Our stay at Cherry Creek concluded, we hooked up and made our escape from Gridlock Gulch. We took the backway out of Aurora, headed south through Parker, which has a stoplight at every corner which always turn red when we approach and on down Colorado 83 to Colorado Springs. From there, it’s into the mountains, though South Park and then over Monarch Pass where snow was falling.
Down the other side, we passed an Amazon truck. Is this why two-day Prime delivery takes a week in the Grand Valley?
We drove through Gunnison and out past Blue Mesa Reservoir, where the water level was down significantly.
A bunch of miles and a couple of turns later, we made it to our campsite in Ridgway State Park, one of our Colorado favorites. We got the trailer set up before the rain started and had an enjoyable evening, dining on a microwave popcorn dinner in our warm and dry “cabin on wheels.”
On our first full day at Ridgway State Park, Dianne drove into Montrose to visit some friends who had to leave the park early. I hung out at the campground, writing a rough draft of our Jackson Lake stay for my Colorado Life camping column.
On our second full day at Ridgway, we did a little hike down to a trail below the dam where there are some fishing ponds.
We hiked around the ponds…
…to a set of nicely secluded walk-in tent sites.
Continuing down the trail, we reached a dead-end fence near the base of the dam.
We bushwacked our way back to where the lower section of the trail followed the river (we apparently missed a turnoff), passing some anglers fly “fishing” in the tailwaters. I didn’t see any of them “catching” in the tailwaters.
The group camping area we passed on our way out was infested with a swarm of fourth graders from Glenwood Springs. They appeared to be having a good time. I’m envious. We never got to do anything like this when I was in the fourth grade.
On Thursday, we drove a dozen miles down to Ouray and hiked a short section of the Ouray Perimeter Trail…
Our route began near the hot springs…
…and ultimately ended at the Ouray Brewery.
Along the way, we enjoyed lofty views of this self-proclaimed “Switzerland of America.”
We took a long photo break at the towering Cascade Falls, our turn down to town point…
…before heading to the Ouray Brewery for burgers and brews.
As always, we were careful about where we parked.
