Colorado Week 6: The Winery at Holy Cross Abbey and Black Canyon of the Gunnison

“How do you solve a problem like Maria?  How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?  How do you make her stay and listen to all you say?  How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?”

Those poor befuddled Austrian nuns obviously never tried turning their monastery into a winery and offering Maria some lovely Merlot.  That idea was reserved by the Benedictine Fathers of Canyon City’s Holy Cross Abbey.  When the abbey was closed, it’s halls became home to one of Colorado’s most popular wineries, The Winery at Holy Cross Abbey.  Last week, Bilbo and I dropped in to try the products of their vines, gaze at the gothic architecture, and pick up a few souvenirs.

  

The tasting room is open daily and offers a long list of free tastings and a smaller assortment of $1 reserve tastings.  A very kind and knowledgeable barista offers valuable information and tasting instructions as she pours sample after sample into your glass. Our favorites were the Sauvignon Blanc Reserve, the Merlot Reserve, and the Port…and that is what we brought home with us.  In honor of our new acquisition we had a wine and cheese dinner, with which the Sauvignon Blanc was delicious!  

The Winery at Holy Cross Abbey was our only weekday expedition as we spent to rest of our days recovering from Quandary Peak and preparing for The Black Canyon of the Gunnison, where we spent the next weekend.  The Black Canyon, inaccessible to humans for thousands of years, was formed by the rushing Gunnison River.  The river’s booming water has carved a canyon 53 miles long, 2,722 feet deep (at its deepest point), and 40 feet wide (at its narrowest point).   Its wonder has been admired and feared throughout history, but the Black Canyon of the Gunnison was not designated as a National Park until 1999.  Since then 230,000 visitors per year have come to drive the rim road, hike the rim and the depths, and climb the cliffs.  The park has two main areas, the North and South Rims, which are divided by the canyon itself.

Our first day at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison we drove along the South Rim, the main road in the park, stopping at vista points to take pictures and soak in the scenery.  We had hoped to take a 1.5 mile hike into the canyon that day, but the Park Ranger strongly recommended that we skip it due to the morning’s rains.  As he put it, “You would be stuck climbing back up a slippery, muddy mess for a mile and a half.”  That didn’t put a damper on our trip, though, because there was plenty to be seen from up above.

 

 

A landmark within the park, the Painted Rocks overlook has a mythical touch.  Can you tell what creature’s likeness has been formed by the rocks? 

(It’s a dragon.)

To reach the north side of the park from the south, or vise versa, you must drive 90 miles around the canyon and through the surrounding towns.  To give ourselves an edge for our morning hike along the North Vista Trail, we drove to the North Rim campground that night.  In true Bauer fashion, we arrived just in time to claim the next-to-last available campsite and soon settled in.  The night was cold, just above 30 degrees, and rain fell hard, but we stayed warm in our sleeping bags and sweats.  The hard part was getting out of our sleeping bags in the frosty morning hours.  

Thanks to a warming breakfast of oatmeal and tea, we were soon on our way to the 7 mile North Vista Trail. It has been listed among the best hikes in America by Backpackers Magazine, so we were very excited to give it a go. The hike begins at the North Rim Ranger Station, winds briefly through a grassy field, then brings you to the north side of the Painted Rocks.  See the dragon again?

 

The trail continues a light 1.5 miles along the canyon rim to Exclamation Point, where you are rewarded with a birds-eye view into the depths.   After the previous weekend’s jaunt up a fourteener, we were surprised at how quickly we glided over this trail!

There I am being an exclamation point by the Exclamation Point sign. 

From the overlook a mere 2 miles stands between you and the summit of Green Mountain.  The ascent is gradual, smooth, and seems to go by very quickly.  We were quite jolly as we went on with ease towards the goal.  So, so much easier than Quandary Peak!

The canyon kept sinking further and further below us as we went and soon the the Ranger Station where we began was nothing but a little dot.

 

 

That’s it in the dip between the trees.  Can you see how tiny?!  I know I’ve already said this—twice, I think—but we were amazed at how quickly we had reached this point!  Quandary Peak took 5 hours to summit and 3 hours to descend.  By this point we had only been hike about an hour and a half.  

At almost 2 hours on the dot we reached the summit of Green Mountain.  The trail made a loop around the top of the mountain to assure a full panoramic view of the canyon below and mountains beyond.  In the last picture you can see a snow crusted range that blends in with the clouds—Bilbo’s favorite feature on the horizon.  

 

On the way back to Pueblo we took a scenic byway that provided a glimpse of Grand Mesa, a drive through Grand Junction, and an unyielding supply of mountains and canyons.  It took us quite a bit longer to arrive back at our humble abode this way, but the scenery made it worth while!  

Thus ended our 6th weekend in Colorado and the first half of our Colorado adventures.  We will celebrate the beginning of the second half with a few Colorado fall festivals, including the Chili Festival I was telling you about.  More on that next time…

Colorado Week 5: Around Town and Quandary Peak

The big Labor Day weekend had left us road weary once again, so we spent week 5 close to home for recovery.  After all, we had not yet taken a chance to experience all that Pueblo had to offer.  There are two things that my co-workers said one must do while in town:  take a stroll on the Riverwalk and eat a slopper.  Once we had two days of rest under our belts, that is how we spent our evening in downtown Pueblo. 

The Riverwalk is just what it sounds, a paved path along the portion of the Arizona River running through town.  Restaurants and shops line the river as well as benches as bronze animal statues.  Gondola rides are available if you are in a romantic mood, and a fountain bubbles for those seeking serenity. 

