Sept 10/08 - Red Rocks ...

Wednesday, Sept 10th/08

After a great breakfast, we left our new friends Don & Betty and hope they will come to see us in Vancouver. Cousin Kathie stopped by to wish us a safe journey and encouraged us to visit the Red Rocks Park on our way out. We did and were amazed at what we found there. It’s like someone just plunked a part of Utah right down into Denver.

The Red Rocks Amphitheatre is a rock structure in the Park where concerts are given in the open air amphitheatre. There is a large, tilted, disc shaped rock behind the stage, a huge vertical rock angled outwards from stage right, several large boulders angled outwards from stage left and a seating area for up to 9,450 people in between. The amphitheatre is owned and operated by the City and County of Denver. Originally known as the "Garden of the Angels" (1870s-1906), and then as “Garden of the Titans” (1906-28). The park, however, had always been known by the folk name of "Red Rocks", which became its formal name when Denver acquired it in 1928. Public, organizational and private performances have been held at Red Rocks for over 100 years and the list of performers reads like a who’s who in entertainment. It remained one of John Denver’s favourite places to play (Rocky Mountain High, in Colorado) and performers and entertainers from AC/DC to ZZ Top and everything in between.

The Beatles played there in August of 1964 on their first American Tour. Renowned opera singer Mary Garden put Red Rocks on the world musical map with her performance in 1911. Having performed at many opera halls around the world, she pronounced Red Rocks the finest venue she had ever performed at. Kathie, you’ll be pleased to know we spent 2 very enjoyable hours there.

We head out Hwy 285 with slight overcast giving us good flat light to ride in. We ride along Turkey Creek towards Kenosha Pass (Elev 10,001) then Red Hill Pass just under the 10,000 ft mark and descend into Fairplay to fuel. Cloudy with some sun, quite windy and definitely cool. Continuing SW on 285 we enter into the headwaters of the Arkansas River.

For the 2nd time this trip a strong side wind has snatched the ‘working’ map from the pocket on Rod’s gas tank. The first time was as we were leaving Alberta. Rod pulled around and went back to look for it but was not successful – it had blown off to somewhere in the prairie. I waited for him at the side of the road, time seems to crawl past but in fact it’s just over 10 minutes. The sky is looking very threatening and we discuss whether we should pull on our rain gear or wait to see if it might blow past us. We agree we’ll stop at the first raindrops which happens within 5 minutes of getting back on the road. Good thing as within minutes it is quite a heavy downpour and we cross onto Hwy 50 to start the climb to Monarch Pass at over 11,000 feet. It is really feeling cold now and I am glad for the extra protection of my rain gear which also tends to block some of the wind. Very twisty mountain pass and we are riding carefully as the road is very slick. We stop near the summit (sorry no photos – the camera is put away) and we are perhaps 1, no more than 2 degrees above it starting to snow. The rain has that heavy quality of sleet and I see one car coming towards us that has some slush just below her front window. OH NO!!!! We’ve been this route before a number of years ago crossing Independence Pass into Aspen with 22F and snow. There were 8 of us on 7 bikes. I had taken a wrong turn and ended up in Leadville, Colorado. Rod caught up to me there and we warmed up with hot chocolate and I Bought MORE clothes in an effort to keep warm. We met up with the group later that night in Craig and we all had some great stories to tell.

My gloves are soaked through to my liners and I keep tucking them above the engine one at a time to try to get the circulation back. My toes are numb but we make it safely down the other side and fuel in Gunnison and have a coffee and swap stories with a fellow from Ohio on a BMW that’s giving him some trouble.

The last 65 miles into Montrose are trouble free and mostly in sunshine allowing my gloves to dry out. Beautiful scenery – it has changed drastically from the mountain passes into rolling ranchlands with many livestock. We travel along the Blue Mesa Reservoir which is over 15 miles long. Just out of Montrose lies the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. It is like a mini Grand Canyon. One of the steepest, darkest and most rugged of such canyons is formed by the Gunnison River as it flows through hard ancient rocks at the western edge of the Rocky Mountains, on its way to joining the Colorado river at Grand Junction. The canyon walls are composed of volcanic schist, predominantly black in color, and as the gorge reaches depths of over 2,000 feet while often being only 1,500 feet across, sunlight illuminates the walls only briefly, hence the name 'Black Canyon'. It is unsettling, almost frightening to stand at the very edge of one of the canyon overlooks, such is the menace and sheerness of the jagged rocks below.

Arriving in Montrose – it’s time for supper and we enjoy a fabulous Mexican fiesta at a family restaurant at El Jimador.