2016 (Our Momma Remembrance) Colorado Trip: Day Seven

Day 7: Monday, October 10, 2016

This was our first morning, and thus breakfast, at the River’s Edge Motel in Ouray, Colorado. As I have said before, this was a great place to spend the night when you are away from home. And anytime that I am in Ouray, I will be staying at the River’s Edge Motel.

They provide a “self-serve” hot breakfast which features assorted juices, hot and cold cereals, breads, bagels, English muffins and donuts, in essence a Continental breakfast. But they also had biscuits and sausage gravy, and I’m pretty sure they had scrambled eggs when we were there in 2016 (though they don’t list the eggs on their current website). The real treat, however, was a “make-your-own waffle iron.” If you haven’t seen one in the advertisements, this allows you to pour the batter in the iron, close and seal the lid, flip it over and let the machine do its magic. In a few minutes there will be a little ding to announce the waffles are ready. They even had a warm syrup dispenser for the waffles. As my brother commented, with a full breakfast for two of us, that was like getting $20.00 off the cost of the room. *** I just checked out their website, and I don’t see any mention, nor photos of their free breakfast. According to TripAdvisor, though, the River’s Edge Motel does still provide a free breakfast, so you might want to give them a call before booking.

As for the room, there was a living area, with sofa, chairs and big-screen television. A kitchenette provided refrigerator, microwave and coffee maker. And as I described it on TripAdvisor, I had the best shower since I left home.

So, after we finished breakfast, Doug and I headed north on US-550, or the Million Dollar Highway, to Ridgeway, and then west along Colorado State Highway 62 for some serious “mountaineering” as I like to call it. The Dallas Divide was up next, and I could hardly wait.

The trip from our lodging in Ouray to Ridgway took about fifteen minutes to cover the ten miles to the junction with Colorado 62 W, otherwise known as Sherman Street in Ridgway. Another ten-and-a-half miles brought us to the Dallas Divide, perhaps the most iconic scene in all the San Juan Mountains. The Divide is a short distance past mile marker 14 on CO-62.

The Dallas Divide pullout is harder to recognize when approached from the east, simply because it is elevated slightly above the road (CO-62). Therefore, you may pass the turnoff if you don’t catch a glimpse of it out of your peripheral vision, which we did. Indeed, if you are positioned at the rail fence overlooking this iconic landscape, traffic headed toward Ridgway will briefly disappear from your view. Doug and I turned around when we realized we had passed the Divide. Although we had seen it briefly on the run down to Durango three days before, this time I took a lot of photos, both during the day, and again in the evening after supper. I cannot say enough about this amazing place. God was really working overtime when he created this little gem in the Rocky Mountains. Unfortunately the aspen had peaked in terms of fall color. I will let Doug describe it:

“Vegetation at the Dallas Divide can be described best as a magnificent mosaic, one consisting of islands of aspens and scrub oak, separated by groundcover of sage and isolated conifers. Aspen color has peaked. Electric gold is, of course, predominant, with orange interspersed periodically. I would estimate overall foliage cover at perhaps 40%. Branson Reynolds describes this great panoramic vista in the following terms: ‘From this scenic pullout, 14,150-foot Mount Sneffels dominates the view to the south. The mountain was named after a passage in Jules Vern’s Journey to the Center of the Earth in which he depicts a volcanic Mount Sneffels in Iceland as the entrance to the earth’s core. Interestingly, Navajo legend says it was from these rugged mountains that the Dineh, ‘The People,’ emerged into this world from another world inside the earth.'”

Reynolds continues his description of the Sneffels range, in his book, One Drive in a Million: A mile-by-mile guide to the Million Dollar Highway and the San Juan Skyway, “To the right of Mount Sneffels are Dallas (13,809 feet) and Campbell (13,213 feet) mountains. To the left are Cirque Mountain (13,686 feet), Mount Ridgway (13,468 feet) and Whitehouse Mountain (13,375 feet). Further to the east is the Courthouse Range and Cimarron Ridge. Peaks in the West Elk Mountains near Crested Butte can be seen in the distance to the northeast”

After leaving this magnificent vantage point we continued west on CO-62. It is less than one and a half miles, from the Dallas Divide to the junction with 58P Road, otherwise known as the Last Dollar Road. Rather than continue on CO-62 to Placerville, we took a left (south) to a closer view of the Sneffels range. I’ll let Doug take it from here: “This picturesque route traverses 25 miles of prime fall-foliage terrain and connects with CO-145 near Telluride. It begins twelve miles west of Ridgway on CO-62 and provides access to some absolutely gorgeous ranch lands, most notably those of the historic Last Dollar Ranch which fronts the magnificent Sneffels Range. If you recall the Budweiser Clydesdale snowball fight commercial during the 2005 Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles, it was filmed in this area. Aspen stands framed by the Last Dollar Ranch gate were in magnificent condition. The Last Dollar Ranch entrance is 1.3 miles from the turnoff. Magnificent aspen stands, most of which still have excellent coverage, are visible at the 5.8-mile mark, as measured from the road’s beginning, on CO-62.”

