Between the towns of Montrose and Gunnison, the Gunnison River flows through two reservoirs, a canyon, and a gorge. This 60 miles is a continuously variable run of changing geology, ecology, and of course sights and sounds. As we get ready to leave (tomorrow), we reflect on the many vistas, ooohs and aaahs that we’ve had during our visit.

The Morrow Point Dam remains inactive, sad to say. We were really looking forward to the “big spill”, where 8,000 CFS would come out of those four ports. But the water-release would create problems downstream, where recent rains have caused high water and landslides. No forecast for a release until well after we leave the area.

Further upstream, just below the Blue Mesa dam, we hiked a really steep (but well-constructed) trail down to the river, and there took a river-side hike downstream a couple of miles. The pathway there is superb – – because it’s the old railroad bed. About 1000 guys used picks and shovels (and a little nitro of course) to hack out a narrow-gauge (3-foot) railroad here in 1882. It pulled cargo and tourists on flatbed cars, and was actually running up until 1949, when they pulled up all the rails and ties.

It was a rough, rough railroad. Accidents and fatalities were pretty common. Here’s some old pix of a good day, and a really bad day.

As Karin and I walked the trail, it got lower and closer to the river. Obviously, it was following the original river; this part is filling into the Morrow Reservoir, and the old road-bed ends up about 300 feet under the water at the end point of Cimarron.

As we walked along, we commiserated with each other that people didn’t have the gentility to pick up after their pets. The pathway was strewn with dog-scat. I mean after all, couldn’t they at least kick it off the path and down into the river?

Then suddenly, the actuality of the situation intruded upon us. We scared up two enormous Canada Geese, must have been 15 pounds each, softly honking to each other and laying down a seemingly continuous trail of gigantic dog-size turds.

When they saw that we had discovered their mayhem, they had no choice but to fly away in shame.

After hiking this south side trail, we drove around to the north side and encountered probably the two most striking view points in the entire Curacanti area. One had no name, and the other was Pioneer Creek. Here is a view from Pioneer over to the trail we took down to the river. It goes from the parking lot at the upper left to the river at the lower right. About 100% slope, but there were lots of steps.

At Pioneer, virtually every step along the (thankfully sturdy) guard rail produced a straight-down view. The sheer drops, and even some over-hangs, are awe-inspiring and/or fear-inspiring. Here, looking down at Pioneer Creek, you can see by the angle of the 100-foot-tall trees that it’s a vertical drop from my toes.

I managed to coax Karin out (on her belly) to one edge, and I walked up to a couple of other places. The wind was howling, making these approaches even more dangerous, so I couldn’t get really close. Besides, Karin was yelling at me something fierce.

Boat tours normally tour the impressive Morrow Reservoir canyon (where we walked), but due to the fluctuating water status, we ended up taking a somewhat un-remarkable tour on Blue Mesa instead. No big canyon walls. But still pleasant. We got to see our camp from the water, too. That’s Howie, the left-most RV. Lots of room.

Much later, we explored the upper Gunnison area. Here, the river is wide and flat, and the surrounds are riparian, with big groves of huge 80-foot cottonwoods and lush green grass and foliage. Peering through the dense foliage, the stark desert hills glower in the background.

Near the end of the day, we popped up the town of Gunnison to gas up Ralph. And what did we find but this incredible collection of antlers and mounted heads, from all over the world. We didn’t find out how they accumulated all this stuff, but we were truly impressed.

Tomorrow, we’re off in the general direction of Dinosaur National Monument, and perhaps points en-route.