 

 

We used our stroll to build up an appetite and get into the mood for a slopper at the Gold Dust Saloon.  The restaurant had an old western theme with cowboy, Indian, bandit, and rancher memorabilia covering the walls and ceilings.  When we first arrived, the emptiness of the dining room left us a bit concerned; however, we soon found that we had just beaten the dinner crowd.  Now, I’ll bet you are wondering just what a slopper is.  This is it…

  

Can’t tell what it is?  That’s okay, it is a bit of a messy dish.  The slopper, indigenous to southern Colorado, consists of an open face hamburger topped with fries, smothered in green chili (another southern Colorado dish made of green chilies and pork),  and garnished with onions and cheese.  Yowza!  It is a lot of food!  A dish like this is not usually my thing, so I just sampled Bilbo’s and ordered a much less intimidating sandwich of my own.  The chili was a new and exciting flavor, but neither of us are anticipating our next slopper.  What we are looking forward to is the Pueblo Chili Festival on the last weekend of September!  It has been named as one of the top small town festivals in the USA and features—you guessed it—green chili! 

To hone some new skills and to prepare for our weekend hiking trip, Bilbo spent a large portion of the week baking.  One of his favorite things is stuffed ciabatta bread from Morgantown, WV’s New Day Bakery (formerly Daily Kneads).  Missing his delectable habit, Bilbo found a couple of recipes to take for a spin and found a winner!  He made a three cheese and garlic ciabatta crusted with parmesan.  I am so proud of my little baker because his bread was amazing!  I can’t wait for the next batch.

Another little bit of homesickness gave us a hankering for pepperoni rolls.  The initial plan had been to make one batch for our hiking tip and two batches to introduce my co-workers to a bit of WV culture.  I will come right out with the truth…the plan failed!  We ate all three batches during our hiking trip and they were a little slice of WV heaven!  I guess we’ll just have to make some more. 

Speaking of our hiking trip…Here is Quandary Peak, one of Colorado’s 50+ fourteeners! 

    

Since our Colorado planning began, one of the activities that we were most looking forward to was conquering a peak with 14,000+ elevation.  The trail began at around 10,000 feet above sea level with a very quick assent for the first mile.  Can you see the summit in the very distant horizon down there?  It was still around three miles away.

The quick change in altitude had us ready for the first of many breaks.  If you aren’t familiar with the affects of altitude on a low dweller, I’ll enlighten you.  Altitude can cause fatigue, shortness of breath, nausea, headache, and dizziness.  After almost two months in Colorado, we have built up a tolerance to the altitude at 10,000 and below; however, we still feel the affects of 11,000 and up!  We were feeling a little fatigue and a little shortness of breath following our first burst of effort, but it was quickly resolved and we saw a log with a pelican shaped root while we rested.

 

During the next stretch, the trail became a little less intense and we soon found ourselves looking down into the valley from which we came. 

Do not be deceived, though!  We still had a long way to go!  The summit is that little peak sticking out between the trees below.

As we hiked on, the tree line became closer and the terrain began to change.  Soon, we found ourselves meandering over and through rock fields with an ever-increasing slope.  It this point at which the muscle fatigue really kicked in and we began to count our steps.  Every 150 paces we would take a short rest to catch our breath and shake out our legs.

  

Slowly but surely we surpassed the tree line and reach a plateau where we were offered a bit of a break from the incline and spectacular views!  Can you tell how happy we were to have come so far?!

 

We were even happier to look up at the summit and see that it was so close!  We only had a mile or so to go and the adrenaline kicked in! 

A nice surprise awaited us ahead as a herd of mountain goats were “grazing” beside the trail.  They were very calm and photogenic.  It seemed as if they were posing for the camera saying, “Get my good side.”  Interacting with the wildlife gave us another break before we began the final assent to the summit.

Looking back, we were in awe of how far we had come.  Looking forward, we were in awe of how far we had yet to go.  The summit was so close, but the incline was steep and the slope rocky.  Not to mention, we were hiking at a higher altitude than either of us had even sat at before. As we began the incline, the steps became harder to take and our rest breaks became longer and more frequent, but we carried on…

AND WE MADE IT!

 

Here’s the panorama…

 

Here are our victory poses (yep, I’m jumping)…

We took some time to soak in the scenery, relish in our success, and eat the rest of the pepperoni rolls before we turned around and began the descent.

Walking down a mountain is definitely easier than up, but it is harder than you would expect.  The rocks slide under your step, your ankles become tired from correcting your balance, and you were tired to begin with.  Despite all of the obstacles, our friend was on the side lines to cheer us on!  Believe it or not, we did not use the zoom for Mr. Goat’s picture.  He was just that close.

To celebrate our success, we stopped in nearby Breckenridge, CO, for some grub.  You would have found our limping and groaning quite hilarious as we walked the less than quarter mile from the parking lot to the Breckenridge Brewery and Pub.  Surprisingly, we were not terribly sore the next day, our muscles were just tired. 

At the Breckenridge Brewery, the food was above brewery standards and we found that it was not just rated highly by Trip Advisor due to a lack of competition.  Bilbo had an awesome burrito and I had a steak sandwich with cheese sauce.  Even though we ate A LOT of pepperoni rolls on the way up the mountain, we were famished!  That food did not stand a chance!  With satisfied stomachs, tired bodies, and happy moods we returned to Pueblo to begin the next week. 

Stay tuned for a look at our weekend in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, which includes another mountain to be conquered!