The story so far: I had just returned to Colorado’s West Slope after being gone for more than a year. I went to an RV park in Olathe, Colorado where everyone is “better than you,” and Pookie was not welcome.
My last adventure while still in that RV park was to a gnarly four-wheel-drive road over Engineer Pass, in the San Juan mountains above Ouray, Colorado. Except I got distracted by another 4WD road up there and never made it to Engineer Pass.
Here’s a shot of Poughkeepsie Gulch, as seen from the Engineer Pass road:
Paid subscribers received a full-size, full-resolution copy of this photo, suitable for printing and framing, two months ago.
It looks lovely. I never made it back up there to explore that road. I’ve heard that it’s seriously gnarly.
I didn’t take any more pictures. The light was terrible.
On the way home, passing through Ridgeway, I stopped to shoot the mysterious and picturesque Cimarron Ridge
and the Sneffels Range.
I would later venture up into both for more exploration and stunning photography. You will be seeing more of them when I get to that part of my ongoing story in this Substack.
I found an RV Park in Cedaredge, Colorado - a town partway up the side of the Grand Mesa - that suited my style. The owner/managers were good people. Its name is Shady Creek RV Park and I would recommend it, but I doubt that they own it any more (when I left, they were trying to sell it and retire).
It was lined with trees. I love trees. They gave me a spot in the back corner next to some old apple trees that will provide a couple of good stories later.
Pookie was happy.
Sometimes, she would even allow me to use the camp chair.
I didn’t like Cedaredge all that much while I was there, but now I look back on my time there with fond memories.
I was living on the Grand Mesa. Not on top - nobody lives on top of it1 - but partway up the south side of it, with the top only a few miles away. I was employed, working at my job in Santa Fe remotely. There was a whole lot of God’s Country only a few minutes’ drive away.
Life was good, and I did a whole lot of photography while I was there. What was not to like?
It is possible that a very few people do live up there. There are two resorts (that I know of) on top of the Mesa that, as far as I know, are open year-round. It is possible that there are staff that actually live up there. What I meant by my statement that “nobody lives on top of the Grand Mesa” is that there are no homes up there.
My full-size picture of "Poughkeepsie Gulch'' is among my favorites, the color is so rich and the depth of field is quite eye-popping. Each of these images are like a postcard invitation, even the campground phone shots make me yearn for warm weather so I could just hang out under a shade tree and take in the quiet.
I never get tired of mountain photos.