Montrose (10/15 through 10/28/2016)

Long after the fall color faded high in the mountain areas, it gradually played out down here in the valley.  In fact, there are still patches of color in Montrose.  Unfortunately, it's harder to get scenic photos in town, especially when that isn't my primary interest.  Still, here are a few shots from town, several of them on the street where I live.

Some travelogue followers have suggested that my focus on fall colors (get it?) has led to neglecting sunset photos.  Actually, during the month of October, there were so few clouds that compelling sunsets were fairly uncommon.  But, when it appeared there would be a nice sunset, I did try to get out and capture the beauty.

Uncompahgre Plateau, Gunnison Gorge and Delta, CO (10/12 & 10/13/2016)

In the several trips I've made onto the Uncompahgre Plateau, it was surprising to me how much fall color was there, mainly in the form of cottonwood trees.  These large trees require a great deal of water, so are usually seen growing along the banks of a stream.  You see lots of dead cottonwoods where something caused the stream to dry up or be re-directed.  As long as water is available, the cottonwoods struggle to overcome other difficulties, such as boulders nearby.  These obstacles often result in malformed trunks, but the tree continues to live.

Farms and ranches have been developed around the edges of the plateau and they also have numerous cottonwoods.

On top of the plateau, it's not hard to find views down into the many canyons there. One, named Dry Creek, has been designated as a National Recreation Area, with roads for ATV usage.  That normally indicates there are places too narrow for a Jeep, so I didn't take this one.

On another day, I took a drive through the Gunnison Gorge Recreation Area, a section of adobe hills set aside primarily for ATVs, dirt bikes and the like.  The tracks made by these vehicles give a clue as to the daredevils who drive them.

Even here in a place that looks totally uninhabitable, there are ranches and cottonwood trees.  All it takes is water, which in this case arrives via an irrigation ditch that carries water diverted from one of the local rivers.

On the other end of the Gunnison Gorge is the town of Delta, started in 1828 with the Fort Uncompahgre trading post.  The town is still very small, with a current population around 9000.  The Gunnison River runs through it, in fact merging with the Uncompahgre River.  The town has built a park there to allow visitors to see the confluence of the two rivers, as well as tour the old fort.  Docents at the fort wear period costumes and demonstrate the skills needed to survive in the early days, such as beaver trapping, tanning hides, making arrowheads and forging iron tools.  I'll have to go back another time and get photos of the fort.

Roubideau Canyon (10/12/2016)

While exploring yet another section of the Uncompahgre Plateau, I came across a road called Roubideau Canyon Road.  As you might expect, I felt compelled to take a look and see what I might find.  The road is pretty good and follows Roubideau Creek for about six miles.  A lesser road actually continues into the next canyon, but it departs from the creek, so isn't as photogenic.  I later learned the canyon is named for an early settler in the area, a Frenchman named Antoine Roubideau who arrived in 1828 and subsequently started a trading post that came to be known as Fort Uncompahgre.  (The city of Delta has restored the fort and offers educational tours of the historic site.)  The canyon is part of a 20,000 acre Wilderness Area, said to be home to a variety of wildlife, including bighorn sheep that were reintroduced in the 1990s.

Although shallow initially, the canyon walls ultimately reach more than 1000 feet above the floor.  The creek was well below full, looking more like a series of puddles.  I intend to return in the Spring for another look.  On this trip, the payoff was the large number of golden cottonwood trees that line the creek banks and reflect nicely in the pools.

 

.Despite my best efforts to spot wildlife, my only sightings were a white-crowned sparrow and a colony of cliff swallows nesting on the cliff.

The exposed cliffs were of great interest to me, as I could clearly see a variety of sedimentary rock.  I'm always fascinated by the different textures and colors of the deposits made millions of years ago, as I wonder just what the forces were that created such diversity.

On a side note, I met two women driving their truck along  the road, bringing lunch to their friends who were working at the end of the canyon.  From the logo on their trailer, they are "Weed Busters", hired by BLM to spray for noxious weeds growing in the area. Their motto: "Have Mules, Will Travel".  I didn't get to meet the guys, however, since they were out looking for weeds to spray, riding their mules.    I hadn't thought of it, but mules make a lot more sense in this terrain than horses or any other type of transportation.