Travels with Twinkles: Gunnison, Montrose, Ridgway, Ouray and Rico, Colorado

July 22 - 24, 2022:

I arrive in Gunnison, Colorado, park on the main street and walk around taking a few photos, my usual thing. It’s way more attractive than expected with several nice breakfast restaurants that are tempting me and many outdoors equipment and fishing shops. This is a huge boating and fishing area at this time of year and then skiing in the winter season. I leave on route 50 heading west for Montrose, CO. The highway follows the Gunnison River which seem more like a huge reservoir with short sections of river in between. This is the huge Curecanti National Recreational Area catering mainly to the boating and fishing crowd. There are several campgrounds and river access points along this area.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunnison,_Colorado

A visionary sign

Great old neon cafe sign

Gunnison welcome sign

Gunnison River view

The highway traffic is rather heavy, but suddenly comes to a halt as we enter the mountainous area. There is a massive highway rebuilding project through the mountain pass and only one lane is open. They are alternating long lines of vehicles following a guide vehicle through the construction area. It about a 15 miles segment of really rugged mountain terrain. I don’t see how the construction crews are able to get much work accomplished with all the traffic delay. Once through the construction zone, the highway then has a series of long 3 1/2 - 4 mile steep uphill and downhill grades before you are out of it. It was actually a pretty wild drive, I was real glad to get to the end.

I have also been in Montrose, CO a couple of times before and make a library stop, first thing, then a Main Street stop. I go to a favorite cafe, The Daily Bread Bakery and Cafe, for lunch and it is good as I remember it. I consider spending the day in Montrose, but there is nothing special going on, I’ve seen it, so I continue on route 550 south to Ridgway, CO.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montrose,_Colorado

Mural on back of downtown shop

River mural

Ridgway, CO is yet another familiar town and one that I especially like. In fact I could live in this town, it has it all, great scenery, a very nice artsy vibe, a good brewery, a nice town park area with frequent music concerts, several good restaurants, a good food market and an ice cream stand. What else does one need ?

The excellent farmers market is just ending as I arrive and they had a free music concert last evening. I have had the absolute worst luck on this tour finding any live music, always a day late or a day early. I spend the night in a parking lot in front of the church, no problem here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridgway,_Colorado

Beautiful mural on downtown shop

The facade is propped up while the building is being reconstructed

True Grit Cafe where movie scenes were filmed

Rainbow over town park

Restaurant mural

Next morning, I’m off to Ouray, CO for a short visit as it is only 15 miles away. I park, it’s early the streets are quiet and most shops are closed. I walk around checked out the sights, the most activity is at the Jeep tour business and the adjacent Goldbelt Bar/Cafe which is open for breakfast. I get a coffee, sit on the front porch and observe the people getting ready to go out for a guided tour. I’m quite amused by the wide variety and numbers of long distance bikers (both pedal bikes and motorcycles) loaded with huge saddlebags and gear. Equally comical are the Harley Motorcycle riding crowd getting all dressed back up in up their Harley costumes to roar off.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouray,_Colorado

Impressive Eagles Club

Many beautiful old buildings in Ouray

Colorado Boy sign

Beautiful flower pot made from old ore cart

The background is impressive

Storefront details

Many interesting downtown shops

Ouray is beautiful

Leaving Ouray, I backtrack to Ridgway where I get on route 62 west to Placerville where I get on route 145 south. This is a part of the San Juan Skyway that I don’t remember taking in the past. Every mile of this route is beautiful, but some of the hills are long and steep really working the van. It’s somewhat cloudy with a few sprinkles on and off, but it doesn’t detract much from the scenery. I stopped for a lunch break along the road where I took a short hike mainly for the wildflowers.

https://www.colorado.com/byways/san-juan-skyway

Another great view around every curve

Many curves !

I made frequent stops

Creekside view

Cloudy with period of rain, but still beautiful

Live oak tree acorns

Impressive berries

After the long climb up to Lizzard Head Pass, I stop for a while to look at the historical signs telling about the Rio Grande Southern Railroad that originally ran here. This was the route that the infamous Galloping Goose train ran on. The tracks are all gone now, more on the Galloping Goose later. There is a BLM campground at the summit, I considered staying there for the night, but it’s jammed with campers and the road is extremely rough. I also wanted to proceed to the quaint town of Rico about 15 miles away.

https://www.dangerousroads.org/north-america/usa/3803-lizard-head-pass.html

It was a challenge keeping these rail lines open, they are all gone now

Several trails at the Pass

Nice lush green meadow with campers in the distance

I arrive in Rico to the sound of a band playing outside at the Enterprise Bar and Cafe. I park in front of the town museum which is open and go in to check the exhibits. They have exhibits on the silver and gold mining in the past, the Rio Grande Southern Railroad and the Galloping Goose train which ran through Rico. Back in the day there was a sizable rail yard and several shop buildings here. The volunteer told me that the only thing remaining today is the old water tank. They also had a really nicely done historical town walking tour brochure. Rico was the county seat of Delores County back in the glory days, but they eventually lost that when the mining and population declined. As a result there are several nice buildings in town such as the former Court House, now the town library.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rico,_Colorado

Times have changed

Glory days of the Railroad

All gone today

Attractive brick building on Main Street

The original impressive Court House

First the Ute tribe, then the Spanish, the fur traders, the US and the Miners

Old stone theater, now closed

The Church really stood out against those dark storm clouds

A house with an entertaining mural

Pretty weird stuff

I eventually head to the bar to listen to the band, the Flatware Band, who are primarily country from New Mexico. They were playing outside and every 15 minutes or so it would start to rain lightly forcing them to take a break. This cycle repeated throughout the afternoon, but nobody minded. They actually had decent food available, mainly BBQ and burgers but it was fine. I ended up staying for a few hours before settling in for the night further down on Main Street.

I later learned that the Enterprise Bar and Cafe was built in 1892 and is the 6th oldest bar in Colorado. While watching the band, a young woman was introduced as the new owner and when researching the bar I learned her story which is quite inspirational, I hope she does well.

https://sbdcfortlewis.org/2019/04/01/enterprise-bar-grill/