Southern Colorado
July 26th - July 29th

 

Wednesday, July 25th
Monument Valley - Four Corners - Durango

From Monument Valley we went to Four Corners. What a disappointment. We paid $3 to see a piece of concrete that displayed a cross section of the four states (Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico). I had some Indian fry bread and we went on our way.

From there we went via Highway 666 (any Natural Born Killer fans out there?). We stopped by a sign and James re-enacted Robert Downey Jr.'s Highway 666 scene from the movie. (It should be up on the site soon.)

Next stop was supposed to be Mesa Verde but I needed 4-walls and a bed so we decided to head straight to Durango. Durango is a small town in the south of Colorado. It's a very outdoorsy town and has an old cowboy feel to it. It is also pretty famous for the Durango-Silverton railroad that travels through the mountains and is supposed to be gorgeous. As we drove into town, we were greeted by the biggest bull I've ever seen. It was on a trailer parked on the side of the road and was there to advertise the weekly rodeo!

We checked into the hostel and I went for a walk around town. Main Street was very cute with lots of outdoor stores, restaurants and galleries. I bought some postcards and had dinner in a lovely Mexican restaurant.

I came back to the hostel and James was cooking dinner in the common room. We chatted to a couple of the long-term guests. There was an interesting girl from Slovakia who was working at Burger King and the Railroad gift shop. She had just come over for the summer. There were also a couple of American guys who seemed to have dropped out here. They spend most of their time hanging out, hiking, mountain biking or skiing/snowboarding and worked only to fund these activities. As we traveled further north, we noticed that this was a common theme and something that seemed very appealing to me.


Thursday, July 26th
Durango - Mesa Verde

That morning, I had to wait forever to get into the bathroom (there was only one in the ladies dorm) but I managed to fuss about for a while. Once we had packed up, we went to buy James a hiking backpack. Then we head back to Mesa Verde.

Mesa Verde had had a huge fire in the summer of 2000. Over 21,000 acres were burnt, so when we got there, the camp host gave us a long speech about how we should handle our fire and explained all the rules and regulations in detail. He also warned us about a big group of firemen who shower everyday at 5pm. (He was a little strange and seemed way too excited about it!)

That afternoon, we head down to one of the cliff dwellings. Mesa Verde isn't a beautiful landscape so much as a preserve of American Indian cliff dwellings from about 800 years ago. We went to the Spruce Tree dwelling and walked the self-guided tour of the little village. It was a community of rooms that had been built into the face of a cliff. Apparently hundreds of people lived there. Also like many of the other Indians, they suddenly abandoned the area too.


Friday, July 27th
Mesa Verde - Silverton - Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument

In the morning we took a guided tour of the Cliff Palace, the largest of the dwellings in the area. Very interesting tour, the ranger had taught on an Indian Reservation for years and subsequently knew quite a lot about their culture. We were able to look into the rooms, see the Kiva (enclosed worship areas) and learn how the walls were built.

It was amazing to think that the Anasazi Indians had built these structures so long ago and with no machinery at all. They had to trek the wood in from miles away and they had to carry all the water needed to make the walls. A lot of hard work went in to them. A contrast to that was how unfit most of the people were on the tour. It was about half a mile with a little descent. Then you had to climb three small ladders to get back up. There were people huffing and puffing all around us. Some were saying that they would be sore for weeks. It was quite frightening!

Anyway, it was still cool to see historic ruins and imagine the way that the Indians lived back then.

After the park we went back through Durango and on to the San Juan scenic byway. We drove through the San Juan Mountains and had finally hit the Rockies. It was gorgeous. We went through the small mountain towns of Silverton and Ouray. They were totally surrounded by mountains and the only way in and out were through these treacherous mountain passes. In Silverton I did a little window-shopping and had some lunch. James was fasting so he didn't join me. Then we went on to Ouray. I had wanted to stay in Ouray for the night but the only campsite looked quite crappy so we went on to Black Canyon.

We found a campsite in Black Canyon, setup camp and went to see the canyon. It was quite crazy; the canyon was over 2000 feet deep and had a small but furious river below. We checked out some lookout points and finally rested at Sunset Point to see nothing other than the sunset. It was a gorgeous sunset as usual.


Saturday, July 28th
Black Canyon - Gunnison - Crested Butte

From Black Canyon, we drove to Gunnison. Had some breakfast and checked our email. We tried to go to a hostel west of Gunnison but it was booked full with a medical conference so we went on to Crested Butte. Crested Butte is a little ski town surrounded by amazing mountains. In the summer, it is outdoor central with a lot of hiking, mountain biking and water sports. Then again, I guess most of Colorado is like that.

We booked into the hostel, did laundry and took a shower. I then took a walk to the main street and bought a new pair of shoes, slip-on sneakers. After that, I went to a bar that was outdoors and had a live band playing. There was a girl sitting on her own writing a letter so I asked her if I could join her. I got a Corona, wrote some postcards and basked in the sun enjoying the music. It was great. Eventually we struck up a conversation. She was a guide for camping trips. Her and another guide take a dozen or so teenagers camping in major parks for a month and get paid. Sounds like a great way to spend a summer.

We met some locals who had been there for about 10 years and had obviously taken too much acid in their days, but were interesting all the same. After the sun went down, we went back to the hostel to change (it got a little chilly). We met up with Jill again, got some gyros and went to a bar where the band was playing again that night. The bar was OK, I suddenly felt tired and didn't last long. But it was your typical small vacation town scene and the band was really good.


Sunday, July 29th
Crested Butte - Kebler Pass - Glennwood Springs

On our way out of town, we stopped at the cutest little bagel shop right off Main Street. We waited a while for the food but it was well worth it. It was a really cute little town. There was a little brook running through town and everything was so bright. Hmm…maybe a ski season?

Just next to the ski resort we took a 2 mile hike through the most divine mountaneous setting. On the way there we drove right through a herd of cattle, complemented by some cattle herders on horses and dogs running around helping move the cattle. It was a little scary at first, being surrounded by bug cows but then the 'cowgirl' told us not to worry and just drive right through.

The wild flowers were in full bloom and the terrain gorgeous. We saw a lot of mountain bikers on the trail and it looked so much fun. James and I actually started at opposite ends because the trail started and ended at different points. I dropped him off, drove around to the other side and when we met on the trail, I handed the keys to him so he could pick me up the other side.

From there we drove through Kebler Pass which was about 50 miles on dirt roads. It took a little longer than we expected but it certainly had beautiful scenery. From there we drove to Glennwood Springs a little west of Aspen and Vail.

The review in my hostel book made the place sound great but when we got there it was a little sticky. The people were friendly but the rules pretty strict. Nevertheless, we settled in, got some food and cooked dinner. After dinner, I was in the back room doing this journal and the owner joined me for a chat. It turned out he was looking for a new manager for the hostel. Hmm… I'd be totally interested because it is so close to ski country but the place was too clinical for me. They were very adverse to anyone drinking and they seemehd overly concerned in controlling the type of people that stayed there.

The job would have paid $40/day and included a room. You have to work from 8am - 10am, the hostel closes at that time and then you have to clean. You can leave once you've cleaned and then have to be back by 4pm to work till 11pm when the hostel closes again. Could be cool if the place was more chilled out.