It is 49F when we get up. We head out onto the lake around 9AM in fleece and wind breakers.  The sun is brilliant in a cloudless blue sky and it isn’t long until we are shedding coats and applying sunscreen.  It is a lazy day just puttering along the shoreline bird watching and soaking in the beautiful scenery.  Rugged cliffs and intricately shaped pinnacles line the lake with splashes of green to add contrast.

We head off to check out Curecanti National Recreation Area and Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.  These parks are surrounded by national forests and together they protect about 100 miles of the Gunnison River drainage.  We set up camp and relax.  A doe mule deer and her two fawns provide the evening entertainment.

It is a small town festival, Gold Rush Days in Buena Vista Colorado.  Row after row of craft and artists’ booths line the downtown park.  We strolled and admired all that was displayed.  We sampled festival food, twisted fried potato beat out the funnel cake this time.  It was delicious.  A local band, High Five, played in the beer garden.  We relaxed and enjoyed the sound as well as a glass of wine from a local Salida winery.  They source grapes from the Colorado Palisades and created a passable dry red blend.

We pooped out early so we missed the “Madams of Colorado” theatre production. It is billed as a tastefully presented story of the lives of the local madams during the height of the gold rush era.  Perhaps we will catch it on Broadway?

You know we have a tri-axle trailer, right? Well, the curb side center tire has been grabby and sliding on gravel even with a soft touch on the brakes and today Kent found that there is a bit of grease oozing from that wheel bearing so he decided he’d check into it.  Maybe the grease is swelling the shoe?  We picked up seals while we were in town then he started into it.  No problem getting it apart.  Nope it’s not just the grease messing things up.  The brake shoe is unevenly worn and due to be replaced.  Rats, the drum is scared where the shoe rides and has a big step worn in it where the magnet rides.  That will need to be turned.

Trip one into town (Canon City 26 miles one way) with the old shoes and drum in hand he tries Autozone. Got the bearings but nope, we don’t have those shoes.  Try the trailer guy on the other end of town.   We don’t turn drums.  Try CarQuest.  Off to the trailer guys.  Yes, they can order shoes.  They will be in in a couple days.  Cool, that will work.  Then it is a stop at CarQuest.  Well they can’t turn that drum either.  You could try one of the machine shops in town.  Great.  Maybe we will stick with the old drum for now.

A couple days pass and Kent makes trip 2 into town to pick up the shoes from the trailer guy and decides he better buy a new drum too.   Ok, let’s put this thing together.  Really, the trailer guys ordered two sets of left shoes.  No way!  The right ones are what really need to be repaired.  It is back to town for the third time (we have no cell service in camp so all this has to happen at the shop).  Oh, you want one of each and now you need it right away?  We can do that but it will cost you expedited freight.  Ugh!  Well they finally relented and ordered the correct shoe for next day delivery and no extra freight.  Home then back to town for the 4^th trip to pick them up.  Surely we can get this done now.  Wrong, the bearings slide right through the race in the new drum.   No way this isn’t right.  It won’t even tighten up on the axle.  Trip 5 and it is Saturday.  If the trailer guys can’t figure this out we are in deep trouble.  We are to leave Sunday.  There is some head scratching and they had to call the “old guy” from the shop but they figured out the problem.  Dexter made a design change to accommodate a larger bearing AND they have the correct bearing.  Home again for one last (we all hope) attempt to reassemble.  Thirty minutes later and it is all good as new.  We even have time to head into Bueno Vista for the Gold Rush Days.

So cool, nine ewes with one lamb were striding through camp as we returned from rafting. They took their time moving toward the rocky cliffs and munched on whatever caught their fancy along the way.  Up the bank and across the open rocks they disappeared into the next cut in the mountainside only to reappear a few minutes later.  Then there was the very coolest thing.  I thought I was seeing things.  There was a tiny lamb coming down the hill.  Where did he come from?  Then another appeared and another.  When the ewes came down into camp they left the very young ones hidden up in the cliffs.  As the mamas came back up toward them, the lambs all came out to meet the group.  It was amazing to watch…and I did watch for another hour or so as the reunited group made its way higher onto the rugged slope and finally disappeared from view.  What a wonderful end to our day.

It is cool but even as early as 8AM the warm sun on my skin promises a toasty day. We sign our wavers, pick up life jackets and helmets then join our fellow rafters at Noah’s Ark as we anxiously await put in.
We are in a paddle raft today with two other fellows and our guide, Brandon. There is a quick collective gasp as we step into the Arkansas River and come to realize that the air isn’t really all that cold, but the water certainly is!
Ok, we are in the raft and off we go. It is a fun ride with a few wild spots. The current is surprisingly swift even at a relatively low flow (670 cfs). There are lots of boulders to dodge, some class III rapids, and even a couple class IV. We do a few spins and back through some spots to make for a more exciting ride. We recognize Slidel Suckhole from the waterside. It is a fun spot.
We are in for a full day so it’s lunch break on the bank. It is almost too good. The life jackets feel tighter when we have to strap them back on.
The final leg of the trip is mostly choppy/bumpy going over and among lots of big and really big rocks. With little chance of leaving the boat unexpectedly, we get a chance to take in the beautiful scenery along the river.
We did it. We followed rule #1. All of us stayed in the boat. It was a great day.

