Colorado 141 and Back to Utah 191.

I don't know how many people I've met who pitch an actual fit; I mean a real temper tantrum because the sky is cloudy, or there's rain. They are clueless as to how beautiful the landscapes in the Four Corners area can become with some wetness, or a play of light and shadow from sun and clouds interacting with each other. Nope, many visitors to this area are spoiled rotten, and can't appreciate the little things; only the things that money can buy. Well that's my venting for this post, so let me show you what I mean about the beauty different weather can bring out.


After leaving Gateway, Colorado it's not unusual to see the Dolores and San Miguel Rivers crossing over each other here and there.  The red rock walls on both sides of Route 141 hold secrets; caves, alcoves containing ruins perhaps, or are now the home to mountain lions or nesting birds.  At one point, a twisty, turning ascent begins; the San Miguel winding down below...the Hanging Flume is not far ahead.  The Flume is a remnant of the gold mining era of the 1880s; built to bring water from the San Miguel River which traveled through the Dolores River Canyon.



Cave in the wall?

Now here comes a perfect example of what might happen with rainy weather...waterfalls.  Even though we missed the actual rainfall as we had traveled through John Brown Canyon and into Gateway; we didn't miss the after show.  The rain water fell off the mesas, down the red rock walls as waterfalls; some making pools at the side of the road; some traveling across the road to fall downward to the Hanging Flume.

 

 

At the junction of CO 90, this is where we can continue onto Utah; but staying on Route 141 can take you all the way to Dove Creek (Route 491), or to the Route 145 junction which goes towards Telluride and, eventually, Cortez.  It was a long day, so Utah here we come!  CO 90 takes you through the Paradox Basin; this is a beautiful valley of farming and ranching.  After passing through the valley, a climb upward begins and at the top is a grand view of where you just came from.  Along the stretch of CO 90 which soon connects to UT 46, there are closed off mines; used to be able to see them from the roadway, but they've either become overgrown, or cleverly concealed from view.

Formation across from the overlook.

UT 46 mainly travels at the outskirts of the La Sal Mountains and the Manti-LaSal Forest; and, of course, through the towns of Old La Sal and La Sal.  Turning south onto Route 191, we headed on home to Monticello; I could not help but take a photo of Church Rock in the aftermath of a slight sprinkling of rain.

 

 

 

Ascending Peters Hill, we pulled over quickly to take photos of the rainbow which had just formed.

 

...and I promised Roy to post this photo of him sitting in his pride and joy, a Toyota FJ.  I even sent a copy to Toyota; they thought it was a beautiful shot.

 

 

So to those travelers that whine and cry about poor weather conditions; you have a choice: make the best of it and enjoy; or get over yourselves, cause everyone else  already has.

 

Mary Cokenour





San Juan County in Spring and Yes, it is Snowing.

Living on the east coast, the heat would be turned on October 15th and not turned off until April 15th; pretty standard and hardly ever deviated. Well this isn't the east coast anymore and living in the southwest makes you stay on your toes. When it comes to the weather, don't ever believe you can set your seasonal clock by it. Since March 20th, the official start of spring, we have had days up into the 70s here in Monticello; 80s in the more desert areas such as Moab (located in Grand County), Blanding and Monument Valley. Just as you believe you can finally turn the heat off, say hello to the snow. Yes, I did indeed say the "s" word!

Let me give you a prime example; the last week of April the temperatures in Monticello had been anywhere in the 60s and reaching 70 a couple of times.  On April 27th, Roy and I got up early so we could head out to Moab and have brunch at the Cowboy Grill at the Red Cliffs Lodge.  Holy Moly, who turned on the freezer!  Not only was it extremely cold outside, but an inch of snow covered our vehicles, lawn, walkway, street, everything.  We had just put away our thermal jackets and here we were pulling them out again.

On the way down Peters Hill, we had to stop and take photos; the snow, sun, shadows, clouds all painted an absolutely beautiful portrait of the valley below.

At the bottom of the hill, Dry Valley was a winter wonderland\; the play of shadows over the mesa tops and Church Rock was spectacular.



Church Rock

Dry Valley

Driving towards Lisbon Valley Road, the landscape and sky were so stark, we could see all the way to Big Indian (pillar formation).

Lisbon Valley Road

I couldn't resist this shot, most especially because of the gorgeous blue sky.

By the time we reached Red Cliffs Lodge, had brunch and returned (about 4 hours), the snow was almost gone and the temperature had warmed up a bit.  We then did our trek down Montezuma Canyon Road to map out the sites.  About halfway down, we were considerably warmer to the point of removing our jackets.  The temperatures though remained in the 50s until about Friday and the 70s are back again; except we're expecting snow in about two days.  Welcome to San Juan County in Spring.

