More of Colorado

We camped in Buena Vista, Colorado, in an area that promised views of the "Collegiate Range" of 14,000 footers, including Mount Yale, Mount Princeton, etc. The rain as we arrived late in the afternoon precluded any views, and we woke up this morning to limited mountain visibility due to low clouds. As we started on our way for the day, however, the Collegiates finally made themselves known above the clouds.

The literal high point of our day was at over 11,000 feet when we crossed the Continental Divide at Monarch Pass (we don't want to think about the mileage we averaged on the climb up!).

The figurative high point for our day was a side trip to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park - an unexpected gem between Montrose and Gunnison that our neighbor Sharon had recommended to us.


P.S. An update about Gladys - she remained quiet most of the day (she's more talkative in cities and crowded interstates), but when we asked her for department store references in Gunnison, she found us a J.C.Penney's......or so we thought. Her voice calmly led us through the streets of Gunnison, then proudly announced "J.C. Penney on your right", but the only store there was a small private clothing store. It turns out that the nearest J.C.Penney was in fact over 50 miles away in Montrose. Hmmm....