Telluride

Sorry for the delay on this one.   Been mostly in the middle of nowhere for the past week.

The Western parts of Colorado are mostly High Desert punctuated by random mountains and Deep Canyons. From Gunnison, It was a 2 days of high desert driving which is pretty for a time but mile after mile of it gets boring.

But to get to it my eagerly anticipated next stop, the remote ski town of Telluride, driving was unavoidable.

I stopped in at the Black Canyon National Park which I didn’t know existed until I saw the sign for it.  I have the National Park Pass and loads of time so I drove through. It’s a nice canyon, as far as canyons go and I am sure there is more to it than what I saw but I was content with what I did see and headed on to Montrose.  

Montrose was as far as I wanted to drive for the day. I got a nice campsite in an RV Park. Not much to say about Montrose either.  Non descript and aptly boring. So Boring that I had to entertain myself and as you can see I am easily entertained.

I always wanted to go to Telluride but it is so far from anywhere that you don’t just stop in on the way to somewhere else.  I was not disappointed. The Ski Village is a lot of Condos which I am not fond of but around the corner and into the Canyon is the actual town that can only be described using superlatives. Friendliest People, Lots of places to Eat and Drink. Thankfully, not a lot of gift and T-shirt Shops. The old Victorian homes are really pretty. It reminded me of Key West with 2000 foot Cliffs.

I was lucky to get a campsite at the in town campground at the end of town. Big spaces and lots of trees. It is hard to get a spot because it is first come first serve. I was glad I stayed in Montrose and timed my morning drive to get there just as folks were striking camp and leaving.

There is a Free gondola over to the top of the ski resort and over to the ski village. So I took that up and hiked down.  Hiked the other side of the canyon the next day and roamed the local pubs at night. It was a great stay. Too short. But the Mushroom festival was gearing up and I HATE Mushrooms so I decided to put some miles between me and the crazy people who LOVE them.

I was off to Durango and there is no easy way to get there. I drove over a beautiful but scary to drive mountain pass between Ouray and Silverton. Both really cool old mining towns. The drive though was winding, high and Guard rail free.  I liked the drive but very happy when it was over.