Ouray is Da Bomb Diggity

June 13-14, 2012

Wednesday –

The plan for today was to travel up 550 through Ouray, check out some campgrounds, and then continue on to Montrose for some WallyWorld shopping.   But first, we got in our bike rides.   It was a race to see who could ride to the end of our forest road and back first.   I think it was pretty much a tie.   On my ride, I was feeling all proud and accomplished by how noticeably my fitness had improved.    I decided to ride up the toughest hill without taking a break to prove my incredible fitness.   But then, the GSM said “in your face”, literally.  And forthwith came a strong and unending gust of wind.  I was humbled and had to stop partway up.    At least there’s a great waterfall there to look at while one tries to catch one’s breath.

We headed out on the road after lunch.   We did a little research into possible campgrounds in Ouray.  I didn’t actually find anyone who mentioned any boondocking sites.   However, there were a couple of forest service campgrounds (pay spots).   Up until now, it’s been our experience that where there is mention of the pay campgrounds, there are lots of free sites on the same forest roads.   So we were hoping we’d find something like that in Ouray.    The drive itself was an adventure.   This stretch of road is mentioned as particularly hairy and scary.  With narrow lanes, bendy roads and steep drop-offs, it was sure to be something to write home about.  I was nervous enough as it was, since this was my first time trying to be diligent about using engine braking and not brake-braking.   The roads were very windy, but I think much of it has been improved since the posts we read.   It was a fun ride more than a scary ride.

The arrival into Ouray….holy mackerel.   It was sub-par.*  The mountain ridges staked one in front of the other, created this really strange effect of some kind of super-sight.    I told Missy it was like we were viewing it with 3D glasses.    I tried to get some pictures, but I don’t think I captured the essence of what these mountains look like.    Just when you think you’ve seen the best of Colorado, there’s even more around the corner!    One funny story from the drive: we came upon some road work.  They were doing some “rock work”, which involved having a large crane set up in one of the lanes.  This means they were doing the one-lane at a time using flag-men.   I was stopped first in line at the stop person.   We were on the down-hill side of the mountain.  As we got the go-ahead, I proceed slowly.   I had been going only the posted speed limit the whole way up till this point, to the apparent disgust of the driver behind me who probably wanted to go twice as fast.   Anyway, at the point where the crane was, they had another woman holding the slow/stop sign.   I think she was there in case some rocks dislodged and suddenly blocked the road.   So I go by, in D1 at probably 15 mph, and she mouthed a big “Thank You” and gave us a thumbs-up.   As we got near, she said “thank you, finally, for someone going slow!”.    It made us laugh.  Probably not the guy behind us, though.

As we drove into Ouray, we saw the sign for the forest campgrounds.   At first we shied away from exploring it because more roadwork was going on, and we didn’t think it would have been possible to get the rig through the construction.   But then, we figured as long as we were there, and the mountains were so gorgeous, and since we had working 4WD, then we should go exploring.   So up we went.  It was a bumpy and exciting ride.  Here were the scary windy blind turns with steep drop-offs that get the heart going.   We passed the 2 forest service campgrounds, and both were tent only.   There were no free sites on that road.   I was MAJORLY bummed.  This area is so pretty that I would have loved to spend a couple of weeks here.    We continued up, craning our necks and absorbing our surroundings.   We stopped at one spot that overlooked some rapids.**   (There are probably 50 places that rent jeeps in Ouray, so there was a steady stream of traffic up this 4WD dirt track.   Of all the people, I think Missy and I were the only ones evaluating lines).    This waterfall was interesting because it was headed by a huge snow culvert.  There was a small cut out in the middle (kinda like a tunnel of love thing) and all the water flowed through that small opening and then down through the rapids.  We got some pictures and a video.   After we’d been there a couple of minutes, one side of the snow culvert calved right in front of us!   It was pretty neat.  So I took an after picture too.    The newly loosened snow hunks showed us what the line would be: river center into an immediate pin on the wood.  :-)

We drove up again for a couple of minutes. I wanted to go all the way to Yankee Boy Basin, which is supposed to be a lovely spot filled with wildflowers.   But Missy started to get carsick from the jostling, so we turned around and headed back.    Driving through Ouray, it’s another example of a quaint mountain town geared for tourists.   (Ouray is the Switzerland of America).  It was another 30 minutes to Walmart, where we completed our shopping and headed back home.   The drive back was as scenic as the drive in.   Maybe more so…we pulled over at a scenic overlook and were surprised to see a ginormous waterfall!   It was not at all evident when we had driven over it the other way.    There was a platform built out over the mountain side to facilitate viewing of the waterfall.  It was made of grates.   I was terrified, but I edged my way out onto it so I could enjoy the view.    All in all, this was a great outing, and if you get the chance to drive through Ouray, I’d highly recommend it!

*Happy, Josh?   See his comments from my “It’s Acceptable” post if you are confused. 

**Ask me in person sometime about the funny story of how I scared the crap out of Missy here.

Thursday, –

Today was a designated lazy day.   The weather cooperated, and we had a lovely warm breeze most of the day.   (Yesterday we got the weather on the radio on our drive.   Found out that nearby areas are into 90s in the daytime and 60s for the overnights.   Made us grateful for our nice high spot where the dogs are comfortable and we don’t have to worry about running A/C.   Oh, and we heard about the wildfire in the Fort Collins area.   I guess this is a massive fire raging in the Cache le Poudre area.   We kayaked that last year and loved it.   We had been considering trying to fit it in again this year on the way home, but I guess now that’s out.    I hope the destruction is kept to a minimum).  Around 11ish, I decided to take the dogs for a walk across the creek.   Up until this morning (when tent campers were gone before 7:30!!), it has been occupied by campers.    So I wanted to give the dogs a new spot to sniff out chippies.   For some reason, this turned out to be the exact time that half of Colorado decided to scout campsites.    We had to watch out for many cars.  And some even went and parked on our side of the creek and walked back.    I assumed this meant it would be busy all day (my guess being that more people would tent camp with lows finally out of the freezing range).   But nope.  People only were looking when I wanted to walk the dogs.    That’s about all to report from today.