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By the time we reached the pass we had seen
several deer, a couple of bucks with velvet
antlers, and so many grand mountain vistas of the
magnificent Colorado ‘fourteeners’ that we
couldn’t count.
The dirt road had indeed been graded, no ruts, no
pot holes. It was such an easy and beautiful drive.
At the Pass we stopped for a final view, and then
the road turned to hardtop. Going down the
eastern slop into Buena Vista was a piece of cake,
even though it was not nearly as scenic as the sun
had passed over us to the west.
At Buena Vista we had our first sighting of the
Arkansas. It was a ferocious narrow river, with
white water rapids, boulders and clear water
racing down the valley toward Salida.
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Unlike the Colorado River it had not carved the
valley into a deep ‘V’ as it headed down. It was
in a Moraine valley, a large ‘U’ shaped, curved
one, carved by the glaciers thousands of years
before.
Twin Lakes:
We headed for the Twin Lakes where we would
camp and over look the headwaters of this grand
river. The Twin Lakes are dammed and probably
a little larger than the Taylor reservoir.
We climbed several thousand feet above them
and settled on a good site among the trees, yet
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with a view of the lakes. We set up camp, and
prepared for dinner.
Arlene headed for the pit toilets, but came back
utterly outraged at the condition of them. They
had not been cleaned or taken care of for some
time, maybe as long as a couple of busy
weekends.
Sorry, but that’s not what we expect anywhere
and were so grossed out about it that we searched
out the host to get our check back. It was in a
drum canister which had to be opened by the
attendant.
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After a short talk where we appraised him of the
situation and our feeling about it, he was more
than obliged to retrieve the check.
We packed up for a second time that day and
drove out of this pretty camp away from the
Twin Lakes and the Source of the Arkansas
River. Heading toward Leadville and around a
few mountains to meet the Colorado River back
on the other side of the divide.
U.S. 50 East:
To continue following along the Arkansas, we’ll
return another time from Gunnison, US 50, and
our favorite camp at One Mile to pick-up our
path to Poncho Springs and Salida.
Salida is a cross road town with a choice of going
in every direction in Colorado, north, south, east
and west. Not a large town, it’s major attraction
is a Wal Mart store.
We’ve been here many times, always to get gas,
and often to shop. We replaced that horrible
camera episode with a Kodak camera, and of all
things we’ve bought some of those delicious
Palisades Peaches.
We’re heading east on US 50 down the valley
along the on-rushing white water Arkansas. It’s a
lovely drive, with the river beside us we wonder
how grand it would be to take our kayaks along
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it. The rapids never looked like, level 4; beyond
our abilities, just lots of fun.
At Canyon City we passed the State Penitentiary.
That’s where everyone must, work as it wasn’t
much of a town. But, what caught our attention
was the scent of smoke in the air.
Us Easterners don’t need to read many
newspapers, or visit the great southwest to
imagine what that scent might mean.
Wild Fire!
Our adrenalin popped. Would we actually see
one? Would we be able to drive through? And
then a few more sobering thoughts. We were in a
National Forest, and forest fires generally
terrorize the country side. Thousands of acres
are often burned, people lose homes, ranches and
towns are sometimes burned. And often roads
are closed.
We pulled over, just outside of Canyon City to
look over our map and turn on the radio. If it
was a Wild Fire we’d have to know where. Even
though we assumed it was either to our south,
along the forest ridge, or much worse in front of
us.
If it was in front of us we could run into a closed
road. There aren’t many roads along here, and
detours are long. If we could take a detour.
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The map showed that we’d have to back track 20
miles to Texas Creek in order to find another
road headed for Pueblo. Even then the detour
would be 60 to 80 miles long before returning to
US 50. The detour might also be closed. In
which case we would back track beyond Texas
Creek to a safe place to spend the night.
These fires may continue for days, even weeks,
depending on the wind and weather. If it was so
bad, and lasted for days or weeks, we would have
to find a way to circumvent it probably on route
9 and 24 into Colorado Springs.
The radio was crackling with news of the fire. It
was in front of us between Lincoln Park and
Florence, about 5 miles ahead.
