As we looked out our motor home window this morning, we could see that the water on Blue Mesa Lake was like glass. This is Colorado's largest lake, and we are camped at Blue Mesa Outpost RV park overlooking the water. We are camped in a private campground inside Curecanti National Recreation Area, and we have many recreational activities to choose from today. First, it looks like we need to be kayaking on that glass-like water!
We have enjoyed having a 4-wheel-drive pickup this summer. It allows us to drive down questionable roads to get closer to trail heads, and this morning it brought us closer to the water on the Lake Fork Arm on Blue Mesa Lake.
We need to get down that rough road because most of the boat ramps are out of the water this summer. Blue Mesa is only 38% full because of the summer drought. To make it worse, the government took emergency action to require Blue Mesa to send eight feet of water downstream to the drought-stricken Lake Powell. That's the first time that has ever happened, and it dropped Blue Mesa down to its second lowest level ever. We walked down to the water's edge to see our options for putting the boat in at this spot that is usually under water.
It is cloudy this morning, but the water is still perfectly still when we first got on the lake.
Up ahead, we first thought we were seeing a couple ducks in the distance. As we rowed closer, we saw that our "ducks" had ears.
We watched as the two does swam across the water in front of us. The first looked back to make sure her friend was still coming.
Then the two of them left us to see what was on the other side of the lake. What a neat wildlife sighting already this morning!
We chose this route because it leads into a narrow neck of Blue Mesa Lake. As kayakers, we aren't interested in the big round part of the state's largest lake. We much prefer kayaking into the narrow coves.
Soon we spotted our first eagle of the day against the cloudy sky.
The rock cliffs beside our cove have also gotten taller as we continued to paddle.
The next wildlife sighting was this single merganser. Her wild cinnamon-colored crest on the back of her head is wetted down because she's been diving underwater for fish.
These birds seem to like to travel in flocks. We soon passed this group of mergansers along the rocky shore.
They made quite a splash as the entire group tried to take off when we got too close.
The wind is now picking up, and our glass-like lake has noticeable ripples. We are also seeing tall clouds billowing up as the winds blow in earnest. On the shore, we see a water line as evidence that Blue Mesa Lake is lower than usual.
Of course the new wind is blowing against us. We've paddled four miles down into this cove, and now we have four miles of hard rowing to get back to the pickup. We were too busy pulling on our paddles to notice any more wildlife than the single deer in the brush along the lake on the return trip.
Our arms were tired as we made our way back through the tall walls of the cove.
We did pause to notice these curious bubbles breaking on the surface in this calm area. The water is very clear, but we never could spot the source of the bubbles. Any explanations for us?
We were unusually tired by the time we rowed all the way to the pickup against the wind. But our legs hadn't gotten a workout today, so we started on the Dillon Pinnacles Trail. These are the lovely rock formations that we admired as we drove in yesterday.
It was almost 5:30 by the time we got well into this 2-mile trail. We walked by this butte, lit up by the lowering sun. This picture also shows the dappling of yellow leaves that are starting to show up in Colorado now.
Denisa has been trying to take a picture of a mountain blue bird, and one flew right in front of us on the trail. That's when we realized that we didn't bring the good camera on this hike. So all we got was a blurry blue smudge taken with our cell phone. Forgetting the good camera would come back to haunt us again before the evening was over.
The hike continues above Blue Mesa Lake, and we noticed a car very close to the muddy shore. We bushwhacked through the tall grass to go check on it. The female driver had planned to hike the trail we are on, but her GPS led her astray. She completely missed the trail head, and found herself very stuck in the gooey mud on the lake's edge. She was driving on mud that is usually under the water, and it was impossible to drive out of the ruts she was in. We couldn't do much for her, but we were glad to learn that her insurance company was sending help.
Back on the trail, we were finally getting closer to the pinnacles. They were formed when the hillside began to wear away. But the more resistant tuff layer of rock formed caps on top of the softer rock. As the weather began to erode the softer soil, pointy pinnacles were formed. We thought we would see the Dillon Pinnacles up close on this hike.
But we were frustrated when the trail took a sharp turn to the left. That took us away from the neat rock formations, but closer to Blue Mesa Lake.
The sun is getting low in the sky as we looked both directions over this huge lake.
We're glad we had plenty of time to hike back to the pickup before sunset. But as we headed back, Mark noticed some tiny dots on the mountain side. If we only had the good camera, we could have taken a nice picture of a herd of mountain sheep this evening. But these blurry tiny dots in the bottom right corner was as good as our cell phone could do at this distance.
If you don't have a zoom lens, you just have to do the "manual-zoom." So Mark headed straight up that mountain to see if he could get a closer picture of those mountain sheep with his cell phone.
As he neared the top, a single mountain sheep peered over the edge. It made for an interesting silhouette you can see in the middle of the picture below.
Mark did get a better picture with his manual zoom technique.
He might have gotten closer, but a young lamb showed up on the horizon too, and the two of them then ran off together.
After that first mountain sheep encounter, Mark continued up the mountain hoping to intersect the herd on the other side. He popped over the top and surprised them.
He got the best "zoomed-in" picture of the evening, before they formed a line and calmly continued in the other direction.
He continued taking pictures as they climbed higher over Blue Mesa Lake.
It made an interesting picture to see their white rumps lined up on the path.
Climbing to that elevation not only got a better picture, but it also landed Mark in the pinnacles that we had wanted to see up close. Can you see him among those pointy rock formations on the right side of the picture below?
Denisa climbed part-way up the mountain to get pictures of Mark, far ahead.
So it was really getting late by the time we returned to the trail. As we got closer to the lake, we were glad to see that our damsel in distress was getting winched out of the mud before it got dark.
We've packed a lot into our day at Blue Mesa Lake. We've paddled until our arms were sore, and we turned a 3.7-mile hike into a 5-mile hike. As we watched the sun set over the lake, we were tired. But we never tire of seeing more of God's wonders on a day like today.
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