FULLTIMING WITH SUE, JOHN AND ARNIE Summer 2009 - Westward over the Mountains

Cottonwood Pass Jun 28, 2009

As we end our week in Buena Vista I need to comment on the weather. Everywhere we have lived folks in that area have said, "If you don't like the weather, just wait a couple of minutes!" It was never true. But it is literally true here. Each day we experience sunshine, clouds, rain, thunder, calm, and wind. The mountains truly create diverse weather each day.

Yesterday we headed west out of Buena Vista on the Cottonwood Pass. The road through the pass is only open in the summer. It traverses the mountains from Buena Vista to Crested Butte. The road from Buena Vista to the summit is paved with a dirt surface on the west face. We drove the paved section to the Continental Divide point at 12,126 feet in altitude.

The views from the summit and from trails in the area are spectacular. Sue particularly liked the view to the west over a small pond. We took advantage of the cool temperatures to do a couple of short hikes along the trails that climbed a bit higher in altitude.

There was still snow residue at this altitude that added some difficulty to the hike but totally pleased Arnie. The views only got better along the trails.

After the hikes we returned to the car and returned eastward back down the paved road enjoying the variety of green colors along the way. We passed the pretty small lake at Rainbow Lake Resort and then took a 3-mile side trip on the dirt road to Cottonwood Lake. The most interesting feature of the side trip was the cliff where we hoped (but failed) to see some mountain goats.

While I ran this morning Sue and Arnie took in the local farmers' market that she said had only limited produce. It did provide us with the ingredients for tonight's dinner of sauteed chard with sun-dried tomatoes, carrots, smoked salmon, and pasta. It was good!

It's time to begin to pack up and prepare for our departure tomorrow for Gunnison.