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C to C 2020
Day 2 - Monday, July 13, 2020
Argentine campsite to Gunnison hotel


Day 2 (red line) - A driving day - Argentine campsite to Gunnison hotel - red line.

We'll get close to southwest Colorado. The plan was for a hotel (shower) "sometime" this week, I hadn't thought it'd be the second night. We stayed at the Long Holiday motel west of town, by the river. The motel is well cared for - I'd happily return.




At Buena Vista, it's been some time since I went through town so we took a short jaunt to the north end, bought a bag of ice (perhaps the last bag in town), before continuing south to Gunnison. An afternoon rain shower rolled through and I found one not-very-significant issue with the jeep - no windshield wipers. Hmmm... Perhaps an issue with wiring since I hand the windshield down the other day. Of no big issue - the rain lasted but ten minutes.




The spot for dinner - Chili Cheese Dogs at the Blue Mesa Reservoir.  The water level is low such that the spot we chose to eat would normally be under water. A military plane was doing practice flights and flew around three or four times. While not terrible, the bugs were plentiful. Fortunately they weren't overly a nuisance.







A view down-trail




and up-trail - a low volume of water trickling along






















This small bit of white water has some volume in the quiet of the night










The rare passenger side photo




Guanella Pass
It has been 17 years since I've been here - before I moved from Illinois to Colorado on a motorcycle trip with Ken in 2003




Looking north from where we came. Georgetown is in the valley at the bottom of the V of the mountains. Interstate 70 runs east west / left right with Georgetown. The Argentine Pass trail we were at yesterday / this morning is just over the mountain ridge to the left.




Guanella Pass road heading south to US-285. On the motorcycle trip with Ken in 2003 this road was gravel / dirt. Here's a picture of nearly the same spot. Photos from the full day of that trip report here (Guanella Pass near the bottom of the page)




A roadside pullout near a creek - let's make use of it!
Lunchtime




Soft pine needles to sit on. Shade. A nice creek. Thumbs up!







And but a short walk - mostly below road level to block out the rare road noise.










Out from Guanella Pass we headed southwest on US-285. We just crested Kenosha Pass and have 'turned the corner' for the expansive view over South Park.




Nearing Buena Vista







Panorama
The mountain side mines just east of Monarch Pass
Click for a larger size







Madonna Mine

Checking mindat.org, this area has about sixteen mines listed.







Approaching the top for Monarch Pass




Monarch Pass
11,312 Feet
Continental Divide
Atlantic to the left / Pacific to the right













Back to the flat lands east of Gunnison - green fields













Chili Cheese Dogs at the Blue Mesa Reservoir




A low frequency drone of this lumbering along on practice flights



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