Sunday, June 24, 2012

And we're off!

We started our road trip by heading southwest to Telluride which is considered one of the most beautiful towns in all of Colorado. After a whirlwind couple of weeks of wedding planning and then packing and downsizing we finally hit the road Monday, June 18th. After a number of ominous signs (three broken down cars and three accidents) we decided not to push too far the first day and camped at a dispersed site in the Collegiate Peaks near Buena Vista roughly 100 miles southwest of Denver.

The next day we made our way southwest across Colorado though high tundra sagebrush with views that were less than spectacular. As we approached Telluride the landscape became more interesting with rolling fields of brown giving way to red rock cliffs and douglas firs. Then suddenly as we arrived in town the mountains rose up on all sides in dramatic fashion and we were surrounded by stunning beauty. Steep forests of firs and aspens butt up to towering silver cliffs. The town itself is a restored gold and silver mining town with about a half mile strip of expensive boutiques and fancy restaurants. Luckily we were tipped off to the one dive bar in town!


We unknowingly arrived just prior to their largest tourist attraction of the year, the four day Telluride Bluegrass Festival. All of the campsites in the area were reserved but luckily our bartender made us aware of a locally known camping spot that took us off the valley floor and through an affluent neighborhood of large ranches to a large mangrove of mature aspens.

The next morning we were startled awake by something moving outside of our tent. Once we built up the courage to look out we saw hundreds of sheep grazing on the grasses within 30 feet! Had it not been for the Shepard sending out the dogs to push them back they would have walked right through our camp.


The ski resort was sponsoring a free show by the band Green Sky Bluegrass at the top of one of the mountains that was only accessible by their gondola to kick off the festival. It was an awesome sight to see the sun setting on the little town as we headed up to the show. Everyone in attendance had a smile on their face and seemed to share the feeling that we were somewhere special. The next day we packed up and headed through other amazing mountain towns like Ourey and Silverton before spending the night in Durango at the very southwest corner of the state. Next stop Payson, Arizona to visit Aunt Kako.

2 comments:

  1. Sounds amazing! Did you take all these pictures? The Wilson Way pic is super cool - looks like a covered wagon could roll right on through the background and for that reason I love it. Travel on!

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  2. Hi friend, yes, I did take all the photos. It really did look like a set of an old Western classic.

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