Curecanti NRA

Every year we head to Denver at some point, but we try to vary our route.  This year we took US 50 east through Colorado past pretty Blue Mesa Reservoir and Curecanti National Recreation Area.

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There are several campgrounds in the recreation area and we stayed in spacious Elk Creek CG.  Mid week, we were almost the only ones there.

There is a very reasonably-priced boat ride that goes through the canyon below the dam which I would have loved to do, but alas, they were in the process of filling up the reservoir and not releasing enough water down river to float the boat.  Next time.

However we did a couple of nice hikes.  The first was the Dillon Pinnacles trail,

With great views of the lake . . .

On the way up to the base of the pinnacles.

We also hiked some of the Neversink Trail, which might not be named too appropriately since we had to turn around where the trail was under water.  On the other hand, this is above the lake and the Gunnison River was really roaring.

Actually we really enjoyed the Neversink trail for the fauna.  We saw many birds and heard even more.  In one section, the frogs were serenading us.

Continuing east on US 50, we crossed the Rockies and Continental Divide over Monarch Pass.  The grade is about 10 miles of 6% both going up and coming down.  It's a haul, but the eastbound assent had a passing lane almost the whole way.  The view from the top is breathtaking, but sometimes the lack of guard rails stole my breath even more.