Buena Vista to Gunnison, CO - STR-2021-12

Monday, 28 June

After finishing golf, we set off for Buena Vista, CO. As we came down about 1,600 feet in elevation, Sprinty got 23.5mpg, about 6mpg more than normal. As the day would have more climbing, it was just putting it in the bank for later.

Our first stop was the Buena Vista Heritage Museum. Like the museum in Russell Springs, KS, the museum is housed in the old courthouse building. When the county seat moved to Salida, the building became a school. Then it became the museum.

The museum was mostly local Buena Vista history, but included the town fit in the mining boom of the late-1800s, the railroad interests in the late-1800s, and the impact of the closure of mines in the 1890s and early 1900s.

After the museum, we walked the town, stopping at the Buena Vista Roastery for Darrell to pay up for golf with a frappe.

While enjoying the frappe, we took advantage of decent cell service to confirm the next planned activity, a hike in Browns Canyon National Monument. The hike we had picked from the national monument information was not listed in AllTrails, and required a Colorado day pass to park at the trailhead.

AllTrails did list a number of highly rated hikes in the Buena Vista area. When we saw the "Fist Full of Dollars and Django" loop hike, we quickly changed plans. While the trail was named after famous movies, it wasn't because the area played any role in the movies.

We had high expectations for the hike, and we're not disappointed. The last 2+ miles to the trailhead was a dirt road, which was pretty decent for 2 of the 2+ miles. Parts were pretty rough that things shifted and fell in the back of Sprinty.

We chose to hike the loop trail in a clockwise direction as laid out on the AllTrails map. The trail is multi-use: hiking, mountain biking and equestrian. Both of us were glad we were hiking it - some of the rocks that had to be navigated looked well beyond our capabilities on 80 pound bikes.

The Django trail went downhill, and the Fist Full of Dollars trail went uphill. We enjoyed scenic views

and used the "Seek" app we just added to our phones to identify some of the plant life.

Starvation Prickly Pear

Hedgehog Cacti

Overall, we hiked about 3.5 miles with 348 feet elevation descent and gain.

With some day still before us, we headed for Chalk Creek Campground and RV Park in Nathrop, CO to visit Tom and Heidi who were staying there all week. The had a nice pull-through site right in the water.

Our selected place to camp for the night was Iron City Campground, a National Forest campground located in the San Isabel National Forest near the ghost town of St Elmo. It required going up a dirt road for about 6 miles, climbing to an elevation of 9,881 feet, higher than we started the day at the golf course. As a first-come/first-served campsite, we had no idea if there would even be an open site especially so late in the day.

The campground has 15 primitive sites, a 25-foot RV length limit, and is first-come/first-served. As we climbed up the dirt road, driving well out of cell service, Kris started wondering what sort of half-baked idea Darrell had hatched with Sprinty.

We arrived at the campground and found most of the sites available.

We picked a site that, while sloped, was sloped adequately.

After getting Sprinty settled, we did the self-service checkin at the Iron Ranger. $10 with the senior pass.

Tuesday, 29 June

We woke up to a quiet 39 degrees. Once the sun started filtering down through the trees, we hiked from campground to the St. Elmo Ghost Town.

Saint Elmo, Colorado is one of the most accessible and best preserved ghost towns in the West. It's located just southwest of Buena Vista in Chalk Creek Canyon, a little over thirty minutes drive from town. There are 43 buildings remaining all scattered around: a saloon, courthouse/jail, mercantile, and private homes. This ghost town is accessible year round making it one of the few worth visiting in the winter months.

Originally called Forrest City in 1880, Saint Elmo was renamed and incorporated shortly after. Gold and silver drew miners in. In its heyday of around 2,000 residents in 1881, the town was full of saloons, dance halls and other staples of a mostly male population. With the closing of train service to Chalk Creek Canyon in 1926, the town slowly dwindled. By 1958 it was a virtual ghost town.

Between the campground and the cluster of buildings in town was the Brown house built in the early 1880s and owned by the Browns until 1932.

To get across the river from the town to the campground, we had to cross a one-lane bridge. The rushing water in the morning light was breathtaking.

However, although it is called a ghost town, most of the properties are private property, and it appeared that some of the buildings are still lived in today.

We wandered down the middle of the street until the street was blocked off right after the Pushor Building.

The Pushor Building is in disrepair, and did not seem to have a roof anymore.

Overall, we got in a nice 1.5 mile hike in mid-40 degree temperatures. Very pleasant.

We broke camp and mostly coasted back down the mountain to the highway. For the 14-mile descent, we used less than half a gallon of fuel - we achieved over 28mpg.

Our next destination was Walmart in Salida, CO for groceries. While there, we re-examined the plan for the day and found that we were only about 60 miles from Great Sand Dunes National Park - as the crow flies. We decided to check it out, even though it was not on our original plan and is an optional stop for our caravan in August.

The drive from Salida was about 90 miles and 90 minutes. A pleasant drive, the scenery reminded us more and more of a slightly wetter southwest Arizona. Especially as we saw tiny homes and makeshift shelters scattered about. We had to wonder about zoning in this part of Colorado.

When we were still 30 miles away, the sand dunes were plainly visible in the distance. Great Sand Dunes National Park is located close to nothing.

The sand dunes stretch for a long way.

We started with a stop at the visitor center expecting they would have a video and exhibits on the park. No video, and what few exhibits they had were not accessible as they are closed for lunch from 12PM to 1PM.

From the visitor center, you could make out the people who were walking up the dunes. Many were carrying sleds or sand boards to slide down the dunes. The people looked like small ants on the sand dunes (the tiny specs of dark are people).

A review of the park map showed limited places you could access on pavement. We drove to the Dunes Parking area, and walked out to the Medano Creek.

Photo in opposite direction

Having visited and walked on the dunes at White Sands National Park in New Mexico and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan, we did not have much interest in hiking these dunes. Sort of a been there, done that. And no tee shirt because the gift shop was closed for lunch.

As the day's schedule firmed up with the completion of our visit to Great Sand Dunes National Park, we called a RV park in Gunnison, CO, to make arrangements for a campsite for the night.

Although Google Maps tried to save Sprinty about 10 minutes by routing us to Gunnison, CO, we overrode Google to drive over Monarch Pass at 11,312 feet elevation on US 50.

Our original plan was to ride the Monarch Crest Scenic Tram. Fortunately, we called in advance (from Great Sand Dunes NP) and learned the tram was out of commission for a few days. They had a bearing go bad and repairs were not expected until Friday. Just another reason to visit again.

Our campsite for the night is at the Palisades Senior R-V Park Campground in Gunnison, CO. A little different from most RV parks, the park is owned by the Gunnison Home Association, Inc., a Colorado non-profit whose mission is providing service for Seniors. A very well run and well maintained campground. Reminded us of Riverside RV Resort where we spent the last two winters.

We used our stay to take care of things like laundry, fill our fresh water tanks, dump, and our black and gray water tanks. We wanted to get Sprinty fully prepared for whatever camping option he picks in the next few days.