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| "Necessary" Bag |
It's
Saturday and our first real
JEEP adventure begins...the one in Canon City was just a preview to the real thing. George purchased several Guide Books before leaving home which are mandatory for rookies like us. So, since he is the driver, I get to be the navigator - YIPPEE!
In the guide book, Jeep trails are rated
Paved,
Unpaved,
Easy,
Moderate,
Difficult and
More Trails.
I packed a few "necessities" and we were on our way!
Our first Trail is
Last Dollar Road in the
Uncompahgre National Forest. It's 20.8 miles long, rated
easy and the elevation is 10,600 feet. Easy means rutted dirt roads and driving through a small creek and, by all accounts, it was very accurate. The scenery was spectacular and there were thousands of beautiful birch trees and fields of wildflowers. We came across multitudes of ranches, a cowboy and cowgirl out riding horses with their dog tagging along. This 20.8 mile trail took us an hour and a half to complete and we ended up in Telluride.
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| Heath Ranch |
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| Wildflowers |
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| Downtown Telluride |
There was a "techno-music fest"going on in Telluride and absolutely no place to park so we just drove through town and back then headed on our way.
Beautiful town but a bit touristy.....
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| Telluride, CO |
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| Ophir Pass, Moderate Shelf Road |
From there, it was a short drive to our next Trail,
Ophir Pass in the
San Juan and Uncompahgre NF. This trail is rates half
easy and half
moderate. The moderate part was the drive up the Pass and consisted of a narrow, rocky shelf road which dropped straight down on the right side...it was a nail biter at times, but we saw the
BEST scenery on this trail. The most spectacular mountain views I've ever seen. This trail is 9.9 miles long and took us about 45 minutes and a trip to the bathroom!
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| Ophir Pass Shelf Road - YIKES! |
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| Ophir Pass, Moderate |
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| The Top of Ophir Pass |
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| Orange Mountains |
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| View from the top of Ophir Pass |
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| High Noon Hamburgers |
The trail ended near Silverton and we stopped for lunch at
High Noon Hamburgers and that much needed bathroom break. Silverton is a smaller town than we expected and is a rustic, cowboy town. Only the main road through town is paved, otherwise, the roads are gravel. You really get the feeling that you are in the old west.
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| Stagecoach ride thru Silverton |
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| "Chemical" Creek |
We were very close to the area where the recent
mining accident occurred. The River is clear but the chemicals were evident in the Valley where the land is flat and the water has settled.
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| Avalanche/Snow Shelter |
After our
Big Adventure, we headed home through
Ouray. More spectacular scenery and an avalanche/snow shelter. We also saw a deer in the road drinking from a puddle. Ouray is another wonderful little western town and we spied several campgrounds in the area....maybe we'll stay here next time.
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| Deer in the Headlights |
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| Ouray, CO |
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| Ouray Brewery |
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