Tuesday 6-18-19
We’re off on a two-day trip of
sightseeing. We’re driving the “Unaweep/Tabeguache
Scenic and Historic Byway”.
Thursday, June 20, 2019
Our drive along the Unaweep/Tabeguache
Scenic and Historic Byway was very scenic and the weather was perfect.
We took Colorado 62 over Dallas
Divide Pass and headed north on Co 145, down the San Miguel River. The San
Miguel River, a tributary of the Delores River, takes its rise at Telluride and
flows northwesterly to its confluence with the Delores River, near the Utah
line. We followed the San Miguel River, down the canyon, as it winds its way
through alpine terrain near Telluride, Colorado, under the shadows of 14,000-foot
Mount Wilson in the San Juan Mountains, to a desert confluence with the Dolores
River, 80 miles to its north. Following the river down the canyon was very
scenic experience in a dramatic, narrow canyon with red-rock sandstone walls
looming as high as 2,000 feet. In its depths, along the clear, fast, cold
river, a very rare riparian forest community combines narrowleaf cottonwood,
Colorado blue spruce and thinleaf alder, along with lots of wildflowers. Crossing
the river south of Norwood, we climbed a steep shelf along the south canyon
wall with some OMG overlooks. Here, we crossed the high plateau, passing green
irrigated fields and handsome ranches, until we entered the Naturita Creek
drainage, where we took CO 141 toward the Four-corners, along the Utah line.
Along CO 141 south, we crossed
a series of dry canyons and high plateaus, then crossing Gypsum Pass into the
Delores River watershed. We crossed the Delores River at Slick Rock and then
caught CO 491, stopping for lunch at the “Rack Haus”, a local favorite. Here,
we observed a huge storm around the Four Corners area but it brought very
little rain our way. At Pleasant View, we enjoyed the splendid view of the
“Sleeping Ute” mountain and the vast Montezuma Valley.
We took a “Best Western” room
at Cortez, a popular stop for tourists, who stay there because of its central
location among surrounding attractions, such as Mesa Verde National Park,
Monument Valley, and the Four Corners. We explored around Cortez and enjoyed
our room overnight.
Wednesday morning was cool and
clear, as we enjoyed a nice breakfast at the hotel. Next, we headed north on CO
145 to complete our circle-drive. Starting at Cortez, the main town in
Montezuma County in the southwest corner of Colorado, highway 145 begins to
climb gently into the scrub covered San Juan foothills and soon arrives at
Dolores, a small but lively town next to the Dolores River in quite a narrow
ravine. This canyon runs northwest for many miles and becomes much deeper,
cutting into red layered rocks similar to those of the canyonlands of southeast
Utah, and eventually meets the Colorado River, near Moab. After Dolores, the
highway, which is a wide, fast road most of the way, follows the wooded Upper
Dolores River valley and gains height steadily while steep, Rocky Mountains of
increasing height rise at either side. At lower elevations, the rocks are still
sedimentary, red/orange in color, as this region lies at the northeast corner
of the Colorado Plateau, but at higher elevations these are replaced by the
metamorphic rocks of the San Juan range. CO 145 crosses the 10,222-foot Lizard
Head Pass and drops down into the top end of the San Miguel River valley, which
forms a box canyon since the upper end rises abruptly, surrounding the valley
floor on three sides by high cliffs and crags, an inspiring setting for the
historic town of Telluride.
We had lunch at Telluride and
the continued down the San Miguel to close the loop. We took some good
Columbine pictures on the river and then headed back over Dallas Divide to Ridgway
and home.
Wed/Thur 6-26/6-27-19
We implemented an overnight
trip to Durango to attend the Bar-D Chuckwagon Ranch barbecue dinner and
western music show. Our two-day excursion was loads of fun and we saw lots of
interesting people, places, and things. (A noun trip!)
On Wednesday, we packed our
necessities and headed south on US 550. Crossing Red Mountain Pass, we could
easy detect that the run-off is progressing exponentially. The snowpack is rapidly
receding, the drainages are swollen, and the waterfalls are roaring. Red
Mountain Pass was cold and windy but it was a clear morning and the visibility was
good. The pass is named for the nearby Red Mountain on the northeast side of
the pass. The name is derived from the iron oxide laden rock that forms the
slopes, painted by every shade of red you can imagine. We admired the view,
then headed on down to Silverton, but did not stop because we had plans in
Durango.
From Silverton we crossed
Molas Pass and Coal Bank Pass. Though Molas Pass is one of the higher passes in
Colorado, it has only a few switchbacks on the north approach, and is
considerably less intimidating than Red Mountain Pass, however the south slope
will “get your attention”.
Molas Pass was cold and windy
but we could see great distances and the surrounding mountains are a study in
geology. First the visible settements are from an ancient seabed, next
volcanoes pushed up the land and added basalt and other volcanic material, then
came glaciers that cut and carved the cirques, now at over ten-thousand feet. We
saw lots of wildflowers and wildlife.
Breathing a sigh of relief,
you soon encounter Coal Bank Pass. While the north side is fairly gentle, the
descent on the south side is very steep (6.5%), with high drop-offs and no
shoulder, and is basically downhill the entire way to Durango. The south slope
of Coal Bank Pass follows down the Animas River, a tributary of the San
Juan River, part of the Colorado River System. The river canyon is populated by
conifers and Aspen, making a very scenic presence.
At Durango, we checked-out the
Visitor Center, explored old town, had lunch, strolled the river park, and then moved in to our room. In the evening,
we drove out to the Bar D Ranch Chuckwagon, for a bar-b-que dinner, followed by
western music. The ranch is an outdoor setting, under large Ponderosa Pines, on
the east side of the Animas River, at the base of the towering east canyon
cliffs. At sunset the cliffs above us were a radiant, redish glow in the twilight.
We had an entertaining evening at this popular “tourist attraction”!
On Thursday, we had coffee
downtown and drove along the swollen Animas River, then visited Fort Lewis
College, up on the mesa. Fort Lewis began as an Indian school but is now open
to all. With a unique and beautiful mountain-top campus, overlooking historic Durango,
Colorado, we had stunning views and an interesting tour.
We visited the new shopping
area on the southeast side, and then headed back north to Silverton, for lunch.
In the high end of the Animas Valley, we stopped off at Pinkerton hot springs,
for a look at the remarkable colors and formations of the springs. In 1875,
Pinkerton established a dairy farm in the area and quickly discovered that he
could supplement his farm income with fees from the “curative powers” of the
springs.
We had a pleasant drive back
to Ridgway State Park. We plan to do more overnight trips this summer!
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