June 26th-28th Travel Days with a stopover in Grand Mesa

June 26^th Lakeview through Blue Mesa Recreational Area & Black Canyon to Grand Mesa

Today we left Lakeview and the Gunnison National Forest, traveled through Blue Mesa Recreation Area and then took the North rim of the Black Canyon up to Grand Mesa National Forest.

Blue Mesa Recreation Area

Gunnison River as it winds through Black Canyon with the San Juan mountain chain in the background.

Colorado traffic jam on the way to Grand Mesa.

The trip up to Grand Mesa took a little longer, Due to the steepness and altitude climb, we had to let the RV cool down two different times … the engine and transmission ran hot, warning gauges are a good thing. The views were worth the wait, this is just one of the many lookouts near the top of Grand Mesa.

Island Lake, one of the many lakes we passed on the way to Jumbo campground (which had just opened last week, due to snow).

June 27^th Jeeping out to Land’s End and Crater View

Today we headed out to see the back country of Grand Mesa. This is the view from Land’s End

While at the observation point, Lars met Chip and Dale who loved the sunflower kernels he had to offer.

 From Crater View you are able to see Land’s End which is a large mesa/peninsula that you are able to look and see Grand Junction below.

After leaving Crater View we headed down the rough, 4X4 trail only to find patches of snow. Hmmm…it was a little too much snow for the (blue mule) jeep…yes, stuck again. The mud puddles were fine, but not the hard packed snow. Three of four wheels had no grip, since the frame of the jeep was resting on top of the snow. No handy shovel or gloves to speak of…until some nice ATVer’s came and helped bail us out. Lets just say we struggled for about an hour and half.

We came down from Grand Mesa (10,000ft) to Highway 70 (5,000ft) where it was in the mid 90’s, yuck.

However the scenery on Highway 70 around Glenwood is stunning with the steep rock walls on both sides and the Colorado River flowing along aside, it is definitely a great view. You also get to tunnel through the mountains, which felt somewhat cooler.