2016 (Our Momma Remembrance) Colorado Trip: Days Eight and Nine

Day 8: Tuesday, October 11, 2016

I don’t have any photos from the eighth day, as the weather did not want to cooperate. Although we had plans on taking some back-country (gravel) roads closer to the Sneffels range and maybe even a trip over to the Owl Creek Pass in the Cimarron Mountains, to the east of US-550, inclement weather derailed those plans, so, we spent the day in and around Ridgway before retiring to the River’s Edge Motel in Ouray. Doug can tell you what we did during this shortened day:

“Due to rain, we spent the morning souvenir hunting in Ouray, at their visitor center and Buckskin Booksellers. Short-lived showers and threatening clouds eliminated plans for backcountry travel in the afternoon. Nevertheless, we had a highly productive afternoon visit at the Ridgway visitor center.”

We had wanted to travel over different terrain than on the previous day, so Doug and I intended to drive south on Girl Scout Camp Road to its terminus, some five-and-a-half miles. This road, otherwise known as Ouray Country Road 5, starts at the southwestern edge of Ridgway, home of the True Grit Cafe, and travels south a short distance before turning south by southwest. The gravel course follows Cottonwood Creek most of the way. Then, after returning, we would traverse both the East and West Dallas Creek Roads before, once again, heading to the Dallas Divide. And time permitting, we might have driven to the Owl Creek Pass on the other side of the Million Dollar Highway.

It is about eight-tenths of a mile from US-550, the Million Dollar Highway, to the western edge of Ridgway. According to Doug, the East Dallas Creek Road (County Road 7) is around two-and-one-half miles west of Ridgeway. The West Dallas Creek Road (County Road 9) is about half a mile further west. And the Dallas Divide is four-and-a-half miles further, near mile marker 14 on Colorado State Route 62. From Doug’s notes of 2007, “Scenic pullouts for the Dallas Divide are at mile markers 14.3 (4.6 miles farther west) and 14.9 (0.6 miles west of the first pullout).

After traveling about fifteen minutes from our nightly quarters at the River’s Edge Motel in Ouray, we reached Ridgway, our starting point on viewing the Sneffels range. Before long we were headed south by southwest along Ouray County Road 5, otherwise known as Girl Scout Camp Road. The journey of a little over nine miles would normally take twenty-two minutes, according to Googlemaps.

From Doug’s notes of his 2007 trip, he and Steve traveled along the Girl Scout Camp Road, which will bring you in closer to Whitehouse Mountain (13,492 feet) rather than Mt. Sneffels. “Also known as Girl Scout Camp Road, County Road 5 travels through a valley for most of its length, parts of which are lined with aspen. Only the last mile or so is particularly impressive, in terms of views of the Sneffels Range.”

On that trip, they, also, traveled over Ouray County Roads 7 and 7A. Ouray County Road 7 is known as the East Dallas Creek Road. These notes are from that trip. Doug and Steve “Began the East Dallas Creek Rd. (Ouray County Road 7) at odometer reading 8,877. Views from this highway were every bit as spectacular as advertised, particularly during the last 2 miles, by the mycolorado.org article. Aspens were in the light green to light yellow phase, for the most part, so it should be truly awe-inspiring and utterly breathtaking within a few more days. As illustrated in published photographs, the buckrail fences only came into view during the last mile or two. Note: This road begins at an elevation of approximately 7600 feet and ends, at the Blue Lakes trailhead, at 9600 feet.” This road, which began at Colorado 62, is just a shade under nine miles to Blue Lakes. From the trailhead, it is somewhere around two miles to Mt. Sneffels, so I’m pretty sure that must be an awesome view.

Doug added that, “(they) also took County Road 7A from its junction with CR-7 until it terminated in a dead end, (a journey of around five miles). In some respects, I like CR-7A better simply because it affords a more open view, for much of its length, of the Sneffels Range. 7A travels through the Beaver Creek Valley.”

It is about four miles, from the western end of Ridgway, to the junction of CO 62 and Ouray County Road 7, which is East Dallas Creek Road. An additional mile-and-a-half would bring you to West Dallas Creek Road, or Ouray County Road 9.

These were Doug’s notes in regard to West Dallas Creek Road, or Ouray County Road 9: “Odometer reading at the beginning of West Dallas Creek Rd. (Ouray County Road 9): 8917. The West Dallas Creek Rd. may well be prettier than the East Dallas Creek Rd. because it provides greater visibility and proceeds more directly into the heart of the Sneffels Range. We did not go as far as Box Factory Park but took it, instead, to the point where it exited the Double RL (Ralph Lauren) Ranch and entered the Uncompahgre National Forest. Thereafter, it quickly narrowed, became much rockier and began to climb steeply.” According to Googlemaps, it is a little over six miles from the junction with Colorado State Highway 62 to Box Factory Park.

Although we did not revisit the Dallas Divide on this day, I will include Doug’s notes from his 2007 trip with our good friend, Steve.

***     The Dallas Divide pullout is harder to recognize when approached from Ridgway, simply because it is elevated slightly above the road (CO-62). Therefore, you may pass it if you don’t catch a glimpse of it out of your peripheral vision. Indeed, if you are positioned at the buckrail fence overlooking this iconic landscape, traffic headed toward Ridgway will briefly disappear from your view.

In critiquing the great panoramic alpine vistas of America, the Dallas Divide rivals the Snake River Overlook in Grand Teton National Park and, because of its high concentration of fall foliage, arguably surpasses its better-known counterpart in autumn. John Fielder offers this advice to landscape photographers visiting the area:

            “[What’s] best about this place is that the mountain range runs on an East-West axis, very unusual for Rocky Mountain ranges. Therefore, the rising and setting sun is always side-lighting the translucent foliage, allowing the colors to glow dramatically. So, don’t be lazy – rise early for sunrise light and stay late for sunset at this place” (John Fielder’s Best of Colorado, 4th edition, page 391)!

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. At peak color, electric gold is, of course, predominant, with orange inter-spersed periodically. In his book, One Drive in a Million, 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 Verne’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.

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” (Ibid.:44).

The actual Dallas Divide summit is approximately 0.9 miles farther from Ridgway than this overlook and is at an elevation of 8970 feet. I’ve included a photo taken on the seventh day of our journey, so you can get a feel for how magnificent the Dallas Divide is in the fall.

Day 9: Wednesday, October 12, 2016

As we dressed, packed, loaded our vehicle and ate another fine breakfast at the River’s Edge Motel in Ouray, Colorado, Doug and I knew we would be sleeping in our own beds back in Tennessee later that night. First, however, we had a 300+ mile drive to the Denver International Airport. This would give us one last chance to view some of Colorado’s finest, the Rocky Mountains. Although I did not stop that often, I was, still, able to pick up a few last minute photographs that I liked. We flew home, out of Denver, that evening, arriving back in Nashville around midnight. I took the next day off work to recuperate, returning for duty on Friday, October 14, 2016.

I had not really paid a lot of attention to Ouray during our stay there, so I took some photos before leaving on the last day. I’ll share them with you.

These last pictures were from a rest area near Vail, Colorado. I’m not sure what the name of that mountain is, but the peak was south of the interstate so that should be in the Sawatch range.

And at last we boarded our plane in Denver, flew home and our good friend Steve picked us up at the airport just before midnight. The last nine days were a great way to pay our respects for, and remember our wonderful mother, Rosalie H. Schmittou!