Last Dollar Road and Illium Road, Ridgway / Telluride area 9/30/20
For our next scenic drive, we headed south to Ridgway and then took a dirt road called Last Dollar Road towards Telluride.
We stopped at a trailhead along Last Dollar Road and while Jason flew his drone, I went for a short walk up the Whipple Mountain trail. The trail was peaceful and quiet with stunning views across the valley. Cheerful sunshine bathed the landscape in a warm golden glow and it felt like all my worries were carried away on the light breeze that played through the trees.
On a lark, I took our GoPro on the walk. I hoped to capture some of the leaves drifting off the trees, spiraling to the ground on the soft wind. When I got home and watched the video, it felt like I was back on that trail with the sunshine on my face and I decided to put together a short 4 minute video so I could go back and recall the relaxing feeling whenever I wanted. I hope you enjoy it and feel like you are walking with me through a sunny, crisp fall Colorado day.
The video is also here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py062CG5Lbo
As the road neared Telluride, I spotted some horses in a field next to the road, including some painted ponies which are some of my favorites. We pulled over and I had so much fun watching them, especially what appeared to be a mom (on right, mostly white) and her daughter.
I especially enjoyed this beautiful girl and the way her mane danced in the wind.
We stopped just outside Telluride at a little place called Cindybread (how can you NOT love a place that has bread right in the name?) They had a few tables set up outside and we had some super yummy sandwiches while enjoying the view. Then we headed out to another dirt road called Illium road.
We came upon some "apricot" colored aspen trees near the road and I had fun scrambling through the bush trying to get photos of the leaves.
Crested Butte area, 10/3/20
On the 3rd, we headed back to the Crested Butte area.
We had to cut our last drive short thanks to a flat tire, so we were looking forward to more exploring. Not to mention, we were also looking forward to the spectacularly delicious Chai Tea Latte / Hot Cocoa / Hot Cider that we get from Tributary Coffee Roasters in the small town of Gunnison along the way ;o)
After our stop in Gunnison, we stopped at an area along the road that had a walk way down to the creek. It was a nice opportunity to stretch our legs and just enjoy being outdoors. As we started our romantic stroll, we noticed some sweet folks had made a big heart using stones which seemed perfect :o)
We paused along the creek watching the leaves flutter onto the water and even caught a glimpse of a cute little mouse along the water's edge.
Next we headed to Washington Gulch Road where we found a stand of trees with a nice variety of colors, from the usual golden yellow to apricot to a gorgeous deep red that's pretty hard to find in aspen.
We also headed up Gothic Road, north of Crested Butte.
This led us past a small public garden spot called the Mountain Wedding Garden. My brother, Dan, and his lovely bride, Nessa, got married there in 2017, an awesome day full of lots of great memories!
As we drove along Gothic Road, I noticed a spur road leading off into the trees. I have a special affinity for paths that lead off into the distance, they awaken my curiosity of "what's around that next curve?" Probably one of the reasons I enjoy hiking so much.
I especially liked how fallen leaves filled in the wheel ruts of the road - makes me think of following the yellow brick road :o)
We finished up the day exploring Kebler Pass Road, west of Crested Butte.
When we go on these scenic explorations, we often find the best places in the John Fielder book "Best of Colorado" (John Fielder is a famous landscape photographer). He does a great job leading you to scenic gems; in fact, the book is where we found our wedding ceremony spot near Loveland Pass. Thanks John! :o)
Along the Kebler Pass road, he described one area like this:
"an incredible view north to The Dyke, a long rock wall that sits above one of the most beautiful aspen vistas on the planet."
We found the spot easily and could see why he loved it, the huge swaths of aspen groves were jaw-dropping.
We finished up the day watching the sun set on Marcellina Mountain. The spot where we pulled over had a lot of what I believe are scrub oak, I loved the orange/red color of the leaves against the blue sky. It was a fantastic finish to a very full day :)
Girl Scout Camp Road near Ridgway, 10/9/20
For most of our second week of vacation, the haze from the wildfires made photos difficult, but we enjoyed relaxing in our lovely vacation rental. We did make it out on the 9th for some sunshine. We stopped in the small town of Ridgway and had a nice stroll around the pretty park where the trees were looking lovely and the statues were super cute!
We continued walking around the town and came across this art piece meant to honor various pieces of the area's history. The nearby sign interpreted the pieces and it was fun to guess at what was used - you can see the bottoms from irons, pieces of metal picture frames, tops of pickaxes, a spray nozzle for a hose - it's like a "where's waldo" of interesting bits n bobs. :)
Girl Scout Camp Road has some lovely views of Mt Sneffels which is one of my favorites mountains. Because I love the raggedness of it and also because its name makes me think of Mr. Snuffaluffagus :) The picture below is our viewpoint as we stopped for lunch, can't ask for better!
I noticed one particular tree that was a real rainbow - green, yellow, orange and red all on the same tree!
I enjoyed the burbling brook with leaves floating down it and getting the picture helped wake me up because I put my feet in that REALLY cold water :)
Dallas Creek Road, Ridgway / Telluride area 10/10/20
On the 10th we headed south to Telluride again. As we neared Ridgway, we spotted a hot air balloon in the sky!
Sometimes chance leads you to something new and that's what happened with the balloon. As we drove down various roads trying to get the best view, we stumbled across a small park with a cool eagle sculpture.
It wasn't some little sculpture - just see how big it is next to Jason! The way it was balanced on its wing off the rocks really gave it a feeling of being in flight. These kind of unexpected discoveries are one of my favorite parts of exploring!
We drove down East Dallas Creek Road near Ridgway, but the visibility still wasn't great so I don't have any photos of the mountains from that area. What we did find, however, were some more gorgeous horses.
I don't think I've ever seen an Appaloosa except in movies / photos. The owner was very friendly and told me the Appaloosa was a very rare variety called a "leopard appaloosa". Very pretty!
We then continued down the road towards Telluride and I spotted some aspen trees with leaves only at the very top. They made me think of lollipops which made me smile so I had to share :o)
In Telluride we tried to eat at the yummy Cindybread again but it was closed, so we headed into the main part of town. They had closed off a lot of the main street with lots of tables for outdoor seating which was great. We were able to grab a pizza and calzone from Brown Dog pizza and they were AWESOME!!! And we got another great lunch time view :)
And that's it for our vacation in SW Colorado. We had a wonderful time. We ended up working from the vacation rental for the first and last week of our trip, with 2 weeks off in the middle. We loved our rental and enjoyed lots of walks around the neighborhood, sometimes catching a gorgeous sunset at the end of the day!
Thanks for reading, take care!
Thank you!
