Summer Quarters in the Lost Corners (Denver, Boulder: university, campgrounds, closing)

[Colorado Rambler]

As we all know, Colorado is the most beautiful state of all of them in the Union. It's why we Coloradoans stick it out through bad fire seasons, the truck that jack-knifes on Vail Pass closing it down for 3 hours at least a 100 times every winter, and a bizarre state government (one of my favorite pass times is sending outraged e-mails to every single member of the Colorado State Legislature - much good it does me).

I poke fun at the Four Corners region - especially Cortez, but actually, I get to live in the very best part of Colorado of all. And believe me I know, having grown up in the Springs, partied my way through the University of Colorado in Boulder, landed a great job in Denver but couldn't stop rambling. So one day I drove over Wolf Creek, hit Durango and knew immediently that I'd found MY place in the world.

I was born to travel, and I've been all over this wonderful state, but the Four Corners always owns this Rambler's heart. How lucky am I! The San Juan Mountains are my backyard and I have a beat up old Toyota to lock in the hubs on, take to the back roads and vanish. I got off to a late start this year, but the West Fork of the Dolores has been waiting patiently for me all the same.

Take Highway 145 out of Cortez, go through the town of Dolores, and continue on along the Dolores River to the cut-off for the West Fork and the town of Dunton. Big Up Country starts here! The back country traveler has the choice of continuing on past Dunton to the Forest Service Campgrounds on the West Dolores or else just look for a promising old logging road and see where it goes. I prefer the logging roads, myself. I always carry the latest copy of the very best adventure book ever published - the Colorado Atlas and Gazetteer, Detailed Topographic Maps - available at the Giant convenience store in Dolores or any number of other gas stations and pit stops throughout the state.

My ancient Toyota wouldn't know what to make of those fancy GPS systems that come equipped on new cars and trucks, so I carry an old orienteering GPS that I bought at a pawn shop outside of Cortez. With that GPS and the Gazetteer of enchantment, I can get lost for days if I want, and I want! My Toyota was made for journeys and has a 20 gallon gas tank, the aforementioned hop-out of the truck and lock in the 4wd hubs, and a camper shell where I keep 15 to 20 gallons of water, a Coleman lantern and tent, plus a bottle of insect repellent. What more does a gal need when checking out her backyard?

Here's some pix of my first camp of the summer.



Summer camp and my old truck



View to the North of camp



Mount Wilson as seen from the road between Dunton and Rico



Road up to camp

[lurtsman]

"You must spread some reputation around before giving it to Colorado Rambler again."

Nice post.

[Colorado Rambler]

Thanks you!

More:


Aspen grove at base camp


Wild flowers putting on a show


Really cool looking flower - have no idea what its name is


Junction with 145 heading toward Rico and Telluride



Old mining sluice on Highway 550 some miles outside of Ouray


My Corgi cooling it down in the West Dolores

[Idunn]

Appears a lovely campsite, and fine way to spend some quality time in Colorado.

How is the state of the forest in southwest Colorado? Healthy?

All best.

[suzco]

Now that's a site that takes one's breath away. . .

[Colorado Rambler]

Originally Posted by Idunn

Appears a lovely campsite, and fine way to spend some quality time in Colorado.

How is the state of the forest in southwest Colorado? Healthy?

All best.

I wish. At higher elevations like where I camped, things don't seem to be too bad on the western side of the San Juans. The trees in the pictures above are pretty representative of what you'll see between Cortez and Telluride. There's more dead standing aspen over the past few years. You can see them in the pictures if you look closely. Still the montane to sub-alpine forests around here seem to be holding their own. I've haven't looked at them with a critical eye, however, so I may be wrong.

The Uncompahgre Plateau is a write off. The trees there are just waiting for the right lightening strike for the entire plateau to be engulfed in a crown fire. The northern sector is the worst. There's pine beetle, dead standing trees and lots of dead underbrush. It doesn't help that the Uncompahgre is mostly under BLM (mis)management, so it's been over grazed and it's covered with eroded roads and gullies thanks to Halliburton and their ilk checking out the plateau for fracking operations. I give the area a max of 10 years at most. The area between Montrose and Nucla is THAT bad. I think everyone living in Nucla should just get out - there's no jobs there anyhow since the prairie dog hunt got deep sixed some years back.

