Mud-on-the-tires Full-time RV Adventure: CO -- Taylor Park, 11

Six nights in Taylor Park…

Taylor Park is nestled on the west side of the spectacular Sawatch Mountain Range and east of the scenic Crested Butte area. The lower sections of the park are about 9,400 feet elevation... it’s the highest we’ve camped so far. There is great fishing in the Taylor River, Taylor Reservoir, and numerous small streams and lakes. It’s also VERY popular with the ATV crowd.

Thunderstorms over the Sawatch Range at sunset

Taylor Park and Taylor Canyon have some really nice Forest Service campgrounds, but they fill months in advance. Boondocking areas are also plentiful. Otherwise, there is just one private full hook-up campground in the area. Spaces are tight and during the day, ATV noise is constant. In fact, peace and quiet might be hard to find anywhere in Taylor Park as hordes of ATVers and motor bikes swarm many miles of great trails.

Nearly everyone had noisy toys

First we had to choose a route from Nathrop to Taylor Park:

- Route A: 115 miles…Highway 50 over Monarch Pass to Gunnison, then north to Almont, and northeast along the Taylor River Canyon. Estimated drive time: 2.5 to 3 hours.

- Route B: 40 miles…West from Buena Vista over Cottonwood Pass. The pass crests at 12,119 feet and has a max gradient of 10%. It’s a nice wide paved road on the east side and a decent but narrow dirt road on the west side. Both sides have numerous, tight switchbacks. Estimated drive time: 60 to 90 minutes.

Our choice: Route B. We saw other folks tow trailers over Cottonwood Pass during a reci, so we figured we could too. We tackled the pass mid-morning on a Wednesday and hoped for minimal traffic. Being mostly alone on the road made things better, but the pucker factor stayed high. Thankfully, we had the switchbacks to ourselves and only had to squeeze by a few oncoming vehicles in some tricky sections. The faithful Dodge Ram towed our nearly 10,000 pound, 30 foot travel trailer right up that pass with no problem! We got a whopping 6.2 mpg during the climb. Had it not been for a cattle drive that delayed us 10-15 minutes, we would have made the 40 mile drive in an hour. We were all set up in the campground before 1:00pm and spent the afternoon checking out Taylor Park. After tackling Cottonwood Pass, we have a better idea of what the truck, trailer, and we can handle.

Just below 12,119 feet high Cottonwood Pass Delayed by a cattle drive

The view near Cottonwood Pass…Taylor Park was socked in nearly every morning, but was usually sunny by 10:00am

Tincup…

Originally named Virginia City, Tincup was founded in 1879. Within a year the population jumped to nearly 1,500. Shortly after the mines were exhausted in 1918, the post office closed and the last town election was held. Now it’s a quaint town with a cute little general store, a good café, a historic church and town hall, and a few year round residents. The old cabins and buildings don’t look like they’ve changed much in the last 100 years.

Fishing…

- Upper Taylor River

We fished the Upper Taylor River about a mile from where it enters the lake. It’s “skinny water”…just what I like! I caught about 15 brown trout. Most were 6-10 inches long, but three or four were 12-14 inches, and one monster was 16.5 inches! Most aggressively hit either a floating grasshopper fly or a rubber-legged elk hair caddis. The Upper Taylor River was a lot of fun to fish!

Fishing the Upper Taylor River with a Sawatch Range backdrop 16.5 inch brown trout…a monster for the Upper Taylor!

- Kayaking and fishing Taylor Park Reservoir

The large reservoir is known for huge northern pike and lake trout. However, there are also a bunch of good sized rainbow, cutthroat, and brown trout too. The fishing report said it was good for trout along the west shore so we launched from the boat ramp and headed to the other side. We fished the west bank hard for about two hours and got nothing so we headed to the south bank. Finally, after about four hours of fishing, I got into a school of small rainbows and tangled with six of them. The fishing wasn’t so good, but the weather and scenery were outstanding!

Beautiful morning on Taylor Park Reservoir

- Kayaking and fishing Spring Creek Reservoir

Gary, a new friend in the campground, recommended Spring Creek Reservoir. It was a rough, but scenic 30 mile drive that took us nearly an hour. The medium sized lake was in a heavily wooded valley and looked inviting to fish. When we arrived, the lake was smooth and numerous small dimples marked feeding fish everywhere. Sure enough, we starting hooking fish right away! I called it quits after about four fun hours and releasing my 50th trout. Most of the trout were 9-11 inches long, but about 10 of them were 12-13 inches. Most were rainbow trout, but about 7 of them were pretty brown trout. Most of them hit a size 16 gold ribbed hares ear fished about two feet deep. We caught all of them along the east shore, half while in the kayaks, and the other half from the bank. Shortly after we got off the water, the wind kicked up to 30-40mph…perfect time to head home!

Fighting my 50th trout

- Hike up Park Cone

Park Cone is a prominent landmark in Taylor Park. With a top at 12,060 feet, it’s low compared to most peaks in the area, but it stands alone. From our front door, we had a great view of it. I even nicknamed it “Avalanche Mountain” for the obvious chutes on both sides. There are no trails on the mountain, but after studying maps and looking up at for a few days, we thought we could conquer it. We thought wrong! We made it one mile and 1,600 feet, or about half way up. It was a bit too steep, with quite a few boulders and many downed trees. A large rock slide area provided us an amazing view of Taylor Park Reservoir and the Sawatch Range. After a lengthy break and the echo of distant thunder, we decided the mountain got the best of us and headed down.

- Ptarmigan Lake round 3…

We like this hike and we like this lake! Beautiful, 16-20 inch cutthroat trout slowly cruise within 10 feet of the bank. It’s exciting to see them and very disappointing to watch them swim right on by our flies. During our two previous visits, we caught a total of three trout, each of them about 12 inches long. The lake is full of potential and a challenging puzzle that we wanted to solve. This time we got more bites and more fish! I finally coaxed one of those bright colored bigguns to gently sip a size 20 gray midge off the surface. The whole thing happened in slow motion and will stay engrained in my memory. Two side notes… Our 11+ year old four-legged friend handled the six mile hike and 1,600 feet of climbing well. However, he was sore and lethargic the next day. I’m afraid that there will be no more tough hikes for our loyal friend. Side note number two…As soon as we got back to the truck, a thunderstorm hit. Pea sized hail pelted us, the winds got gusty, and the temperature dropped from 60F to 44F! We were thankful to duck into the truck… it would have been miserable to be on the trail. We know that we will get caught in a high country thunderstorm sometime this summer. Though it won’t be fun, we are prepared. Each of us carries a set of warm clothes, a full rain suite, hat, gloves, and a space blanket. Hopefully we don’t have to use them too often!

Fighting the big one at Ptarmigan Lake 16.5 inch cutthroat trout!

A nice dinner with family…

Arleen’s mom, Ellen, was in Colorado seeing her Grandson, Erin, off to Italy. We couldn’t make the four hour drive to Elizabeth so we planned to meet her in Buena Vista. My parents were still camped in the area so it was easy for them to make it. Ellen showed up with a surprise guest, Heather, Arleen’s niece. We savored a great meal at the Eddyline and enjoyed the overlook of the Arkansas river.

Me, Arleen, Ellen, Heather Me, Arleen, Wanda, Tom

Next we will spend six nights at Blue Mesa Reservoir. After a chaotic 4th of July, and six days of noisy ATVs, we need some tranquility! Hopefully Curecanti National Recreation Area, Blue Mesa Reservoir, and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison will wow us with great scenery and provide us with glorious solitude.