2016 Western Trip – Days 36-38 – Gunnison and Taylor Park

It's really slow and almost painful, but I can post.

It appears that we attract rain and road pavers here in Colorado – the road between the campground and town has undergone repaving in Grand Junction, Montrose, and now in Gunnison.  As for the rain, a cold front has moved through and we had rain for two days which I’m sure the area always needs but since it has likely turned the dirt roads we planned to travel into mud, we decided to wait a day – the girls headed to Gunnison to check out the shopping while I dog sat and puttered around the coach.

The next day, we decided to make a drive into the mountains and opted for Taylor Park and Tin Cup.  Taylor Park is the developed area around Taylor Reservoir and is about 35 miles northeast of Gunnison with the pretty drive up the Gunnison and Taylor Rivers on a paved road.

One of the things I like about the Colorado mountains is the large valleys between them, which are often irrigated and very productive looking.

This is the Taylor dam with what appears to be a small powerhouse and the relatively small reservoir behind it.  The most notable part of the Taylor River is the .4 mile of water below the Reservoir. This section is host to some of the largest stream-born trout in the lower 48 states.

Taylor Park is composed of campgrounds, cabins, trading post, gift shop, and restaurant and is a center for fishing, off -roading, hiking, and other outdoor activities.

After checking out the store and gift shop, we decided to make the seven mile dirt road drive up to Tin Cup.  The town began in 1879, as Virginia City, following an earlier discovery of gold in Willow Creek and is located at an elevation of 10,160 feet.  We got a kick out of the entrance sign as we'd only been traveling about 20 mph on the dirt road.

Here are some shots around town and the car dashboard showing the outside temp.

There are only seasonal residents in Tin Cup and two commercial activities – the Tin Cup Store and Frenchy’s Café which had people waiting on the porch to get in. 

This is headed back down into the Taylor Valley with some of the mountains that are just north of the Collegiate Peaks.

As we were leaving a storm had moved through and there were white caps on the lake plus we saw our only large wildlife – lots of CO high country is open range.

It was a fun day and I especially enjoyed seeing some of the old buildings in Tin Cup - we hope to make a couple more of these trips.  The only negative was that Coco developed diarrhea that lasted into the next day so we cancelled our plans for Friday and the ladies headed back to Gunnison to visit the stores they missed the first time - I did my usual.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/24–8/26/16 event dates