Flowing Park Loop Bike Trail, Grand Mesa, CO

 

Last week we took the bikes up on Grand Mesa where we rode the 14 mile Flowing Park loop trail. We had hiked 4 miles of the trail the previous week and thought it would make a great place for a ride.

And it was, for maybe half of the trail. The rest is riding over lava rocks along the rim of the mesa, a bumpy ride for sure and too risky for an old guy on blood thinners who has a habit of falling off his bike. So this translated into us walking the bikes for many more miles than we care to remember. And due to the very narrow single track, walking was almost harder than riding. 14 miles doesn’t sound like a lot on a bike, but at that elevation it pushed us to our limits.

On the positive side there are the views and the wildflowers. And very little elevation change, which unfortunately means no coasting. 

We stopped a lot, but this was a short detour off the main trail that goes to Indian Point.

We shared the entire trail with one other biker and quite a few cattle.

We rode the loop clockwise based on the advice of the riders we met on the trail the day we hiked. I think this was the right decision if you do the entire loop, but if you want an easier out and back we suggest turning right at the start of the loop and going towards Indian Point. It is less rocky for the first few miles going this way and it’s a gentle climb, so coming back is a nice little downhill. It saved us from bonking as we were wiped out from the rocks and pushing the bikes by this point.

When we got back to the car this van with British Columbia plates and a bike rack was still parked at the trail head.

We couldn’t figure out how we missed seeing the riders, then spotted a woman standing by the van who asked us if we had found a car key on the trail. Her friend put it in her pack but it wasn’t there when they returned from the ride. A kind couple took her two friends to try and find cell reception to call a locksmith, while she stayed behind hoping maybe someone found the key. She also had no food (they left it back at their cabin) but we had eaten the only bars we brought. Luckily the other rider we met on the trail had a couple extra so he gave them to her. She still had plenty of water.

The other biker was a nice guy from Provo, UT who had driven 4.5 hours to Grand Mesa just to ride this trail. His car was at the Mesa Top trail head off Hwy 65, another rocky, uphill 7 mile trail from where we parked. He was dreading having to ride it back so Jim offered to give him a ride to his car, and he accepted. But since we can only carry two bikes, Jim put theirs on the rack and drove him to the parking lot. I stayed and chatted with the waiting woman for awhile then rode my bike a couple miles on the dirt road to intercept Jim on his way back. Jim ran into the couple who helped the van women and said they left them at the visitor center, where they were waiting on a locksmith from Delta (40 miles away) to arrive. We wonder how long it took for someone to come. The moral of this story is always have a spare car key, and bring extra food. You just never know.

It was a long day, and this is how we felt when we got home late that afternoon.

A Ouray Kind of 4th

 

We are not big on celebrating holidays, especially events where crowds of people are involved, But we wanted to visit our friends Mark and Bobbie (Box Canyon Blog) in Lovely Ouray, and watching the water fights downtown sounded like something fun and unusual. Plus it got us out of attending the BBQ and country music performance at the RV park!

We made the 70 mile drive, stopped for lunch in Ridgway, and arrived at their house around 1. After Jim and Mark, aka “the blood clot brothers” had a riveting conversation about their health, we walked downtown to pick up Bobbie from work at the gift shop at 2, when the water fights were scheduled to begin. Then we pushed our way into the throngs of people waiting for the big event.

A few of them even looked familiar.

The water fights are a 4th of July tradition dating back to the mining days of the late 1800s where teams of two wearing protective gear battle it out with fire hoses. As a spectator you can expect to get wet, depending of course on how close you dare to stand.

These guys, the winners, were rock solid. Mark said they try to aim for the head so the spray will get under the face guards and fill with water, a sure way to give up the fight before drowning.

The losing team was just all over the place, and withstood a lot of head shots before finally calling it quits. I was thinking this does not look like fun!

After walking around town for awhile we went back to Mark and Bobbie’s place for a beer and had planned to order a pizza for dinner. Hard to believe but the pizza places were closed, and the other restaurants were so busy they would not do take out orders. No way were we braving the crowds again to go wait for a table at a restaurant, so Mark whipped out a pan, whole wheat tortillas, and a can of pinto beans and put together some bean burritos. Bobbie and I cut up tomatoes, onions and avocado, while Jim supervised as he sipped on a Samuel Smith’s Organic Chocolate Stout. Then it was a tour of some possible boondocking sites for when we return for a longer visit in a couple weeks. We managed to stay up until the fireworks at 9:30, alternating between watching them on the cool, breezy balcony and out the master bedroom windows.

