Travels of Sheila & Ted Summer of 2014: San Juan Skyway

The San Juan Skyway is a two hundred fifty mile loop in southern Colorado and, at least this time of year, the most beautiful road I have ever been on. Route 145 which starts just around the corner from where we are staying follows the Dolores River up the west side of the San Juan Mountains, many of which are over fourteen thousand feet tall. Some of the trees along the river had just started to turn while some had lost their leaves. It was a very pretty ride and I kept snapping photos of the fall foliage. In many areas, the yellow and orange aspens would grow in patches among the evergreens making a nice contrast. Little did I know from this side of the mountains how amazing the foliage could actually be.

Going Up Route 145

The finance director for the town of Telluride is a friend and colleague from New England States Government Finance Officers Association who I had shared a hotel room with at a national conference. We hadn't seen each other in ten years but I decided to just stop in and say hello. With my long hair and out of context, she didn't recognize me right away but once I told her my name, it all came back and we went into her office and started catching up. Knowing Ted was waiting in the car, I invited Lynne to lunch with us. She took us to the New Sheridan Hotel built in 1891 by the Rio Grande Southern Railway. We had a wonderful brunch in this beautifully restored building and continued to catch up. I am so glad we made the detour into Telluride to see her.

Telluride Lifts Upper Right

Ted Took Pictures From Where We Parked While I Met Lynne

Like most of the small towns in this area, Telluride started out as a mining town. Most of the town is a historic district with a wonderfully restored business district and residential housing. There is a ski lift right behind the houses and a free tram that you can take to the top and then catch another free tram to Mountain Village a much larger community and ski resort. This tram runs year round to try to cut down on the traffic between the two villages. It would have been nice to ride it up to the top as I'm sure the views are fantastic but we had a long way to drive so didn't stay.

Lynne Lives Near This Development, I Think

Once north and west of Telluride, we started climbing through dark red rocks. Again, the contrast with the foliage was spectacular. At Ridgway we turned south on US 550 and shortly entered the Uncompahgre National Forest. Don't ask me to pronounce it. The higher we got, the prettier the leaves. Ouray is a former mining town that calls itself the Switzerland of America. Its pretty main street was full of old Victorian business buildings and homes. We knew we didn't have time to stop and browse but would have loved to and may come back someday. The ride up out of Ouray hugged the cliffs on one side and was narrow and winding with no guardrails and no paved shoulders. The drop was straight down and a long way to fall. Of course we were on the outside and I had white knuckles and was leaning toward the middle of the car (as if that would help). It was one of the scariest pieces of road I have been on. Near the top of that section, we stopped to see a big waterfall that went under the road. There was a walkway out over the canyon so you could get a good view of the falls and pool underneath. Ted went out and I managed to get a few feet out so I could see the water.

Tall, Rugged Mountains

Ouray

Looking Down On Ouray

Sign Meant Going Up On Sharp Curves

Near Box Canyon Falls

Upper Falls

Lower Falls

Beyond Ouray, the road was a little wider and the drop offs didn't seem so extreme, at least on our side of the road. The mountains towered over us and were covered with the most spectacular, stunning colors I have ever seen. I kept taking photo after photo much to Ted's dismay as he is now the one sorting through our pictures to see which ones he will include in the blog. We saw several small mining villages and old mining sites along the way. The largest town we saw was Silverton, another quaint old mining town completely surrounded by mountains. We went over three high passes. The highest was Red Mountain Pass and then Molas Pass which is 10,910 feet high. We got out there to stretch our legs and the mountains were still a couple thousand feet above us. By now we were in the San Juan National Forest, another name but just as beautiful. We continued down out of the mountains until we reached Durango where we had about fifty miles of road left to travel. We finally arrived home about five thirty and were in time to finish happy hour with Frank and Linda. It was an early night after traveling more than two hundred fifty miles on mountain roads.