Climbing through the Rocky Mountains, with the Continental Divide in the distance.
Arkansas River, Colorado
This is the Arkansas River, which flows out of the Rocky Mountains. Route 50, visible in the photo above, follows the river through the western high plains and along much of the highway’s climb to the Continental Divide.
Kayakers ride the river, rafters float it, and Christo, the artist known for wrapping buildings in fabric and other large fabric-based installations, once wanted to “wrap” it.
He called his project “Over the River” and planned to suspend almost six miles of translucent fabric panels above the Arkansas between Salida, Colorado (upstream from these photos) and Canon City (downstream). There are 42 miles of river between those two cities, and the installation would have covered eight different parts of the river.
Drivers on Route 50 would have looked down at the top of the fabric, while kayakers and rafters would have floated under it. The installation would have taken two and a half years to build and been in place for two weeks.
The project won approvals from federal, state, and local governments, but there was also determined opposition, and legal challenges delayed planning and installation for five years. This despite Christo’s willingness to pay all costs through sales of his art, including, as his website explained at the time, “all direct expenses to create the temporary work of art, as well as costs that result from it (e.g. environmental analysis, traffic control, trash removal and sanitation).”
The installation was originally planned for the summer of 2011, but the conception, planning, and proposal process spanned twenty years, and Jeanne-Claude, Christo’s wife and artistic collaborator, passed away during that time.
Christo turned 80 in 2015, and in early 2017, he announced he was dropping the project. His stated reasons were the legal delays, the total length of time the project consumed, and, because the installation would have been on federal land, his personal distaste for benefiting, as he saw it, the project’s new “landlord,” recently elected president Donald Trump.
Salida, Colorado
Salida, Colorado is just 23 miles from Monarch Pass, where Route 50 crosses the Continental Divide.
The Arkansas River flows through Salida, 60 miles from the river’s headwaters, formed by Rocky Mountain snow melt near Leadville, Colorado. The Arkansas is the sixth-longest river in the U.S., and 1,400 miles downstream the water you see passing through Salida will flow into the Mississippi River.
There’s already plenty of water for kayaking in the river, though, so head on over to the Boathouse Cantina, where you can watch the kayakers while you munch.
Monarch Crest, Colorado
At 11,312 feet, Monarch Crest is the highest point on Route 50. It is on the Continental Divide, which runs north along the Rocky Mountains to the Alaskan shore and the Bering Strait, and south along the Andes Mountains to Chile and the Strait of Magellan.
The Mississippi River watershed, through which Route 50 has been traveling for over 1,600 miles, ends here. Throughout that vast distance, any drop of water that falls from the sky and succeeds in not getting evaporated, sucked up by a plant, or drunk by an animal will eventually reach the Mississippi River and, ultimately, the Atlantic Ocean.
A few yards to the west (see photo below), rain drops will be bound for the Pacific Ocean.
Gunnison, Colorado
Gunnison, Colorado is on the west side of the Continental Divide. In the winter, Gunnison is occasionally the coldest spot in the U.S. In the summer, it’s a lot more pleasant.
And in the middle of each summer, Gunnison hosts an annual ten-day festival called Cattlemen’s Days, including horse shows, rodeos, concerts, livestock shows and auctions. The final Saturday features a parade along Route 50 and through the center of town.
Before the parade starts, there are preparations:
While you’re waiting for the parade, you may want a little personal parade prep — perhaps a latte and a Hatch green chile cheddar scone from the Double Shot Cyclery.
Experienced parade goers know they must possess themselves of patience:
But emergency measures may be required, if patience runs out.
Parade fans await the action:
And — at last! — the parade.
Waving to the fans:
Parading in comfort:
Justifiably proud:
And here comes the band!
Keeping the beat:
Parade exuberance:
How to campaign in Gunnison:
And the (tail) end of any parade involving horses.
Blue Mesa Reservoir, Colorado
Route 50 runs along the shore of Blue Mesa Reservoir, the largest lake in Colorado, for about twenty miles. It crosses the lake at Middle Bridge (above), where the water is perhaps 180 feet deep.