To add to the flavor, Brandon was quite the story teller. There was the one about “Elk Bridge” but he was just pulling our leg. Then there was one something about it being “Illegal to wave a firearm in Kansas”. Trust me, they would only make you groan if you heard the whole story. We were his last ride down the river for the season and he seemed to be enjoying it nearly as much as the rest of us.

It was 95F and we had the campground to ourselves. We had the lawn chairs set up in the shade of the motor home lined up to take advantage of a cooling breeze.  We were sipping ice tea and taking it easy.  First one, then two then three more big horn rams waltzed right into camp.  They were very interested in the grass in one of the campsites.

I was thrilled that they decided to make an appearance. We watched them graze and mill about for an hour before they decided to wander on up the slopes behind camp. It is amazing how easily they just clamber up nearly any terrain.

I wonder.

Is there anything whiter than puffy clouds in a clear sunlit sky?

Twenty plus years ago Boy Scout Troop 117 ascended Mt Shavano as part of their “high adventure” program.  Lynn and I decided we could do that, so on Tuesday we packed our tent, sleeping bags, meals and water purification pump and headed toward the trailhead.  To reach the trailhead is a 1 hour 7 mile trip on some roads defined a “jeep roads”.  We were about a mile from our destination and met a fellow who stopped us and explained the road to the trailhead was blocked by cattle that would not move.  He was very concerned since he was supposed to pick up his daughter who was hiking the Colorado Trail to this trailhead with little provisions and no shelter from another access point.  I told him I was going to give the cattle a try and continued on until sure enough here sat an angus cow with her calf as the first of many laying in the road.  A little persuasion with the Focus horn and hand clapping and cowgirl banter by Lynn and the first of many obstacles moved on.  Shortly after we made it to the trailhead the fellow arrived there as well.  He had followed us, but not close enough, as he had to get out of his truck and physically push one stubborn cow out of the road.  So, we made it to the trailhead as did he and I don’t think we stressed those cattle at all.

This time of year thunderstorms are the norm every afternoon so you need to get to the top and back below the treeline by early afternoon. The easiest way to assure that is to split the trip part way up.  We hiked up Tuesday and arrived at a camping spot just below 11,000 feet, used by the scouts, safely below the tree line with a good water source.  We had camp set up before the thunderstorms started.  I was feeling pretty confident since we made the trek from the trailhead to camp in about 2 hours.  That only left less than 3 miles to the summit for Wednesday.  The alarm went off at 5 with the temp around 40 degrees.  We had breakfast by flashlight and were on the trail before 6.  The goal for the day, 14,229.  Caught a beautiful sunrise along the trail.  This trail may not have seen any maintenance except fallen tree removal since I was here last.  It is a jumble of loose 6 inch rock, so every step has to be carefully planned and executed.  That’s my excuse and I am sticking with it.  Never mind the twenty years that has passed and maybe a few pounds I could stand to lose.  We were above the tree line and well on our way when it started to blow and rain (not in the forecast and thankfully not a thunderstorm).  We almost turned back after we donned the raingear.  If you can image 2 green Michelin men going up the side of the mountain it had to be quite a sight. The raingear is intentionally big enough to cover the daypack and camera.  We continued and after a few minutes the rain stopped, although the cold wind continued for another hour or so.  Before our appointed turn-back time we made the end of the trail, such as it is.

View from Mt. Shavano

The only thing before us was the last few hundred feet of rock scramble to reach the summit.  We decided to save rock scrambling for another time.  We relaxed on the tundra and enjoyed our celebratory snack then headed down.  We stopped in the trees and had lunch then descended, broke camp, and returned to the car parked about 4 miles and 4,000 feet below the summit.  Just as we arrived at the car another rainstorm began.  Even with the rain showers it was still a great hike though some beautiful country.  Maybe just a little harder than I remembered.  A big thanks to Lynn for coming along down memory lane!

We plan to raft the Arkansas through Browns Canyon which includes a pass through what they call the Seidel’s Suck hole.  There is a trail so we went to check it out from the land side to get some perspective.  The river isn’t real wild this time of year but it looks like it will be fun.

Our primary reason for being in this area is for a hike to the peak of Mt. Shavano.  It is one of Colorado’s many 14000+ft and happens to be one Kent hiked with the scouts some 20 years ago.  We plan to summit it Tues-Wed so we drove out to the trailhead to make sure the forest routes are suitable for our trusty Focus.  Well, they have some serious grading work to do.  It took an hour to drive 7 miles but we made it.  We are on for our climb.

Every Ranger or guide we meet out here stresses the importance of getting back down below tree line by early afternoon during the summer months. Thunderstorms are a routine thing and one makes a pretty good lightning rod if up on that bare mountain top.  We got a live demo of those storms today.  We just reached the trailhead at about 9700 feet and the sky turned dark gray all around the peak.  The clouds boiled and rolled and thunder rumbled.  We didn’t see lightening from where we were but it was plenty to convince us, we will be down below tree line by noon.

I spotted another band of big horn ewes and lambs today. Still looking for those impressive looking rams.

We are in Big Horn Sheep territory so we have been keeping an eye out for those sure footed critters high on the cliffs. Early this morning I was doing the sheep check just outside of camp when from the corner of my eye I spot something moving along the far river bank.  Sure enough, it’s a black bear.  He never stopped to pose but I got a pretty good look (I took this pic by the way).