There was no sign of the road being closed so we
hoped we could get through. A couple of miles
later we saw several fire trucks. They might have
been getting ready to close the road. But, that’s
hard to say as the hills to our south were covered
with smoke.
It didn’t take us long to stop lollygagging and
drive past. Hopefully, beyond the fire.
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Lake Pueblo:
As we drove along the landscape changed. While
the mountains were obscured by the haze and
smoke to the west the hills became more and
more desert like with fewer trees and more
tumble weed and dollar cactus appeared.
By the time we reached Pueblo the landscape was
pretty stark. It seemed as if the strip retail stores
were the only thing holding down the dust.
The old road route 96 led us to the Pueblo state
campground. The area had old worn out used
car dealers, small shops and small beat up old
homes. It wasn’t that appealing.
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Inside the campground we followed the twisting
road and shore line around the burnt grasses and
the brown bushes. The reservoir, Lake Pueblo
was suffering from the drought. It was down 20
– 30 feet from its usual side.
Most of the sites were flat so when we came to a
spot with some trees, we took it. It had
electricity, so we were protected from the 103
degree temperature that scorched the earth
outside.
We heard that the fire had been contained.
Thank goodness.
The Arkansas was dammed to provide water for
the desert city. It also was enjoyed as a place to
boat, fish and swim.
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The little water that had been let out from the
dam was still called the Arkansas River.
We weren’t staying here long, particularly with
the fire behind us.
At a certain time in our travels, maybe after a
month or even two we feel like we have been out
long enough and that we ought to be headed
home.
We get itchy to be where there’s more room
inside our house, to wander around. Say from
the living to dining, to bed room. In our rig,
whichever one, it’s never more than a few feet.
By the time we reached Pueblo we’d come to that
point. Often, it’s several days to get home,
sometimes a week or more. From Pueblo it
would be weeks.
Once we reached the Florida border it would
only be 3 days. That kind of weighted on us as
we were used to a Connecticut sized state where
once you reached it’s border it would only be
another hour or so.
Out of Pueblo we crossed the rough and ragged
Colorado desert through La Junta hoping to
camp at the Corp of Engineers on John Martin
reservoir, the next damned site of the Arkansas.
Unfortunately, the State had taken over the
campsite. That’s a code red for us, remembering
that Colorado charges too much for their
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campgrounds. We continued through Lamar out
into Kansas.
Kansas:
As we crossed the border into Kansas the
landscape changed. It’s still flat, but Colorado’s
plains are rugged, and rolling, but there’s not a lot
of agriculture. It seems like the land isn’t used
much, and of course there isn’t much water.
In Kansas on the other hand we could see as far
as the end of the earth.
The rough country side had changed into cattle
grazing ranches, corn, wheat, and sunflower
fields.
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We stopped again and again as we passed acres of
cultivated fields. Arlene at one point got out and
climbed through this sorghum field.
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When approaching Garden City from the east
there is the dreadful smell of the feed lots,
thousands of cattle being stuffed with grain
before being slaughtered and distributed all over
the country.
I guess the distribution is something of a marvel.
After being slaughtered pieces of cattle are
shipped everywhere, from Portland Maine to
Seattle, Washington to Sarasota, Florida within 24
hours. Right to your grocery.
But, approaching from the west we were
traveling down wind and it wasn’t until we passed
the city that we caught the scent. Ugh. The
smell carries for miles.
Dodge:
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We stopped in Dodge, Kansas and although
there was a reservoir full of water, grass on the
camp site and trees with some shade the poor
Arkansas River was empty. We would cross
most of Kansas and Oklahoma before it started
to gain some volume. In the meantime we were
excited about being in DODGE.
That wild west town where all the cattle drives
from way down in Texas loaded their beef onto
the trains for shipment to the East.
The Rodeo was in town and everyone was in a
celebrating mood. This was great, just the kind
of break we needed, for a pick-me-up. We
figured the Dodge Rodeo would be high on the
Rodeo list, one of the big ones.
It really isn’t, Las Vegas is the biggest. Dodge is
on a par with the others we’ve attended in Moab,
Utah and Deadwood, South Dakota, small
potatoes. We didn’t care what size it was, and
after getting settled we headed into town to join
the festivities. We walked around a bit, thought
about buying rodeo tickets, and visited several of
the open booths.