The lake is formed by a dam holding back the water of the Gunnison River. Its surface is at roughly 7,500 feet. Miles downstream, the Gunnison flows through Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
The black canyon of the Gunnison is deep — 1,800 to 2,700 feet from the rim to the river. And it’s narrow — so narrow that parts of the canyon floor get only 33 minutes of sunlight a day.
This gorge has been formed by the same Gunnison River that fills Blue Mesa Reservoir to the east. The river and its canyon are very old, and that accounts for a curious thing.
As you can see from the photo below, taken looking south, the park is on land that is higher than the surrounding area, 1,600 feet higher, in fact.
The river has cut its gorge through this high plateau, yet the level of the river bed is below that of the surrounding area. This raises an interesting question: Why does the river run through the plateau, instead of going the lower, easier way around?
The answer: The river’s course was already set before a gradual raising of the ground (called the Gunnison Uplift) began, two to three million years ago. Instead of changing course, the river simply carried on, resulting in the canyon (and the National Park) we can visit today. The park entrance is on Route 50, just east of Montrose, Colorado.
You can go all the way down there, if you choose.
Grand Mesa, Colorado
This is Grand Mesa, seen as Route 50 approaches Delta, Colorado from the south
Grand Mesa is said to be the largest flat-topped mountain in the world, with an area of 500 square miles. Its maximum elevation is over 11,000 feet, or roughly the same height as Monarch Crest, where Route 50 crosses the Continental Divide.
Grand Junction, Colorado, and Dalton Trumbo
Dalton Trumbo was born in 1905 in Montrose, Colorado, an hour south of this bathtub.
His family moved to Grand Junction when he was three. He grew up and graduated from high school there, and wrote for the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.
He continued writing as an adult and became an accomplished novelist — Johnny Got His Gun, an anti-war novel, won a National Book Award in 1939. His greatest success, however, came as a screenwriter. He wrote screenplays for Hollywood movies including Roman Holiday, Exodus, Spartacus, and Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo.
Controversy surrounded his work for Hollywood, though, due to his political advocacy. Accused — accurately, as he admitted — of Communist sympathies during the Red Scare period of the 1940’s and 50’s, Trumbo was called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He refused to provide information on other communist sympathizers, denounced the congressional committee, and was convicted of contempt of Congress. His appeal to the Supreme Court failed, and he spent eleven months in a federal penitentiary. His reaction: “As far as I was concerned, it was a completely just verdict. I had contempt for that Congress and have had contempt for several years since.”
Nine other writers experienced the same fate. They, along with Trumbo, were “blacklisted,” which meant the entertainment industry refused to hire them, and they became known as the Hollywood Ten. As time went on, over 100 other professionals were blacklisted, as well.
Trumbo wrote some of his most successful screenplays during the blacklist period. Two, Roman Holiday and The Brave One, won Academy Awards for best story, but they were attributed to other writers. Eventually, through support in the early 1960’s from director Otto Preminger and actor Kirk Douglas, he was properly credited for his work.
Dalton Trumbo was known to write his screenplays in the bathtub, and the sculpture shown here is based on a photo taken in his home in 1967. The work was installed in front of the Avalon movie theater on Grand Junction’s Main Street in 2007.
As you can see, the sculpture is outside, and winters in Grand Junction are cold. The polished handles on the bathtub faucet, however, suggest that passers-by have tried to warm up Dalton’s bath water.
Colorado National Monument
Colorado National Monument is just west of Grand Junction, Colorado and just south of Route 50.
It features spectacular scenery, viewable from Rim Rock Drive, which follows the edge of the park’s plateau above the Colorado River valley to the north.
The edge of the plateau is so high, and the drop-offs so steep, they can be vertigo-inducing.
All that separates you from those drop-offs is the “guard rail” shown below. If you have trouble with heights, you might find yourself straddling the road’s center line to stay away from the edge.
