Ouray, Colorado

Driving the "Million Dollar Highway"

Welcome to Ouray

Our home for the next week

Black Bear Pass

Black Bear Pass

Elevation 12,840 ft

Loose shale and tippy spots are not for the faint of heart

Descending one-way switchbacks into Telluride

Bridal Veil Falls

Telluride

The Free Box
Better than a "Little Library"

Lunch at the Brown Dog

Heading back on Imogene Pass

View of the switch backs on Black Bear

Remains at Tomboy Mine in Savage Basin.
Work at Tomboy Mine began in the 1880's and continued until 1927.  The mine was a rich producer of gold and at one time 900 people lived in Savage Basin

Our new Jeepin buddies that we met while wandering around at Tom Boy.
Vanessa from Colorado and  Kim & Dean from Phoenix, Arizona

Imogene Pass is the second highest drivable pass in Colorado.

Don't take this trip lightly.  The road is rocky, steep and narrow in places.

Checking out another mining area

Headed to Poughkeepsie
The scenic, remote valley offers a variety of challenges for hard-core enthusiast.

There is Vanessa right behind us

Toughest part of the trail - The Wall

Vanessa showing us how it's done

There goes Dave

Dean's turn

Silly girls

Just hanging out waiting to see who else might show up to do the wall

Well there they are

Upper part of the trail winds along the edge of Lake Como

Lake Como

Sound Democrat Mill
The Sound Democrat Mill is a seven stamp, five concentration table, ore-processing mill built in 1905- 1906, and remodeled in 1909. It is a typical amalgamation and concentration stamp mill built to treat gold and silver-lead ores. It is the last standing stamp mill in the productive Eureka district, and one of the most complete stamp mills remaining in Colorado.

California Pass
Elevation 12,960 ft

Kim and Vanessa on the rock

Heading out for the day on Mineral Creek Trail

Engineer Mountain here we come

Nothing like driving through the high country and experiencing a unique piece of our western lifestyle–the Open Sheep Camp!

Odom Point

Another beautiful lunch spot.

Back through Poughkeepsie Gulch
Cindy's turn at the wall

Thanks for the pictures Kim.  Dave was so busy watching he forgot to take pictures.

Our favorite spot with Red Mountain in the background

Sunset over Ouray

Our farewell dinner with our new friends at the Ouray Brewery.  They are all headed out tomorrow. However, our paths are going to cross again in a week with Kim and Dean in Moab, Utah.

Since the Jeep was making a funny noise we are taking a day off from jeeping until Monday when we can have it looked at.  Town view from Ouray Perimeter Hiking Trail.

It's not easy hiking at this elevation

Getting the Jeep looked at in Montrose

While the Jeep is being looked at we walked back into town for some breakfast.
We were pleasantly surprised to see a sign for Square Dancing in this area.  Guess we will have to check it out for our next visit.

Our timing was perfect.  Upon picking up the Jeep we sent a text to our friends in Montrose.  They were just heading out to Box Canyon so we tagged along.

Chris, Steve and Dave

The boys checking out what looked like a cave

Afterwards we went back to Steve & Robyn's new house for dinner

Heading over Ophir Pass to meet up with Don and Vicki who are vacationing in Telluride

Ophir Pass
Elevation 11,789 ft

There they are

Ophir Post Office

Trout Lake

Our tour guides

Trout Lake Trestle

Lizard Head Peak

Lunch at Mountain Village

Headed back to Ouray over Imogene Pass

Savage Basin

Tom Boy Mine