Last day in Montrose

We got up and washed the big chunks of dirt off the motorhome before the campground got up and around.  We got permission kinda from the campground owner Rick to wash, but with much reservation.  Washing an RV on the road is often quite a challenge, especially out west where water is pretty scarce.  We try to wash it whenever we get an opportunity.  Then fluid check and tire pressures.  But we needed to go on a picnic down deep in the Black Canyon along the Gunnison River.  

There is a lot humidity in the air the last week, now for those of you in the south and the east, this must sound like a joke cause the humidity is all of maybe 50%.  But the folks from here are really complaining.  We try to keep our smiles hidden.

There is a very steep road that leads down to the East Portal on the Gunnison River in the park.  I mean steep, in excess of 16% grade all the way down over 2000' to the river.  This road was cut in the canyon wall back in 1904-1905 to get the workers down into the canyon to dig the Gunnison Tunnel to bring irrigation water from the river to the Umcompahgre valley.  It was an amazing undertaking.  It took 5 years of digging 6 miles through hard rock, clay, sand, and shale.  26 men died in the construction.  The digging went on 24 hrs a day, and although the pay was very good, the average time a worker stayed on the job was 2 weeks.  The tunnel is 11' X 13' and is still working the same way today.  Two teams dug to meet in the middle and they only missed by 18 inches!!  Amazing.

The terrain as I showed you is very rugged.

On the way down

The river is beautiful as it winds through the canyon.

In the next picture look carefully near the top of the photo and you can see the road way way up there.

The road down

They built a dam across the the river to divert the water into the tunnel.  That way they can control how much water goes into the tunnel.  In fact, in the winter they lower the dam so no water goes into the tunnel, no growing going on, and it gives them a chance to perform maintenance at the same time. 

This is the diversion dam, the tunnel is actually off to the right, the way it is situated you can't see it

We had a pleasant picnic by the rushing river and learned quite a bit at the same time!