology with great dikes—long stone walls—that radiate outward from the mountains like spokes of a wheel.

As the road continued east, the terrain becomes more rugged with deep canyons cut in the layers of sandstone.

One of these dikes shown through the

trees later surrounds the road as the

Apishapa Arch. The CCC tunneled through to build a rock masonry arch. We followed Apishapa River out to the plains. This valley was first inhabited by ancient Indian tribes named the river Apishipa for “stinking water,” named for the river that sometimes stands stagnant.

A prominent dike forms a broad arc northeast of East Spanish Peak. As the molten rock rose and then flowed, it forced its way into vertical cracks and joints in the sedimentary strata; eons later, the less resistant material was then eroded away leaving towering walls of hard rock from one foot to 100 feet wide, up to 100 feet high and as long as 14 miles.

A similar one is shown behind this

beautiful Twin Peaks Ranch. It continues to the right quite a ways too. How far can you follow it toward the West Spanish peak?

At the end of the Cordova Pass we followed the Apishapa River through irrigated farms into the desert of east Colorado. 

We bet you didn’t know about the following event.

We turned south on I-25 to the community of Ludlow where 101 years ago the coal miners of Las Animas and Huerfano counties struck over unsafe working conditions, long hours and low pay. The mine owners immediately evicted the worker and their families from their company housing. They didn’t even allow them to retrieve personal belongings. The miners then retreated to an area near Ludlow, Colorado where the United Mine Workers set up a tent city. Then 100 years ago this year, there was a tragic event during the strike.

On April 20, 1914, the miners were confronted with an armed state militia called in by Colorado’s governor. Many of  the militia were company employees. The militia had a Gatling gun mounted on the back of a truck and lesser arms. No one knows the exact provocation, but a shot was fired and each side began to fire on the other. Only the day before there had been a baseball game between the miners and the company guards. In the aftermath from the mining camp, four men, two woman and eleven children were killed in what is now known as the

Ludlow Massacre. In all 30 people lost their lives that day. What a tragedy, for later the strike was settled and the union receive many of their concessions.

Speaking of Huerfano (our current county in Colorado), do you know what it means and how the name came about? Well, we’ll tell you! Years ago, during European explorers first treks into the “new world”, a Spanish group was traveling east of what is now IH25 and spotted a lone mountain spire on the horizon to the west. Excuse our Spanish, but they named it Huerfano or orphan. Later the name was used for the county. Fred accused the locals of living in a county of orphans. They just laughed! We can’t remember seeing one orphanage as we traveled the county.

For the last two Thursdays Olivia attended the First UMC Women’s Bible study. This group

of ladies welcomed her in and shared with her. Not only in their worship but in fun. The instructor was excellent as they studied Corinthians. Olivia will miss them.

This week was the Huerfano County fair and Thursday was the 4H day. We watched the

sheep and goat contests. We will miss the rest of the show as we planned to move on Friday.

We have made very good friends here this week and the six of us went to Cuchara (12 miles from our camp ground) to eat at the Dog Bar Restaurant. On the way back we saw

15 bucks resting in the tall grass pasture.

Saturday, August 9 after moving on Friday to South Fork, we explored the

drive to Creede. This road followed the

Rio Grande and high bluffs most of the way.

Creede sets at the exit of a

narrow canyon. In tthe canyon, there is a museum opposite an ice skating rink, now melted. 

Protecting all were the

huge rocks.

Creede Fire Department, where they kept the fire trucks in a cave.

On the ground were

huge rocks drilled for planting explosive charges.

As we wound up the narrow gorge we started seeing evidence of the mines. Tall spires

 

protected them.

Most of the mine entrances were near the top of the canyon walls. One featured a 

 

zigzag path reinforced with rocks.

Another had

scaffolding and log foundations.

The rough and steep road led us past the mines where we turned around and headed back to town. Had we followed the entire circular route, we would have completed the 20 mile Bachelor Historic drive.

We met Barbara & Jerry Johnson at LaVeta and they moved on to Mt View park south of Creede. We stopped by to visit and see the park. It is quite fancy for an RV park, but might be worth keeping in mind for the future.

Sunday August 10 we moved to the Gunnison area and Elk Creek Campground. It is part of the Curecanti National Recreation Area, which encompasses the Blue Mesa Reservoir. 

