We spent our last morning at Rocky Mountain National Park in the Wild Basin, an area on the southeast edge of the park. You have to actually leave the park, drive south on Rt. 7 from Estes Park, and then go several miles west back into the park on a dirt road to the Wild Basin Ranger Station at the end of the road.
A ranger at Bear Lake advised us to go early as the Wild Basin parking lot is small and fills quickly. It was, therefore, another very early start, about 6 AM. When we arrived at Wild Basin, about an hour later, there were already a few cars in the parking lot. We found a flat spot for Speedy (and her problematic frig) and settled down to have breakfast.
Our goal for the morning was a hike along the Ouzel Creek to Ouzel Falls in search of Water Ouzels, now known as the American Dipper, a small undistinguished brown bird that hunts underwater. The hike passed the Copeland Falls, the Calypso Cascades and, finally, reached Ouzel Falls, about three miles from the trailhead and 600 feet higher. One of the advantages of starting early is that there are fewer people on the trail and we met very few on the way up. The trail has become more popular this year, due to the construction on Bear Lake Road as it is much easier to access.
The water in the creek was running pretty strongly, most likely due to the thunderstorms the previous day. It was a cool sunny morning and, as we climbed the trail, we had views of the other side of Longs Peak, with sun, but no snow, on it. The trail ran mostly through woods alongside the creek, so there are not the continuous mountain views like at Bear Lake. We stopped at each falls and access path along the creek looking for dippers but saw none. At Ouzel Falls, where we had been told there might be some, we stopped for a snack and a long look around before heading back down the trail. Still no dippers.
By this time, the trail was much more crowded and there was constant traffic heading upwards. We passed dozens of parties. One couple stopped as we passed by and the woman was wearing a pair of well-known high-end birding binoculars. Ellen asked if she were a birder and received an affirmative reply. She asked if they had seen any dippers. The woman replied that they had seen several the previous day ... in the creek just below the Moraine Park campground, where we had just spent the last three days.
By the time we returned to Speedy, the parking lot was overflowing. There was even a ranger directing traffic, mostly back out to parking areas further away on the access road. Even though it was approaching lunch time, we decided it was a good time to leave. It was slow going back out to the main road as the dirt road was only one lane wide and we had to pull into many turnouts to let the oncoming traffic through. It seemed that most of the turnouts were on our side of the road. We finally reached Rt. 7 and turned south.
Our intended destination was the Elk Creek Campground in the Curecanti National Recreation Area, about 50 miles short of Black Canyon National Park. The Curecanti NRA surrounds a series of reservoirs on the Gunnison River as it enters the Black Canyon. It seemed a good place to stop and they had showers, a definite plus by this time. Our route took us through the heart of the Rockies, over the Continental Divide three times, over two passes more than 11,000 feet, through a major mountain tunnel, along three scenic byways and innumerable twists and turns.
We started down the Peak to Peak Scenic Byway which ran from Estes Park to Central City, along Routes 7, 72 and 119, which wind through the mountains, mostly within the Roosevelt and Arapaho National Forests. After stopping in Nederland and looking unsuccessfully for a decent lunch, we continued on to the Cold Springs Campground in the Arapaho National Forest where we lunched in Speedy. The GPS directed us off Rt. 119 at Black Hawk on a secondary road to Central City, which connected to the Central City Parkway. This seemed strange at first, since the road at Black Hawk is quite steep and narrow, but it promised to save about 15 miles.
The road climbed through the old mining towns of Black Hawk and Central City, an area that was once a center of gold and silver mining. The mines in the towns, seemed to be closed, but both Black Hawk and Central City have reinvented themselves to mine another sort of gold. They are both gambling districts. The old buildings, interesting buildings are still there, but they have all been converted to casinos with an Old West motif, rather than the glitz of Las Vegas. After passing through the narrow streets of Central City, we came out onto a new four lane expressway through the mountains, the Central City Parkway, which led to I-70. I can only surmise that it was built to convey gamblers from the Interstate to casinos.
We came out at I-70 and went West on it. The highway is a rather impressive bit of engineering that winds its way along Clear Creek, past tall peaks and hills of mine tailings that seemed almost as tall until it crosses under the Continental Divide through the Eisenhower Tunnel. This took us right into the center of Colorado ski country. The names of all the famous Colorado ski areas started appearing on the signs (Breckenridge, Vail, etc.) and the towns we passed had masses of condominiums rather than mines.
Just before Copper Mountain, we turned off I-70 and onto Rt. 91 and our next scenic byway, the Top of the Rockies National Scenic Byway, which took us over the 11,318 foot Fremont Pass, crossing the Continental Divide once again, taking us to Leadville and US 24.
The landscape along US 24 out of Leadville becomes a wide flat river valley. We were now following the Arkansas River from its headwaters as it runs southeast all the way to Arkansas and the Mississippi. We followed the river south along US 24 and US 285 until it swung east and we intersected US 50 and turned west. All along the western horizon were a continuous procession of 14,000+ foot mountain peaks.
As we drove south on US 24, we noticed large groups of motorcycles going the other way. What was unusual was that they were mostly BMWs and Honda Goldwings. As we passed through the town of Buena Vista, I noticed a bunch of them parked at a motel with a several tents in the parking lot. Of course, we had to stop to find out what was going on. We'd stumbled onto a checkpoint for the Three Flags Classic Rally, an annual long-distance motorcycle rally sponsored by the Southern California Motorcycle Club. It is run each Labor Day Weekend with a route that travels from Mexico to Canada. This year's event took the riders from El Paso, TX, to Nelson, BC. The rally allows 250 entrants, attracting mostly big BMWs and Hondas.
Leaving the rally checkpoint, we continued on to US 50 and started west, back into the mountains. We climbed our last pass of the day, Monarch Pass, at 11,312 feet and over the Continental Divide for the last time today. We came out onto rolling farm land and US 50, following the Tamichi Creek all the way into Gunnison. At 25 miles beyond Gunnison, we finally reached Elk Creek Campground just before sundown. A very interesting drive, but still no Water Ouzels.
Photos fron Rocky Mountain National Park
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