And Doug reiterates what he had previously said about the Last Dollar Road, with this description, “The Last Dollar Road passes through such vast aspen groves that one might well describe them as an enormous cathedral. Indeed, renowned landscape photographer John Fielder describes them as ‘the most beautiful aspen groves and forests in the San Juan Mountains'” (John Fielder’s Best of Colorado, 4th edition, page 395).

We eventually made our way to Telluride, though we did get sidetracked on the often confusing back roads. After passing Ralph Loren’s Last Dollar Ranch, we made a wrong turn and somehow got turned around on the gravel roads leading toward Telluride. We missed a turn and instead of coming out of the back-country just north of the Telluride Regional Airport, we found ourselves hitting pavement near the tiny statutory town of Sawpit, on CO-145, a little over twelve miles from Telluride.

In Stewart Green’s book, Scenic Driving COLORADO, the Dallas Divide as well as the area leading to Telluride is in the northern segment of scenic drive #23 San Juan Skyway All-American Byway: Durango to Dolores. On page 218, Green states that Telluride, a city of about 2,500 citizens “boasts perhaps the most spectacular setting of any American Town.” And Telluride, rich in history, was proclaimed a National Historic District in 1961.

Green also added, “mountains rise almost a vertical mile out of Telluride’s valley. Cliff bands, seamed by frothy waterfalls, punctuate the mountain flanks, and spruce and fir forests, broken by glades of quaking aspen, spill down the steep slopes. Snowfields whiten the upper alpine cirques and rocky ridges, and aretes form bold outlines against the azure sky. This town is a place to savor, to stop and stretch and to gaze in awe at nature’s stunning artistry. It also offers some of North America’s most magnificent skiing terrain.”

According to Green the “town, despite soaring land prices and encroaching condominium developments, maintains a Victorian charm and is trying to avoid becoming another Aspen or Vail.” Green’s book, however, was published in 2003. Change is inevitable.

Branson Reynolds, in One Drive in a Million, said Telluride was “originally called Columbia” and “owes its name to the rare sulfur-like element known as tellurium which is found locally in the gold ore.” Another story, however, was that “a conductor on the Rio Grande Southern who, due to the harrowing ride through the mountains, liked to yell out “To Hell You Ride” as the train neared town.”

Reynolds tells how it was John Fallon who discovered gold in the Marshall Basin above modern-day Telluride, in 1875, and the rush was on. The town was founded in 1878, first named Columbia, but due to confusion with a Columbia, California, the name was changed in 1887 to its present usage. According to Reynolds, in One Drive in a Million, over “300 miles of tunnels were dug into the surrounding mountains.” As Doug puts it, these were “to [provide access to a multitude of mines, some of which] ‘have vertical depths of nearly 3000 feet, and horizontal tunnels approaching seven miles in length.‘” Reynolds point out that “over $350,000,000 in ore has been taken from this valley, and most of this is based on the price of gold during the heyday of mining, which was about $20 an ounce!'” Today’s price is $1,882.75 per ounce of gold. That would make it worth $32.9, or almost thirty-three billion dollars in today’s market.

One point of history for those of us, who like to follow the history of the old west; according to Reynolds, “on the morning of June 24, 1889, Butch Cassidy (George Leroy Parker) pulled his first big robbery when he and the McCarty gang took $10,000 from the San Miguel Valley Bank and headed west towards the notorious bandit hideout of Brown’s Park in the badlands of Utah.” His life of infamy had begun and would end on November 7, 1908 in far off Bolivia. That is unless you want to believe the rumors that Parker survived and lived out his life in western America. As for me; I keep an open mind. The movie with Paul Newman and Robert Redford, though, was great.

We had lunch in Telluride, though I cannot remember where, and then we turned around and headed back to Ridgway and eventually to our lodging in Ouray for the night. Along the way, we, once again, passed the Last Dollar Ranch and the Dallas Divide, stopping for many new photos of the Sneffels Range.

The True Grit Café is a wonderful little eatery in Ridgway, the start of the San Juan Skyway, coming down from Carbondale as we did. If you look at the San Juan Scenic Byway, on a map, you will see it is a rough, lopsided, rectangle, and Ridgway is in the upper right-hand corner. If I remember correctly, I had their Chicken Fried Steak, which according to their menu, is tenderized seven times before being breaded. It comes with a creamy white gravy and two sides. I had either the baked potato or mashed potatoes and gravy plus for an additional $2.00 I had a cup of their Beef and Bean Red Chili, which was very good. Since I really love chili, I will check out the chili in just about every new restaurant I visit. I’m pretty sure Doug had the Grilled Salmon. He almost always chooses the fish entre when we eat out.

After eating dinner at True Grit Café, we saw eight mule deer as we left Ridgway on our way back to the Dallas Divide to witness the sunset. With the cloud cover there was no reason to stay late, in the hopes of seeing the Milky Way. Someday, perhaps, I will be able to snag a great photograph of this phenomenon.

The sun sets early in the Colorado Rockies during October, so once again, we headed back to the River’s Edge Motel, in Ouray, for a nice hot shower and bed.