Sad times at Sunlight Mountain

If you have a spare $50 mill around in loose change then you can buy your own Colorado Ski Resort. As the first snow starts to fall on Sunlight so do the tears of many locals. Sunlight was recently put on the market. With so few of the resorts in Colorado owned by small business and not the conglomerates we can only hope that Sunlight goes to a nice community orientated owner. I think that only leaves Loveland ski resort as one of the few independently owned. Recently it was announced that Evergreen, Colorado will be home to the newest terraine park. A small affair is being built on Echo Mountain where a resort stood in the 1970's. According to General Manager Doug Donovan. "This is not your mamma's ski resort- no stuffy elite attitude, no fancy log cabins or fake Swiss villages, just park." So maybe as a new park is built and an old one is sold, Sunlight will get a little better where it needs some improvement and will stay true to the Colorado family like it has for many years.

Dvorak Expeditions Colorado Rafting: Black Canyon of the Gunnison

This Black Canyon Trip is great. I have taken it two years running now. It is a 3 day 2 night trip. It is primarily a fishing trip - we go in early June to catch the Salmon Fly hatch, which is glorious if you hit it.

The fishing is great through the whole stretch, with changes in flies, hatches and conditions as the 3 days progress. The hike into the river is overated... not really that hard - I could have carried more gear.

Dvorak does a great job guiding rafts both for fishing and whitewater. Their guides are knowledgeable, agreeable, and professional and they go in 4 boat trips.



Tips: the weather has mostly been very hot and very sunny. Didn't really even use tents or heavy clothing. (of course, if weather was bad...). Bring lots of big stonefly patterns and a heavy rod for slinging them. Throw everything against the rocks (this is hard on your flies) and try to maximize a cleandrift (seemed like they often hit early or late in the drift). We did good on different caddis too as a dropper.