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Down town we weren’t surprised to see
something like a Zimmerman store. It’s possible
that there are more German migrants in America
than any other nationality. There are
communities of them everywhere, around
America.
It’s nice, but I’m the last of this side of the family
tree. Dan and my brother’s son Michal are still
alive, but neither have male off spring.
Actually, I’m glad about that, not because the
family name is lost, but because it’s not necessary
to continue the sexist tradition. Arlene for
instance should be Milton-Zimmerman after her
family name.
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Instead she has used her family name first in
business and secondly as her middle name after
we were married and she retired. Arlene Milton
Zimmerman. (She has always had a grand hand,
and enjoyed writing Zimmerman.)
On the corner of Boot Hill and Wyatt Earp
boulevard was this Long Horn steer, ‘Texas Red’.
We’ve never seen one before. This
guy was huge and friendly. We should have
gotten his autographs, or hoof print.
We’ve told the story about creating a name for
ourselves as we drove across the plains years ago.
It’s ‘Double ‘R’, Bar ‘Z’. We thought we’d use it
on the entrance gate to our ranch. Also as a
branding iron for our cattle.
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Well, here was our opportunity, a booth with all
kinds of metal work.
We looked everything over and really liked the
craftsmanship. These folks did some really nice
wrought iron. We bought this coat rack, with the
lariat swirling cowboys.
These guys were so good that after leaving with
our cowboys we decided to go back and ask if
they would make something up for us. We
figured we’d be here a couple of days, if we went
to the rodeo, and they could do it before we left.
They were so friendly, said they could do it, but
not during the rodeo. They would mail it to us.
This is, with their help what we designed. The
circle just tied the whole piece together.
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It’s great! Double ‘R’ Bar ‘Z’!
Dodge Rodeo:
We were on a high. So pleased with ourselves we
bought tickets to the Dodge Rodeo and went
back to the RV to get ready for the bronco’ and
barrel racing.
Now we’re getting pretty good at this ‘dress-up’
for the event. Arlene pressed both our long
sleeve shirts. Cowboys and Cowgirls alike wear
starched long sleeves. We even put a crease in
our Levies.
My brother had given me a pair of cowboy boots.
They were a bit tight so I hadn’t worn them, but
figured I’d survive one night. Both of us wore
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our summer straw cowboy hats, with the wide
brims.
We were ready.
Welcome to the Dodge Rodeo!
The opening festivities were great. Horsemen
with banners, paraded around the ring. An
announcer introduced all the important people
who were responsible for the show. There were
more parades and roping, like Monty Montana
the famous trick roper.
They then called out the ticket numbers for the
winners of the raffle.
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Oh! My! Arlene had a winning ticket. She won!
This beautiful commemorative pewter belt
buckle.
WHA! HOO!
She nor I ever win anything. How happy we
were.
Now it was time to get down to the Bucking
Broncos and the real Rodeo.
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Out of the gate, one after another cowboy’s
being tossed into the air, chaps flying, hats flung
off and often them too. A fierce battle, man and
beast. Some made it 8 seconds, others not so
long.
Here’s the story of the ‘Strawberry Rhone’ and
one cowboy bronco rider:
“They went up in the east and came down in the
west. Turning on a dime and giving a quarter
change. Their hooves reach to the sky while their
neck drops and their head strikes the ground.
They twist like a pretzel and coil like a spring.
Hats fly,
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boots flap in the sky, then reach into their hides,
arms swing and heads roll.”
We stayed for the last roped calf late in the
evening. Back in the RV we could see the final
fireworks bursting into the sky. This had been a
great couple of days. We took off our cowboy
outfits and cooled off in the welcomed air
conditioning with a glass of wine and Arlene’s
prize.
The next day we packed up and left Dodge.
To The Mississippi :
We’d traveled across the plains into eastern
Oklahoma where the Arkansas gathered some
water headed into the grand state of Arkansas,
Fort Smith, to Little Rock and on finally as a fully
fledged river merging into the Mississippi, before
flowing together toward the Gulf of Mexico.
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APPENDIX 1
Colorado:
State Map and some of the trails traveled.
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Rio Grande River from Colorado to the Gulf of
Mexico.