Mary Cokenour

Riding the Clouds.

As I've warned before, winter in San Juan County shows itself whenever it feels like showing; calendars mean nothing to the weather in this area. Our first snowstorm began on Friday, November 22nd with hours of rain mixed with snow; basically slush was coming down from the sky and we had a good four inches before it turned to pure snowfall. From around 12 Noon Friday to Saturday morning, snow, snow and more snow; it took a break long enough for everyone to clean their vehicles and driveways; long enough for the snowplows to come through and push boulders of ice and slush back in front of those clean driveways. Saturday night the snow began again and finally ended on Sunday; normally a day for rest, but cleaning snow once again was top on the daily menu.  All in all we received about a foot of precipitation and while it may be an inconvenience, the snow pack will help to fill the reservoirs, so a blessing in disguise.  Here are a couple of photos to help you see what a sudden snow storm is like here; one is a view outside one of my windows; the second is showing you why the view is the why that it is.

View from window.

Snow obstructing window view.

Now while there can be a variety of snow sports out here, (and lucrative if businesses would take advantage of the season) that also means that visitors to the area should do research and take precautions.  You cannot go willy-nilly up into the Abajos, especially if you're unfamiliar with them, and wonder why "Search and Rescue" is now out looking to rescue your sorry butt.   A good example of this is the backpackers who needed to be rescued the very weekend of our first snowfall.


It did warm up a bit over the week, sunny and clear skies predicted for Thanksgiving; and this is where the strangeness of our weather grabs you again.  I was headed out to Moab around 11am on Thanksgiving Day to celebrate with Roy's mom, and his aunt visiting from Wyoming.  The sky was a brilliant blue, hardly a cloud visible, temperature around the 40s; heading north on Route 191, I was ready for a stress free drive.  HA!!!  I was driving down Peters Hill and had just rounded the turn where normally Dry Valley and Church Rock would be the vista before you and saw this.....

Pulling over, I took a few shots since it was a pretty sight to see; but I'd seen this before and knew it would be clear again once I got through the initial cloud.  HA!!!  I was about to be punked big time!

Welcome to San Juan County's newest thrill ride: Riding the Clouds.  Oh no folks, that isn't fog rising up from the ground due to humidity, yada, yada, yada; those are clouds that have descended to meet the cold rising up from the snow that still covered the valley.  Seatbelts on, pull bars down and in a locked position, please keep hands and arms within the vehicle, here we go.....


At the bottom of Peters Hill, driving north on Route 191

Route 191, driving north



You could never guess that huge formations like Church Rock, Turtle Rock and Guymon's Foot were out there.




Visibility could be anywhere from 1 to 4 car lengths.

 

Going to Canyonlands or the Needles Overlook is definitely out.

By the way, some folks must be a special kind of stupid that drive in these type of weather conditions without headlights on.  I don't know how many vehicles I didn't notice coming from the other way until they were almost up to me.  Yeppers, a special kind of stupid.






The low lying cloud cover continued until I reached Hole N' the Rock and the Kane Springs rest area; but it hovered over the high sandstone cliffs all the way into Moab.

I had a most enjoyable time with Roy's mom and aunt, but my instinct told me to get back on the road home, so by 3:30pm I was heading on out of Moab and south on Route 191. As I approached Wilson's Arch, I had to take photos, since the cloud cover had created an eerie and mysterious scene. Movies like Stephen King's "The Mist",  John Carpenter's "The Fog, or 1958 classic "The Crawling Eye" came to mind.

Wilson's Arch



Back into the clouds going south on Route 191

When I had left Monticello in the morning, the cloud cover was about 10 miles outside of the town limits; going back home though, the cloud cover was now about 4 miles outside of town and denser. Imagine if I had driven in the dark with these type of conditions; I would have been blind. The next day I went to Moab again and it had gotten worse; cloud 2 miles outside of town and Moab was totally covered. Strange thing was that the sky over Monticello itself was still sunny and clear blue; the town did not become engulfed by the cloud until Saturday.






Sunday began a whole new adventure when we all awoke to a frosty wonderland outside. Only about a quarter inch of snow had fallen overnight, but it was the frost that was beautifully fascinating. A delicate coating causing feathery fronds on plants and tree limbs; mist floating through the air intensifying the air of mystery. The world had turned completely into black and white.






Monday was a complete repeat with sun and blue sky finally making an appearance today, Tuesday. Here's the kicker though, the weather report is for snowfall tonight and into Wednesday; here we go again folks!

How did you enjoy the thrill ride, Riding the Clouds?  At one time my feelings would have been somewhere between anxiety and aggravation; now it's more like, just another day in the life.

Mary Cokenour