Life at Blue Mesa

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I have enjoyed my twelve days here at Blue Mesa, there is no doubt that reacquainting my 60 year old body to living at 7000+ did not go unnoticed. I have participated in early morning exercise with several other campers and have taken advantage of the indoor pool every morning. Blue Mesa Recreational Ranch is about 10 miles west of Gunnison and the trip to and fro takes you through the Gunnison River Canyon, which has a beauty of it’s own. This is a fisherman’s paradise, a lot of the RVer’s tow a boat--some even tow a boat and a car! There is an exodus every morning of vehicles and boats leaving the resort to go over the road to the boat dock where they launch their boat and sit until about noon when they return with their catch-of-the-day. For my fishing enthusiast friends this lake is know for Brown, rainbow, Mackinaw and brook trout, and kokanee salmon. Yesterday, one of my neighbours gave me two small kokanee salmon that he had just caught. I cooked one for supper and it was delicious.

There is evidence that indigenous people from Alaska would wander south and come to this region about 10,000 years ago. The Ute Indians used this area as their summer hunting grounds about 700 years ago. Then in the 1870’s Europeans came here drawn by the promise of GOLD. I spent several hours poking around in Gunnison. Similarly to Silver City, New Mexico the downtown streets are very wide, probably to facilitate the turn-around of the horse and cart, there are several old homes sprinkled in with new development. Named for Captain John Gunnison who surveyed the area in 1854 to establish whether or not a railroad line could be built following the riverbed, Gunnison became a permanent settlement in 1879 during the gold-rush. Several renowned cowboys stayed here, including Bat Masterson, Wyatt and Warren Earp.

The past week has provided me with a taste of every weather. Sunday was a beautiful day so I cleaned the motor home. Not a small vehicle it takes me about four hours to get all the way around. On Tuesday I was going to take a boat trip through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, but a weather front was approaching and Tuesday morning the temperature was in the low 40’s with black clouds looming from the west, so I registered for the tour for Saturday, and went into Gunnison to get groceries to last me until I leave here on June 10th; the temperature continued to fall. I had no sooner got home again when it started to spit with rain, then the wind came up. Needless to say, my bright shiny motor home was no longer either. The resort is nestled against the side of a hill (or mesa) which protects us a little from the north, but the wind blew and blew. We didn’t actually see any snow on the ground here, but reports on Wednesday mornings local news said that the wind speeds measured at the summit of Monarch Mountain reached 97 m.p.h. and we could see plenty of snow up there. So Wednesday was cold and miserable, Thursday I cleaned the inside of my home and Friday was beautiful again so I cleaned the outside and my car! Here’s hoping I can get to Utah without getting sand blasted again.

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Photos

River Canyon
Part of the trip to and fro

Canyon Road
The road's hairpin bends

Blue Mesa
From the bridge

Canyon Road 2
Just another view

Comments

[carole c dean]

We are here
Hi Lyn, We are now in Tuscon, I will try and phone you tomorrow Sunday and see you Thursday. We have just been to a Mexicon restaurant, we have made friends with a lovely couple who are 30 and 28. It is Laura's birthday today. Speak to you soon. Love Carole

[Al]

60? Just a kid. Now the far side of 70 is something else. Geritol where are you? Awesome pics...