They are banning the hunting of mountain lions in the region, though. One small bright spot. Go kitties, go!

The area that is roughly bounded by the Dolores on one side and the Utah border on the other also looks bad. It's mostly P-J and the P's are dying. I still can't get over this. Hell, even the sagebrush isn't looking good and the Disappointment Valley From Egnar on north is living up to its name. The Pagosa Springs/Durango/Mancos corridor is looking pretty dry as well.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison, the trees are suffering from drought and beetle. Grand Mesa and Uncomphagre NATIONAL FOREST looked somewhat better than the BLM lands further south when I was out that way last year.

One of the reasons I call this place the "Lost Corners" is because we are fighting the drought and warming trends on all fronts. The resevoirs are drying up, price of hay through the roof, the pinto crop harvest is pathetic and getting worse each year. We have major forest fires out here every summer and Montezuma and Dolores Counties have been designated agricultural disaster areas by the USDA. Yet our plight never seems to get reported. Heck, sometimes we don't even report it to ourselves since the local paper is down to two editions a week. We don't even get proper weather forecasts since the sequester apparently has vanished the local weather reporting station. And the local cable companies treat us to news of stabbings in ABQ. We don't get any Colorado news. It's like we no longer exist out here.

Aren't you glad you asked?

[mic111]

Gorgeous pictures! What camera are you using?

[jazzlover]

I know all the areas that Rambler mentions (and showed in photos) quite well. I think that she is a little wrong about the Uncompahge Plateau, though. It still has many beautiful areas that are not well-known to outsiders, and that is good. Ironically, it is the areas of the Plateau that have not been logged that are in the worst shape as far as unhealthy forests go. Many decades of fire suppression in those areas has led to unhealthy undergrowth and tree crowding that is ripe for a crown fire. That has been the case for years. A forester on the Uncompahgre National Forest candidly told me over 20 years ago that the best thing that could happen to the west side of the Plateau would be for someone to head up there with 5 gallons of gas and a pack of matches. He followed by saying that, of course, if a fire started up there, that the Forest Service would have to go and put it out rather than letting fire cleanse the forest floor of undergrowth and overcrowded trees. Well, about a year later a fire did start on the Plateau and the same guy was up there for many days helping put it out. So, much of the forest is still an unhealthy mess.

On another note, a massive outbreak of tent caterpillars are decimating the leaves of the aspen trees in some southern Colorado forests for the second year in a row. There are tens of thousands of acres of aspen trees that have been denuded of leaves. Last year, the leaves grew back after the caterpillars turned into moths then died in early July. This year, some foresters question whether or not the aspen will be able to survive a second year of denuding combined with the severe moisture stress of the last two years. The caterpillars have been thick enough to cover the ground several inches deep in some places and thick enough to actually make highways slick where they are crossing and get crushed by auto tires. Pretty amazing (and disgusting) to see.

[Colorado Rambler]

Originally Posted by mic111

Gorgeous pictures! What camera are you using?

Why, thank you. Although anyone can go to those places and get fantastic photos with a little throw away camera bought at Wally World. It's beautiful country that always photographs well. My camera is a used one sent to me by a friend who was getting himself a better one. It's a Canon Power Shot SD 790 IS that is somewhat battered after I took a fall on it during a hike across some loose rock at Canyon of the Ancients.

@Jazzlover: I don't think we're really in disagreement about the Uncompahgre Plateau. I've loved it, logging roads and all, since the very first time I forded the Uncompahgre River near Escalante and proceeded on through tall bushes of highly aromatic West Slope sage, climbing up to the top where I encountered those wonderful stands of aspen you mentioned. The Plateau is indeed a special place known mostly to back country enthusiasts who live on the Western Slope.

I write it off with sorrow, but I really can't imagine that even the more pristine areas will withstand the continued drought and insect invasions for many more years. I studied plant and forest ecology in college, and the state of the trees on the Plateau saddens me a little more each time I see them. I feel more hopeful about the San Juans, but the impact of the drought is evident everywhere.

[delta07]

Wonderful post, Colorado Rambler! You have me missing the Western Slope again. I worked for the Forest Service on the GMUG NF's when I lived in Grand Junction, and I definitely hear you regarding the Uncompaghre Plateau. I see that you and Jazzlover are actually in agreement too.

BTW, that flower is called a Sego Lily. Great pics!