Click on a photo to enlarge it.
Our first stop today was at "Earthship" which are
self-sufficient, environmentally friendly, energy saving houses built half in the ground. They re-use water four times which is collected from the
house rooves and use solar panels. Then we stopped at the Rio Grande Suspension Bridge which is the second highest in North America.
We were quite surprised to see something like this in America. They use old tyres for insulation and also the "coke can" principle for the walls
which we have seen several times in Africa and Asia.
After a night at Wal-mart in Taos we drove through the small plaza which is surrounded by adobe buildings and then went to Taos Pueblo which is the
best preserved two-story pueblo in North America.
Unfortunately they wanted $10 per person plus $5 camera fee. Seeing as we've already been to Acoma pueblo we decided not to go in. Then we drove
further north and stopped at Wild Rivers recreation area for a view of the canyon into the Rio Grande.
We went across the State border into Colorado and stopped at a library in San Luis where we checked the internet and swapped some books.
We headed towards Great Sand Dunes National Park and stopped at a restaurant for a meal before parking up in a picnic area at the side of the road
just outside the Park.
The following day we went to the huge sand dunes - the highest is 750ft (292m). The whole valley is filled with sand, volcanic ash and clay so that
if the valley had not been filled the surrounding mountians would be higher than Mount Everest.
The National Park has 30 square miles of sand dunes and it is quite exhausting walking here! But we managed about 2 miles in the 3 hours that we
stayed in the park.
Then we drove through the mountains towards Gunnison and found a really super, idyllic spot by a river to stay for the night. The next day we drove
into Gunnison and went to a campground for the night to work on the computer and do some laundry.
On Friday we drove into Curecanti National Recreation Area and did a 4 mile walk to Dillon's pinnacles which are huge pinnacles in the sheer rock
face. Kirsten left her lens cap on a bench at the top of the walk so we had to turn around to go hunting for it!
We drove along the rim of the Black Canyon and found a spot at the side of the road for the night.
On Saturday we drove to Pioneer Point on the rim and did a super 4m walk dropping 900ft into the canyon and walked passed the roaring water as it
gushed through the narrow canyon walls. A snake on the path gave us a bit of a shock! Afterwards we drove to Montrose to stay at Walmart for the
night.
On Sunday we drove up to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and spent a lovely sunny day walking to various viewpoints along the canyon.
The cliffs are vertical and drop a maximum of 2700ft (900m) down to the river below.
On one of the walks Kirsten saw a man in a green T shirt (Helen was also wearing a green one) duck behind some bushes. She thought it was Helen who
was about to jump out at her. So Kirsten decided to get in first and jumped out at the man, shouting at the same time!!! Then she had to apologise
for scaring the poor bloke who was just trying to take photos!!!
After watching a video at the visitor centre we drove down the East Portal road which is a very steep switchback road - 16 % grade! We stopped half
way down to let our brakes cool down and had something to eat.
Once we got down to the bottom of the canyon we went for a walk along the Devil's Backbone trail which gets its name from the rocks that you have
to scramble over.
There is also the Gunnison diversion tunnel there which is 6 miles long and which goes straight through the mountains to divert water to the arid
lands around Montrose. Considering that it was built over 100 years ago it is quite an achievement.
We managed to get back up the steep hill without any problems and then drove back to Montrose for another night at Wal-mart.