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Colorado River from Rocky Mountain National
Park to Gulf of California.
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Arkansas River across the states to the
Mississippi River.
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Kansas and Nebraska Rivers from Colorado:
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Colorado Water Conservation Board:
No Water: 2004 Report on water usage.
“We have to be more agile as a state if we are
going to react to the changes that are right in
front of us.” “That is going to require trade-offs,
and people are not going to be able to necessarily
use the water they want to use all the time.”
Essentially, the 30% of the population on the
Eastern Front, will have to cut back on using
70% of the water they use. Today there are 29
tunnels transporting water to the east. It is
estimated by 2050 that the need will double.
This is a typical political issue where the smaller
population in the west can’t resist or modify the
laws against the larger and growing eastern
population.
This particular problem exists in states all over
the country. Florida as one example is ruled by
the developers on each coast, who’s population is
far greater. North Port, before the economic
failure of real estate had approved building 3,000
more homes, while the state’s congress was
considering a law to transfer water from the
north, south beyond Orlando to support them.
We have seen over years how irrigation has used
much water, and even drained the aquifers
underlying the states. This is true across the
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Southwest, and the plains in Colorado, Nebraska,
Kansas, Oklahoma, Nevada, California, Arizona,
New Mexico and Texas.
This is a groundwater depletion map across the
west. It’s easy to see how Colorado is cut in half
by the Rocky’s West and the Eastern plains. The
Colorado plains are estimated to have depleted
between 10 – 25 Kilometers (yellow) to over 150
– 400 Kilometers (red stripe) from their
underground reservoir.
It is easy to see that these southwestern states
and Colorado need to work on their use of water.
Rebuilding the underground aquifers in a
warming climate and multiyear drought will be a
huge task.
Residential areas use more water than
agricultural, and are less responsive. The
developers of residential communities have the
political strength, which endangers the natural
resources.
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We don’t believe Florida is up to solving their
water problem, and probably Colorado and the
Southwest states aren’t either.
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Before we left The Black Canyon we penned a
letter to our grand daughters about this
wonderful story.
How the West Was Won:
Yesterday we drove down into the Black Canyon
of the Gunnison. After camping on the top rim
for almost a week. We couldn’t find a way to
hike down, because the side walls were so steep.
The several trails were so rough and dangerous
that going down would have required cliff
climbing equipment. Neither of us were ever
interested in that kind of adventure.
Near the end of the week we discovered a boat
excursion at the far eastern end of the canyon,
where it wasn’t quite so steep. If we could get
down to the canyon floor we’d be able to go into
the canyon. We’d drive half way down, along a
winding, switch-back, gravel road, and then down
300 steps or more to the river. From there we
would follow an old railroad track down the river
a mile or more into the canyon before getting to
the boat dock.
Since we are on the western side of the
Continental Divide rivers run down stream,
westward toward the Pacific Ocean, not eastward
to the Atlantic, like the Hudson River.
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But, let me backup a little, as the canyon has
quite a story. Thanks to our anthropologist and
geologists.
A long time ago, before people, even before
animals and dinosaurs, this steep canyon was
formed. The rock on each side was so hard that
the river running through never dislodged a
single pebble and therefore ran so clear and
transparent it looked like glass. It’s only color
came from the reflection of the sky.
On one side, to the north there developed a huge
mountain volcano, and as it erupted, over the
years, it filled the canyon with the softer volcanic
rock. It filled it to the brim so you couldn’t see
the canyon. It looked as if there were only rolling
hills slopeing off the gigantic volcano.
As our earth formed, and changed there was
nothing like good old water to help wash away
the soft volcanic dirt and rocks. The water of the
river kept working it’s way off the mountains
toward the sea. Instead of running clear it carried
the softer rocks along with it, and started cutting
back into the once great canyon.
By the time Captain John Gunnison of the US
Army arrived, millions of year later, the river had
washed out all the volcanic rock and soil and
returned it to it’s clear fast running self, with the
2,000 foot cliffs we see today.
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Our Army in the west wasn’t just there to protect
the thousands of pioneers making their way along
the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails. They also were
interested in helping those who lived in the East.
