Adventures of Tin Can Lulu

The City of Gunnison got its name from the first known European-American explorer of the area, John W. Gunnison. He was searching for a route for the transcontinental railroad in 1853. In the early 1800s, the groups moving into the Gunnison area were mainly fur trappers and mountain men, trying to make a living for themselves in the rocky mountain terrain. With the mining boom, Gunnison began to see an increase of people around the 1870s.

In 1880, the cattle industry in Gunnison was established. Realizing the poor conditions for farming (with only about eleven inches of rainfall annually and the short growing season due to the high elevation and alpine environment) the local farmers turned to ranching and began breeding cattle. To do this effectively, they had to clear and level fields for grazing purposes. Irrigation ditches also had to be cut into the ground to properly irrigate the fields in order to grow hay for the horses and cattle. Many of these practices are still in use, which can be seen while driving through and around the town to the various ranches that are still in operation.

Hartman Rocks, named for the granite ridge that dominates the area, is a mountain bike paradise. With 40 miles of singletrack trails and 33 miles of road open to biking. Hikers and trail runners can enjoy these same trails. We hiked in this area and stayed away from the single track riding. We decided our next visit we will do some of the road riding in Hartman Rocks. We just need to figure out how to get to the roads and not have to do any single track riding.

Our riding took us throughout the valley in Gunnison and up to Almont. We did road riding and found some hard pack dirt roads. We came across many locals on our rides so we knew we were in the right place.

Every campground has interesting campers and the owners setup. We met a couple from Virginia that just picked up, in Las Vegas, their new Bowlus trailer. Bowlus is an American luxury travel trailer with a front door, aerodynamic shape and polished aluminum body. Hawley Bowlus designed and built the travel trailer using his knowledge of aircraft construction. Aspects of the design were used on the first aluminum-body Airstream trailers, the Airstream Clipper.