Day 5
Day five was scheduled to have it’s ups and downs. We’d be traveling from Grand Junction (4600 ft.), going up to Grand Mesa (10,800 ft.), down into the valley and through Black Canyon and then over Monarch Pass (11,300ft.) and finally down into Salida.
A short hop out I70 and then off at Rt 65 where we stopped for a group shot before we got to the more serious business of driving.
Grand Mesa Group
We started out in the canyons at the northern end of the route.
Then into some more open terrain with the mesa starting to rise in front of us.
Then we started climbing for the top of the mesa.
Once on top of the mesa things flattened out a bit and we could see the evidence of how dry the spring season had been. We took this same route last year and we had snow all the way down to the roadside. This year, while it was still green, we had no snow at all.
Once we had traveled a little way along the top of the mesa we stopped at the US Forest service station between Island and Cobbett Lake for a brief rest, restrooms and to let more travelers look at the cars.
Here’s some video of the run up to the top of the mesa.
CC 2012 Day 4a - YouTube
Once we were rested and restroomed we were on the road again to come down off the mesa and through Black Canyon on our way to the valley.
The route took us back into some flats and sweepers.
We stopped again at the overlook for Black Canyon for the requisite restrooms, photos of the view and car show for our fellow travelers.
Again, the photos don’t do it justice. With my widest lens I still had to stitch this together from 3 regular photos.
From the Black Canyon overlook down to the valley floor is pretty much coasting all the way through the usual twists and turns.
Once we were in the valley it was a scoot over to Gunnison for Lunch and fuel.
Another video. This one from the top of the mesa down into Gunnison.
CC 2012 Day 5b - YouTube
Once we were fueled and fed we were off to our second “up” of the day, Monarch Pass.
One of the nicest things about the route over Monarch is that once you start climbing for the pass there is a passing lane for almost the entire stretch. Makes it a lot more pleasant getting around the motor homes, tourists and sightseers giving you room to enjoy driving along with the views.
Cresting the pass leads you to a drop from over 11,000 feet to the Salida and the valley below at 7000 feet.
Video of the run from Gunnison over Monarch and back down towards Salida.
CC 2012 Day 5c - YouTube
Salida was our last overnight stop of the cruise. Tomorrow would be the final run back into Denver, load up the car and hit the road for home.
A real mixed bag of feelings here, most of them of the “sorry to see it end” variety. The cruise had been another in the “spectacular” category and I was sorry to see it coming to a close. On the plus side it put me in the early stages of the “look forward to next year” syndrome.