They wanted to find new ways to ship produce
and minerals like gold and silver and live stock
like cattle and sheep back east.
During that time, around the1850’s or about 150
years ago the rage in transportation wasn’t just
horses and buggies. Thanks to Robert Fulton the
steam engine had caught on. There were
steamboats with paddle wheels racing up and
down the Mississippi, the Missouri, and other
rivers including the Rio Grande and the
Colorado.
The US Army came into the picture with Captain
Gunnison. He had been sent to find a railroad
passage through the mountains to California.
This river looked like a good path out onto the
western desert..
Trains also ran on steam, from coal and wood,
and it was thought that a railroad across the
United States would help develop our huge
country. With a continental railroad we wouldn’t
be tied down to just water transportation for
heavy freight.
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Railroads were a hot item. Trains transporting
freight across the land between rivers. What a
historical advantage that would be.
Captain Gunnison knew this about trains, and
when he found the Black Canyon ( I suppose it
got it’s name because it was so deep that no
sunlight reached the bottom.) He proposed
blasting a pathway along it’s banks, for the rails.
At that time the river was known as the ‘Little
Grand’, because a little further west was another
larger river called the ‘Grand’ River which it
flowed into.
They blasted until it was so difficult they couldn’t
blast any further. The railroad was built, but not
all the way through the canyon.
They were able to go deep into it before cutting
out along the southern side and around to where
the ‘Little Grand’ joined the ‘Grand’ and the two
took off across the desert. The desert, which later
became the great State of Utah. The two rivers
met in the town of Grand Junction.
This was such a great feat that everyone in the
world knew about it. That’s why Rudyard Kipling
took the train through the river canyon in 1890.
Why else would he have left India. It just goes to
show what an adventurous person he was.
That’s not the end of the rivers story, or the
brave men and women that helped build it. After
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we started replacing railroads with highways, and
horses with cars and trucks we started using more
and more water.
Our population was growing and lots of people
were living where there was too little water. We
needed to take water from one place to another
where they could use it.
Moving water around isn’t an easy job, but we’ve
been doing it for thousands of years. Those
clever Romans were really good at it, engineering
and building aqueducts all over Rome.
We were also. The ‘Little Grand’ was redirected
through a tunnel and carried away where it could
be used by other people, as far away as Phoenix,
Arizona. We also turned to irrigation to take
water into areas and fields where we needed it to
grow crops.
But, water comes to us at different times of the
year. So in the spring there’s plenty, yet in the
late fall there’s not enough.
Just think about it for a moment. Like you I’m
about as thirsty no matter what time of year it is.
Easy enough to say, all we need to do is keep it in
storage until we need it. The storage units
needed to be pretty big. So instead of soda cans
full of water we built dams, and reservoirs to
hold water until we need it.
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New York City needs lots of water. One of the
ways to provide it was to dam rivers in upper
New York State. Lake Sagandaga is such a
storage area. In fact when they flooded the valley
they didn’t even clear it out. They just covered
the roads. Those roads believe it or not are still
under the water. If you look at an old map you’ll
see where they were.
Here in western Colorado they also needed to
store water for their fields and growing
population. The highways took over from the
railroads and a couple of dams were built along
the ‘Little Grand’ . By then they changed it’s
name to honor Captain John Gunnison. It’s new
name is now the Gunnison River.
The Black Canyon is so deep that the dam’s
water only filled up several hundred feet. Today,
several other reservoirs have been built, The
Blue Mesa, Morrow and the Taylor all to store
water from the Colorado mountains that flow
into the Gunnison.
They say the little stretch of pathway that we
walked along at the canyon floor was the last of
the famous railroad. All the rest lies under the
water, along with the railroad tracks and a couple
of train trestles that were used as a bridge across
the river.
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We boarded the pontoon boat and traveled 7
miles down the canyon before returning. It was a
grand experience for us to travel along the
bottom of this deep canyon that we could only
look into from our campsite.
That should be the end of the story, except for a
few changes have occurred. Remember the other
river, the ‘Grand’?. Well the great State of
Colorado changed it’s name. It’s now the mighty
COLORADO RIVER. It’s the most important
river in the western United States. Today it
carries almost all the water used in Southern
California, and our countries bed basket.
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