Yes, our gracious hosts invited us to spend the night in their luxurious guest room, nervously leaving the cats home alone. Our neighbors had a key barring any strange noises or flames coming out our roof, but all was well and they behaved.

View from Mark and Bobbie’s IMAX window. We can’t believe they are trying to sell this place.

It was a very pleasant night out, and the first time since October 2008 that I did not sleep in the Lazy Daze. Jim unfortunately has spent a few nights away in the hospital over these years. Yesterday morning we took an hour long walk before heading back to Cedaredge. Neither of us brought a camera but we’ll be back to Ouray later this month when I’m sure there will be no shortage of photos.

North Rim Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

 

Back in August 2012 we spent time in Curecanti National Recreation Area and did some hikes along the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, hiking down into the canyon, and even taking a boat ride on the Gunnison River. 

Since we didn’t actually visit the national park while we were there, and Cedaredge is about 40 miles from the North Rim, we thought it would be a good place for a day trip and a hike. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park contains only 14 miles of the 48 mile canyon, ranging in depth from 1,800 to 2,700 feet. The South Rim is the most visited since it is easier to access, being just 15 miles from Montrose. The North Rim is more remote and is accessed from a 6 mile dirt road 5 miles south of the small town of Crawford, CO. There is no visitors center, just a ranger station with park maps, a couple outhouses, and a five mile drive with scenic overlooks, 14 miles of hiking trails, and a small campground. We opted to do several short trails to overlooks since although we were at almost 8,000’ it was in the mid 80s with very little shade.

Our favorite was the North Vista trail that begins at the ranger station, where we hiked 1.5 miles to Exclamation Point. You just have to love that name!

At its narrowest the canyon is only 40 feet across. It isn’t the Grand Canyon but it’s pretty impressive.

On another note, I’ve been going to the animal shelter in Cedaredge a couple times a week to socialize with the kittens. They have at least a dozen one to two month old kittens and several of them are very skittish and need more human contact to get them ready for adoption so I am happy to oblige. Jim came with me once but you know him, way too soft hearted and wants to give them all a home! My favorite is Gilligan, the gray and white one at the top right. He’s not one of the shy ones.

Another Hike On Grand Mesa

 

Since we’ve been in Cedaredge, CO we’ve taken one bike ride, a nice loop on rural roads with hardly any traffic but a tough ride for us since it was uphill the entire first five miles. The last seven miles of mostly downhill sure was a lot of fun, though. So we’ve been looking for an easy mountain bike trail and found a link to the Flowing Park Loop off Land’s End Road on top of Grand Mesa. We decided that before we hauled the bikes up there we would hike part of it to see what we thought. It’s been our experience that many trails rated easy to intermediate are way beyond our ability and comfort level, but this one was a pleasant surprise.

It’s many miles down a dusty dirt road to get to the trail head at Flowing Park Reservoir, but what a lovely spot.

In order to get to the loop trail you must walk or ride your bike about 2.5 miles along a mostly level gravel road which turns into a double track then finally a narrow single track trail. This is the Indian Point Trail.

At the the 2.5 mile mark the 12 mile Flowing Park Loop begins. We opted to follow the Indian Point trail to the right that goes by Chambers Reservoir.

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Although mostly open meadow we did go through a dark forested area and a couple small aspen groves.

We turned around after coming to an overlook at around 4 miles. Up to this point the trail had little elevation change and just a few rocky areas that we may have to walk our bikes over. In fact we talked with 4 bikers who told us it was similar around the whole loop, although on the other side of the loop the trail skirts the rim of the mesa for some even better views.

Not sure what mountains we were barely seeing here but they still have a lot of snow on them. We will definitely be back with the bikes. Oh, and Jim likes his new hiking boots. I would have been hesitant to do an 8 mile hike in new shoes but he had Keen’s in the past and knew they were comfortable from the start.

When we got back to Land’s End Road we decided to drive about 10 more miles to the observatory, 6,000’ above the Gunnison River Valley. Maybe we’ll drive the many mile gravel switchback road another time.

When we walked up to the overlook we were immediately approached by at least a half dozen little ground squirrels, and based on the number of sunflower seed shells scattered over the ground, it must be a well known feeding spot. Looks like they’re getting their fill, yet they still begged us for more. Check out those cheeks!

It was another good day on the Mesa, capped off with a pizza and beer at 4B’s Brewery in Cedaredge. They just opened a month ago and are only brewing three of their own beers, all lighter than we like, so we had a couple of the guest beers, Revolution’s IPA and Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro, one of Jim’s favorites.