Ouray / Telluride 2010.09.24-27 Fall Colors

Wow....Wow....Wow...

Friday we loaded up and headed to Ouray for a chance to see the fall foliage and also take some family pics as my boys aren't getting any smaller.....Not sure if it was 100% peak in all of the areas we were in, but....oh my...it was beautiful to see what we did see. I think the best area where we didn't get but only a couple of pics was between Silverton and Ouray on 550.....the higher elevations were glowing big time. BTW....if you are ever in Durango, CO you have to stop and eat at "Serious Texas BBQ"....there are two locations in town. The Tacos are awesome.

Now back to it.

As we were headed to Silverton we could see an amazing clump of trees glowing in the distance and as I was driving I was just thinking how cool it would be to get a pic of them....but they looked like they were pretty far onto the side of a mountain.....well...around a hairpin we drove and there they were....







Wow...

We stayed in Ouray at a great condo which upon entering and walking up the stairs found this epoxied to the stair rail.... 8)

How cool is that?

We got up on Saturday and after a great breakfast in the condo, headed to Last Dollar Road toward Telluride. This is a great easy drive with lots of opportunity for pics. The colors on Last Dollar weren't in complete peak, but there were still some cool spots to snap away.






Me and my 3 sons...


We drove to Telluride Ski Village and road the gondola up and over into Telluride and ate at our traditional spot, Smuggler's Brew Pub. Great pizza dough balls and as always...the food was good and the service sucked....but.

After lunch back up and over to the Jeep and headed further south to Trout Lake.....Here we found a great little service road that was not used too much and were no one could bother us. Great colors and great opportunity for pictures.











We left Trout Lake and headed back toward Telluride with a detour up to Alta Lakes....not too much other than evergreens around the lakes, but still a cool, easy drive...


Back into Telluride before the sun completely set.....Bridal Veil Falls...


Back again on Last Dollar Road....the sun was setting, but still managed a few shots.


On the way out of Last Dollar we came upon a huge herd of elk in the distance....a lot of protecting going on by a huge bull. I don't have a lens strong enough to get any pics, but it sure was fun to watch through the binoculars.

Back to the condo much satisfied with the day.

Sunday we decided to head up toward Yankee Boy basin and do some exploring with the boys.....although we didn't venture off the main road too far, we spent some fun time around some waterfalls at 11,000 feet. The foliage is pretty dry at 11,000 feet, but really....who cares.














Coming home we headed over Monarch Pass which had some great colors as well.....look a side route from Westcliffe to Colo City. As always was very sad to come over the last peak, around the last curve only to look out on the flat dry lands of Eastern Colorado. We hurried home and made it in time to see the undefeated Chicago Bears beat the Cheese!!!!

Overall took over 900 pictures....if you haven't experienced Colorado, make it a point to hit it during the fall.