July 2, 2012

July 2, 2012

Now that the refrigerator is restocked, the batteries charged and our water tanks filled, we are ready to hit the mountains again. We want to try a different area but we have to be careful with the upcoming Fourth of July holiday. We used to look forward to holidays. Not now. The long weekend draws vacationers who fill the most desirable campgrounds. We head northeast up the Gunnison River valley passing a string of mountain coalmines. I am a little surprised; I thought most western coal was now strip mined in Wyoming.

Once over McClure Pass, we make a quick detour to the town of Marble, CO. It is a tiny town that is home to probably America’s finest marble. It has to be to justify quarrying marble out of the top of a tall mountain. Initially opened in the late 19th century, the marble here went to build such famous edifices as the Lincoln Memorial and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We walked around the slab staging area set in the ruins of the old mill works. We bought a chunk as a souvenir but we could easily have chipped a piece off the seconds that litter the entire region. Even the local fishing creek is lined with huge castoffs.

From Marble we drove downstream to the cute town of Redstone. Named after the red color of the mountains here, the area used to be a coal center. We were going to stop here for a few days, but with the holiday, we figure its better to be safe than sorry and we instead continue on to Aspen. The RV accommodations in the Aspen area are very limited. Four miles uphill from Aspen is the US Forest Campground of Difficult. It seems to be aptly named. The host on duty turns out to be a senile old lady having much difficulty reading the availability chart. After a lot of patience, she finds us a spot for three nights. It may easily have been the only one. On our evening walk, there didn’t seem to be a single site unoccupied. I am so glad we decided to come here early.