Grand Junction to Naturita, CO, on my fourth day on the road, 21 September, 2010:
I left Grand Junction and proceeded down CO HWY 141 to Gateway. This is a wonderful, sweeping road nestled in the Unaweep Valley.
(All photos from the Nikon Coolpix L11 unless otherwise noted)
In the middle of the valley was Timble Rock and the Driggs Mansion, or the ruins there of.
(The signs are large so the text is readable. click on them once or twice to enlarge them, and BACK to return!)
!!!
The Driggs Mansion:
At Gateway I came out of the trees and into the desert canyons…I was overwhelmed to find:
(From the Gateway Canyons website)
The highway was on the other side of the resort from this pond, but this place has the normal outdoor recreation activities, as well as a car museum, air tours, the Experius Academy, and more! It was a shock to see it sitting here at the end of a couple of two lane higways, and it is far bigger than the town of Gateway itself. Plus the gas station at the resort is still open, and the shops…Pricey, but it looks pretty neat!
(From the Gateway Canyons website)
From Gateway to almost at Naturita it is a winding red rock canyon road.
It ran in and out of the narrow spots, and the pavement was in great shape.
When you run out of the canyons it is at this point. I tried to make a 360 degree panorama, but I was off just a bit. I left it whole so you could see everything.
The big stone slab on the right was a great sound reflector. You could hear cars coming a mile or so off, but they sounded like they were right there! The Hanging Flume photo was taken from the overlook, just to the right of the highway on the left side of the panorama, across the canyon. the Flume is below this spot I took this.
(Click to enlarge; BACK to return!)
(9 photos from the Canon 40D stitched together in MS ICE)
The Hanging Flume was constructed between 1888 and 1891. This five mile section was part of a 13 mile canal and flume system to take water to a placer mine, to wash away the dirt to find the ore. The flume box was 4 foot high by 5 foot 4 inches wide and carried 23,640,000 gallons of water to the mine.
Per day.
It was considered one of the mining and engineering marvels of the age.
(Click to enlarge; BACK to return!)
A close up of the remains of the Flume. A few years ago scientists and engineers came out to see how it was built. Each frame had a handmade iron hanger driven into the rock. It is still strong enough in some places to still walk on, 120 or so years later!
(Click to enlarge; BACK to return!)
~Curtis in Colorado! {!-{>
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