RMBL - Gothic, Colorado

July 27-29, 2007

My work here in Pinedale may be a bit more exciting than putting piss on cotton balls next to marmot burrows and watching every move the little buggers make, but the community here leaves plenty to be desired. A town of five thousand conservative Bush-loving ranchers and oilworkers can't really match up to a mountain commune of a hundred liberal college-age biologists. And so it is that I decided to make the ten hour trek down to Gothic to see friends of yore and friends who might have been. Ten hours, 513 miles, and seldom a dull minute. After a boring 100 mile drive to Rock Springs, the Hwy 191 follows the top of a mesa through beautiful country down to the Utah border. Shortly after crossing into Utah, the highway crosses the top of the Flaming Gorge Dam on the Green River.

The dam produces electricity, and the turbines were recently replaced. One of the old turbines is now displayed in the parking lot.

After crossing the dam, the road crosses a finger of the reservoir on this long arch bridge.

Immediately after crossing this bridge, the road begins a somewhat grueling climb to the top of the Uinta mountains at 8428 feet. As I was stuck behind this load of pipe at 15 mph for a bit too long, I decided to snap a picture.

The Uinta Mountains are the eroded remains of an immense anticline - an upward fold in Earth's crust. This is obvious as the rock layers on the north edge are angled steeply upward to the south whereas the layers on the south edge are angled steeply downward. A drive through the Uinta Mountains is thus a drive through the ages, beginning in the Cretaceous (65 million years ago) in the upper layers and moving backward through the Jurassic, Triassic, Pennsylvanian, Mississippian, Cambrian, and eventually Precambrian (~1 billion years ago) periods then moving back through all the layers in reverse on the descent. The southern edge of the mountains affords beautiful views into the sandstone country of Utah.

From here my route carried me on Hwy 40 east into Colorado, then Hwy 64, then Hwy 139 south across another mountain pass to Grand Junction. After a brief stint on I-70, I followed Hwy 50 to Montrose then up into the mountains in a light rain at about 10 pm. I rolled into Gothic just after 11, sat around a bonfire, and soaked in the hot tub before turning in for the night.

Saturday brought reunions with friends, Dan and the marmot crew, and other scientists. The morning brought rain that soon cleared, providing the kind of beautiful cloud scenes that appear so often in Gothic.

I spent the morning buying good beer and mead and birthday presents, then spent the afternoon playing ultimate frisbee and volleyball.

Evening brought the Rubik's cube party and more time in the hot tub. I woke late Sunday morning and set off almost immediately for my 10-hour journey home, which went smoothly. I stopped south of Rock Springs to admire the desert colors in the sunset.

I arrived back in Pinedale at 11 pm, glad to have returned to one of my favorite places on Earth for a spiritual recharge and a reunion with those friends of mine who are at present nearest to me - even if nearest means 500 miles away.