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2008 West Vacation -- Southern Utah and Colorado, Day 13
Index
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| Day 13, Durango, CO to Salida, CO |
Drove almost the entire length of Durango looking for a Shell. One doesn't seem to exist. Filled up at the Exxon, pump gives me a receipt error, and the clueless lady inside the store can't give me one either. (She finally comes up with a receipt, and it's the wrong one.)
US-550 is one of those beautiful mountain roads, and as you get into the peaks, they have some of the tightest switchbacks I've seen on a paved road. As we get into Silverton, there's some color change in the trees. Once you get past Ouray, the road becomes flat, and you're in a former flooded river valley or lake, a wide expanse of flat land in a valley.
US-550
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We get to Montrose, get a quick meal at McD's, and turn right on US-50, toward the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. (BCotG.) The BCotG is probably one of the most extreme river canyons I've seen, steep, almost vertical canyon walls to the river 2000 feet below. There are some viewpoints where I can't get close to the edge and quite frankly don't want to be close to the edge.
We go down the East Portal Road to the river, and my experience with the tight switchbacks on US-550 is dwarfed by the switchbacks going down to the Gunnison River. At times, I shift down to first, the torque converter whining at the engine revs to 4000rpm to slow me down. There's a moron in a Tahoe behind me tailgating, so I pull off and let him pass.
We get to the bottom by the river, and said moron's brakes are smokin'. Good job! He should learn how to drive his vehicle. He'll probably blame GM for crappy brakes, when the driver's at fault. They never catch fire, though.
We can get to the diversion dam, but not all the way to the main dam, because there's a snowplow blocking our way. The diversion dam feeds a water tunnel that goes from here to Montrose, and supplies water to the town. Built back in the early 1900's. Amazing.
The ride back up seems shorter, and a small fire we saw off in the distance has grown considerably. It's probably 25 miles away, and we have to get down the road.
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
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US-50 follows the Gunnison and the reservoir for miles. Amazed at how big the reservoir is, and it's low too.
After a while, the road starts to climb, and we get to Monarch Pass, 11,300 ft, the continental divide. What goes up, must go down, and the climb we made, turns into 6% grades going down.
We end the day in Salida, CO. Standard Comfort Inn, not bad, not good. The good part is, we used my Choice points, so the room was free.
Hotel 7 of 10, shower 8 of 10, but not enough flow.
Dinner at Amicas. Wood fired Oven Pizza, microbrews. Pizza was excellent. Jo had the Chocolate Peanut butter mousse torte, I had the Chocolate Canoli. Sugar shock.
US-50
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End Part 9, Day 13.
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