June 5, 2014 Blue Mesa Boat Tour, Morrow Point Dam, and Sapinero Happy Hour

We arrived at the Elk Creek Marina early and made our way to the little store and then the tour boat.  There were only 6 people for the tour plus our ranger interpreter, Tara, and our boat captain.

The marina:

Pappy’s restaurant is on the left of the marina:

And off we go:

Tara took us thru the history of the area.  She talked about some of the geology – rocks in these canyons are some of the earth’s oldest and hardest. They were thrust up during the Colorado uplift as well as volcanic eruptions.  The softer soil was washed away by water erosion thru the canyons.

She also talked about water rights of the Colorado River – which is why these reservoirs are here.   And about all the peoples that have come thru – Utes and explorers and the trains.

Last year this reservoir was down 85 feet.  Right now it is filling at the rate of 1-2 feet and day and they are hoping that it reaches full capacity.  Right now, the deepest area is 450 feet and much shallower in the tributaries – as you can see from these trees.

Making our way back:

What a wonderful tour.  Tara recommended that we stop by to see the Morrow Point Dam – water coming thru the top.  And she also recommended that we stop by the little store at Sapinero and say hello to the owners, Geri and Jim.

We had lunch at Pappy’s then headed back and stopped at Sapinero where we met Geri and Maggie.  Geri and Jim bought this place in 2010 and have been updating and remodeling ever since.  These are some of the original buildings that were brought up from the original town site of Sapinero.  They now have a little store, service station and tavern.

The tavern:

Behind these buildings are three levels of RV spaces and cabins.  Most RV sites are seasonal and can fit small rigs.  Every day they have a happy hour at the tavern and invited us to join them at 4:30 which we did – !

After the Sapinero stop and before Happy Hour, we drove to Cimarron to see the Morrow Point Dam.  The road took us thru a narrow canyon:

to the Dam:

One of the rushing tributaries:

Coming together downstream from the dam:

“Near the top of the dam are four 15-foot square openings.  These make up the spillway.  On rare occasions more water flows into the reservoir than can be released through the power plant and the dam’s outlet works.  When this happens the excess water is released though the free fall spillway, falling 350 feet into the stilling basin below.  The spillway can discharge a maximum of 41000 cubic feet of water per second.”

WOW!

A short video:  http://youtu.be/hldEdBRzaEg

We made a brief stop at home and then headed to Sapinero Tavern where we had a great time meeting some great folks and learning about the area.  So glad they invited us and we may stop back before we leave.

And the mountains – oh my!

Enjoy today.

June 4, 2014 Travel to Curecanti National Recreation Area

We left Grand Junction early this morning and made our way south and east on US-50. The topography changed from small rolling hills:

to bigger rolling hills:

We went over a few summits that were in the 8300’ range – WOW!.  But the valleys were around 7000’ – still very high.

We passed many farms and ranches and roads that went into the unknown:

And wildflowers everywhere – :

To:

Where we got a spot facing the Blue Mesa Lake:

The campground has three levels and we are on the top level. It is mostly a fishing/boating campground but the view was great and only $6.00/night.  There is water available and a dump station nearby.

After setting up we drove to the Visitor Center at Elk Creek, about 12 miles east of us. Views along the way:

Blue Mesa Reservoir as well as Morrow Point, and Crystal Dam are part of the Wane N. Aspinall Unit dams of the Bureau of Reclamation’s Upper Colorado River Storage Project.  Blue Mesa serves as the main storage reservoir.  Morrow Point Dam generates most of the power and Crystal Dam maintains an even flow through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

Blue Mesa Reservoir is the largest body of water in Colorado and has developed into a premier coldwater fishery with kokanee salmon and rainbow trout dominating the catches.

This year due to the large snow pack that is now melting along with the rains, Blue Mesa is filling at the rate of 1-2 FEET A DAY – WOW!  They are also trying to hold back many water releases due to the flooding further on down the Colorado.  And because of the level instability in the Morrow Point Reservoir, those boat tours were cancelled –   (This tour goes thru one of the narrow canyons.)  But they have replaced it with a tour of Blue Mesa Reservoir with a ranger that talks about the history of the area and the dams.  So we signed up and are heading out tomorrow.

On our way back, we stopped at a pullout directly across from the campground that talked about one of the towns that was submerged when the dam was built:

The campground/marina – if you look closely to the right side, you can see our flag:

And always the beautiful mountains:

We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon/evening by the campfire looking out over the lake.

Enjoy today.

Miles Traveled:  102 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Colorado:  25 1/2 Road; Independent Avenue; North 4th Street; US-50