Road Trip, Road Trip!

[SamIam]

I am taking a for reals road trip at long last. I'm leaving tomorrow and returning ? My first stop will be Durango where I'm dropping off a job app (why i'm bothering, I don't know). Then I'll head out on highway 550 over Red Moutain Pass - this route is known as the Million Dollar Highway for both its spectacular beauty and all the old mines for precious metals that can be found in the area - sometimes quite close to the road.

I haven't driven over Red Mountain in years and can't wait to see it again. The only draw back will be the tourists, but I'm pretty good at frightening them out of my way. The road descends into the town of Ouray which has hot springs and bills itself as the "Switzerland of America." It's not, but it lies in an extremely rugged and breath taking part of the world and is well worth a visit.

Then its on to Ridgeway where I'll have to decide if I want to turn back into the mountains and do a little off roading to find an alpine camp site all to myself and out of the heat. There is also a snappy state park outside Ridgeway which offers every amenity to the traveler from actual yurts to "primitive" camp sites. "Primitive" means you have to pack your camping stuff across a bridge over a little creek and find your designated camp spot - $18.00 to be "primative." I don't know what they call off-roading in the mountains that border the Weimenuch Wilderness Area. Maybe "crazy chick camping." My choice will depend on what time I pull up to the cross road and how energetic I'm feeling.

Day two I'm hitting the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. People tell me it's drop dead beautiful. I've only ever been to the overlook and it DID look very amazing. Hopefully, I can find a campsite in the area where I don't have to deal with National Park Nazi's. They don't like off roading, they have wierd rules like you can't bring wood in from another state to build a campfire, you must stay on the trails, you can't let your poodle lose at twilight to possibly be eaten by a cougar, you cannot climb or jump up and down on rock formations during a thunderstorm, and you must sign the trail registers.

The National Park Service is worse than a strict parent who never lets you have any fun. Everytime I visit a National Park, it's all I can do to refrain from staking out a poodle in cougar country at twilight, scatter catnip around and call "Here, kitty, kitty." I sign trail registers "Edward Abbey," and I long to do a war dance on a promisingly high rock formation as soon as I see a stroke of lightening hit.

If I survive the Black Canyon, its on to a campsite that I have discovered right on the Colorado River and just over the Utah border. It's on public land, but so far it has been discovered by almost no one. I have always had it completely to myself. The river is wide and deep there, warm enough to be perfect for skinny dipping, and filled with solemn looking brown trout who splash so loudly in the river that they can wake you up at night. There are also pelicans, cranes, and other water birds.

I can either follow the Colorado downside along a dirt road that goes almost the entire way to Moab and Canyonlands and Arches and all that cool stuff. Except in mid-July, Moab is anything but cool. If I go that route, that's the stretch to crank up the AC, get out of the car as seldom as possible, and look at all that stuff through your windshield and mentally plan a return trip in October or so.

If I am really still gung ho, I'll turn onto the road that takes me up toward the Utah mountains and Bridges National Monument. Or I could just mosey on back to Cortez or...

Of course I may deviate from this plan since there are so many great places to go and it's very hard to decide. I do promise pix, though. May stop at an Internet Cafe in Grand Junction or Moab or may just wait until I get home to post them.

Look out Colorado Plateau! Here I come!