Grand Junction, CO

Day 7 - I woke up and had a quick breakfast and then descended into Lake City, CO.  I drove past a few stocked lakes and asked a ranch hand, who seemed to own them, where to fish since everything seemed to be private.  He sent me to this nice stream, which I later learned didn't fish well since the water temperature was actually too low that early in the morning. 

Afterwards, I stopped at Dan's Fly shop near 9 AM and he, Dan himself, was an excellent source of info.  He told me that the famous Lake Fork of the Gunnison River (which I had researched) was accessible not too far from town.  Apparently, there are small private and public land indicators that take you into some nice water, but they are difficult to spot while driving.  He was more than right.  The Gunnison proved to be teeming with fish and was the juiciest of waters I have fished since Chile.  My pictures don't quite tell the story too well, and I caught a number of decent rainbows and brightly colored browns, but I am going to keep this spot to myself HAHA, since I snuck around some fences for the good stuff.  I took some back roads to avoid driving through Gunnison town to get to Grand Junction and this is what some of the driving was like. 

It did not compare to the last two passes so I was a bit bored, but I came to Grand Junction and found the cheapest motel in town after needing a long awaited shower.  To give you an idea of the culture of the town (in two small instances) I looked up the motels at some recreation playing field where I had phone service.  As I was parked, a beat up Oldsmobile pulled up with three angry and drunken hippies who were arguing about cigarettes.  The man in the passenger seat took off his glasses and asked me how I was doing.  I responded and returned the question to not be rude.  He said, "Im f***ing up, can't you tell?" Ummmm, yea.  His possey pulled out a blanket for the grass and chilled while I drove off.  


At Timbers Motel (a blue collar, working man's, weekly priced, type place), which was $40 + Wifi, the office man told me that they only had one non-smoking room available.  He tried to drill me to make sure I was not a smoker-I think he even got close enough to smell me.  Anyway, I cleaned up and had dinner and a beer at a sports pub across the street.  Grand Junction was nothing special, but was the refresher I needed.