Day 7 started with an incredibly winding drive up route 92 to the north side of Black Canyon of the Gunnison. At one of the turnouts Jordan gave us about a 75% Jordan pose.
Fast forward about 700 curves and 1000 scenic views and we found the only gas station in about 50 miles. These 4 dudes were from Maryland. Brought back some memories for me - those trips are what inspired these cross country family trips.
In Crawford, CO we found this quaint little breakfast joint and admired the eclectic decor.
On the way out of town, this beauty absolutely stopped me in my tracks. Kim and Jordan were scared, and we had a brief life lesson about how to run immediately in the opposite direction from a rig like this, but after that we just sat and admired its majesty. I would love to know who thought a medieval warrior princess deserved to ride into battle on a rabid polar bear, but I will not question their judgement. The interestingly positioned teardrop window is just the icing on the cake. Put this thing on Bring a Trailer and start counting your money.
After a series of backwoods gravel road, we reached the glamorous north entrance of Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. 10 years ago we came out here on the very first Big Truck trip and went to the south side of the canyon. Fitting that we should see the other side a decade later.
We had agreed to keep the hikes a bit more manageable this year after me getting a bit too aggressive in previous years, and today's plan was to hike the 3ish mile out & back to Exclamation Point.
It was hot. 90 degrees and full sun hot, and it was only about 11am. Luckily, Jordan was a trooper and didn't complain a bit. (Narrator - nope. Teenage years are coming on fast, and displeasure with this situation was made abundantly clear).
When we did reach the aptly name Exclamation Point, the views were quite spectacular.
Kimberly was extremely disappointed that I caught my hat when the wind nearly sent it to the bottom of the canyon. One of these trips she will successfully destroy it, but not today.
The little loop at the overlook provides many different vantage points into the canyon, and really makes you wonder why more people don't come here. Until you realize that it is almost as much in the middle of nowhere as Great Basin National Park.
I gave my phone to Jordan to take some pics as she's been showing more interest in photography lately. I got it back with 7 pictures of her shoes.
Once we finished the hike, we headed down the North Rim road to check out the rest of the overlooks. I will save you the 50 different photos we took, and if we ever get somewhere with enough bandwidth, I will post a video tracing the path of the river from one end of the canyon to the other. It was windy enough to feel like a hair dryer was pointed at your face, so that was fun.
After retracing our path back down 92, a mere hour & a half later we were back at base camp. We decided Jordan could use some teenage angst time (thank God she wasn't in this phase when Fallout Boy and Panic! at the Disco were a thing - were they a thing?), so we hopped back in the Jeep to grab some takeout pizza back in Gunnison.
We had seen a brewery/pizza joint while passing through, and it had great reviews from what we could find with our rabbit ears-worthy cell signal, so we were excited.
Dang. They had even posted 5 hours earlier that everyone needed to come down and taste their delicious pizza. We tried.
Luckily we found another joint right up the street, creatively named Gunnison Pizza Company. It did everything we needed it to do. Great pie, lawnmower-grade beers, and a dog-friendly patio featuring a Dalmatian sitting human style in a chair.
The drive back featured yet another ridiculous sunset over the mesa, which somehow made the pizza taste even better.
There was not much interest in enjoying a campfire from the female contingent, but I was more than content to enjoy our final night in nowheresville in this setting.
It was then that I realized that one (or all, it is Colorado) of our neighbors was smoking ALL of the weed, and I just sat back and listened to the weed accent conversation wafting over the tumbleweeds. It was like listening to Shia LaBeouf give Matthew McConaughey a pep talk, except they both gave up halfway through.
At that point it all started to make sense - no wonder there was no cell signal or wifi anywhere in this state, they spent so much money on weed and dispensaries there was nothing left over for infrastructure.
Either way, it made for an entertaining final night in a campground that turned out to be a highlight of the trip.
Tomorrow - back up and over Monarch Pass towards Colorado Springs and Pikes Peak. Cheers!
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