It is a long narrow lake running east/west. Because of the orientation of the lake and the prevailing winds, there are very few white caps.

One of our nights here

Fred cooked out for the first time of our trip.

One day we drove to the visitor’s center overlooking the campground and Blue Mesa Lake. 

Our trailer is

the third one from the left. As you can see there are very few trees surrounding this lake.

Upon recommendation of Bobby & Denise from LaVeta, we found the

Anejo Bistro for Mexican food and we recommend it also. It is almost next door to the Elks club.

Our first few days in this area found both of us ailing. Olivia with altitude problems, at least that’s the only thing the doctors could decide. They ran every test possible. Fred’s shoulder and hip started hurting in South Fork, but wouldn’t give in to go to doctor until Gunnison. X-rays showed no fractures, so that relieved us of our concern for brittle bones from his osteoporosis. The doctor recommended use of pain pills.

We also worked to make the bed more comfortable. Fred likes a hard mattress so we made some adjustments

Several nights we were witnesses to

beautiful sunsets over the lake.

Saturday, August 16 we visited the farmer’s market in Gunnison where Fred availed himself of a

masseuse to work on his shoulder while Olivia found some beautiful copper earrings.

Then we headed north on the Ohio creek road to see the

 

Castle Rocks. They were visible for a long time, even into the

aspens further up the pass. Finally, late in the day we returned to our camp on the lake.

Over the weekend a group from

Grand Junction moved in next to us and we found them very friendly and sharing.

 Sunday, August 17 we did not attend church as there is no Methodist church in this area. We decided to venture south to toward Lake City on a day trip. Half way there we started following the 

Lake Fork of the Gunnison River. It was a beautiful drive weaving across the river. Sometimes looking down on it, sometimes right beside it.

Lake Fork river transports water from the high tundra of the San Juan Mountains to the Gunnison and Colorado Rivers, then onto the Gulf of California.

The peaks surrounding Lake City are remnants of an ancient  super volcano. The hard sides remain while the softer material eroded, forming Lake Fork Canyon. The city has over 200 buildings on the historic register.

On the south side of Lake City we immediately started up, up and up Slumgullion Pass. About 850 years ago, thousands of tons of water-saturated, earthen material broke away from Mesa Seco and slid nearly four miles into the valley below. See the light colored earth in the picture below. The

Slumgullion Earthflow dammed the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River forming

Lake San Cristobal-the second largest natural lake in Colorado.

About 350 years ago, another portion of Mesa Seco began to slowly ooze down the hillside. Riding above the older slide, this flow covered about 2.5 miles of the older flow. Geologist estimate that it is still moving downhill approximately twenty feet per year.

Near the top of Slumgullion pass we stood at an elevation of 11,000’ above sea level. The distant mountain peeks, fifteen miles away are within the Uncompahgre Wilderness and are part of the San Juan Mountains.

To the south of this ridge was the famous

Red Mountain that overlooks the Million Dollar Highway between Silverton and Ouray.

To the right was

Uncompahgre Peak, carved by glaciers and shaped by the relentless power of erosion.

After crossing Slumgullion came Spring Creek Pass which offers access to the Colorado and Continental Divides where water runs to the Pacific or Atlantic Oceans. It wasn’t far to

North Clear Creek Falls tucked below the highway in an open grassy park. The clouds decided to open and shower us from above as well as seeing the water falling below.

It wasn’t far until we were following the headwaters of the Rio Grand River. Twenty-six years ago we camped here with Olivia’s parents.

We had been told by several people to be sure and eat at

Fremon’s for hamburgers and ice cream. Of course this was the ultimate destination for this day trip. We also enjoyed the

wallpaper in the restroom. We met and visited with a couple camped at Creede, just a few miles down stream and they knew Jerry & Barbara Johnson whom we camped with at LaVeta.

We were late arriving back at the trailer just as the sun set.

Monday, August 18, we were sad to say goodbye to

Brent & Cheryl from Grand Junction. They were a fun couple to be with.

Thanks for reading this latest version of our travels for 2014. We hope to hear from you. so email us at

olivia@bobheck.com or fredharrington@yahoo.com

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