July 12th 2009 04:25 pm
Moto-Camping Day 6
The East Portal Campground in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison Park was always my destination after Arches, but now I’m glad I came here early. The canyon is gorgeous–though I can barely look over the edge (I don’t do heights well).
Met a couple from New Zealand and we lamented together the way towns like Montrose are becoming cookie-cutter strip-mall towns (ironically I post this from a Starbucks). They were cute (She: “I saw a snake!” He: “That’s why I send you first.”) Met a man from Mississippi who had his son and three other young guys with him camping around. Also a couple on matching Harleys from Oklahoma, a man and his daughter from Chicago, and a trio from North Carolina. I really haven’t been seeking people out, but it has been fun to have conversations with people as it happens.
Took a ranger walk this morning, then I just rode around a bit to find good photos. Came into Montrose to post to my blog (which is where FB gets these as notes). Tomorrow, I have scoped out some great hikes and I’m looking forward to an exhausting day.
The weather here is fantastic. It rained a little, but not enough to bother me on the bike. The lightning show was incredible, though–strike after strike on the far (north) rim of the canyon, which is actually only a few thousand yards away from the south rim. I love these kinds of storms–anyone who has lived on a high plain like this knows what they are like: you can see them from miles off approaching and then they are on you and then gone. I once raced one side-by-side down an Arizona highway.
A doe mule deer came through camp last night. The chipmunks are cute as… chipmunks I guess–they’re tiny tiny and zip about as if they had someplace else to be yesterday.
The road down the canyon into East Portal is a 16% grade, but there’s no good way to capture that in pictures without driving off the edge of the road. The rest of the pics are explanatory I suppose. I’ll be here through Monday night, then I’m off to Mesa Verde National Park.
I’m feeling better now. More on that later…
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