August 5, 2022 Getting to Ouray

 

Friday August 5, 2022   Ouray reservation

My humans walked me all over.  I got all sorts of new smells.  I even got to eat some grass, but I didn’t throw up.

My morning walk took me around the campground.  A stunning meadow is the backdrop, and the sites are loaded with pine trees and wonderful smells.  There are ponds, cabins and horses.  I walked the road out front past ranches.  It is a beautiful area.

Our friends, Jake and Lynn are coming for breakfast.  We were to meet up in Ouray today, but why not start here since we already missed out on meeting up in Mesa Verde.  After our visit, we cleaned up Hannah and headed to Durango, then north on highway 550.  We are in the mountains now.  Aspens, pines and rocky peaks line the roads.  For the first few miles, it is easy.  Then once you pass the Purgatory ski area, the real mountain road begins.  Elevation climbs, the turns get sharper and sharper.  Hair pin turns become hairier pin turns!  It is slow going.  But it is absolutely gorgeous!

These are the San Juan mountains.  They are tall, rocky and they form a NARROW valley up the 550 corridor from Durango, past Silverton and Ouray up to Ridgway.  The area has been heavily mined through the years.  The colors of the rock scream ‘minerals’.  There are rivers (that have been polluted then cleaned up).  Every turn could be a photo spread in a calendar.

When we get to Silverton, Spouse accidentally turned onto that road, so we figured we would ride through the town then back out, right?  An old mining town is full of tourists.  Any turns off the main road put you on a dirt road so we followed the main road thinking it would take us back to 550.  But it doesn’t…  it takes you to a fork in the road… to the left is a dirt road leading to a gold mine.  To the right is a dirt road leading to…  We are somehow going to have to turn around.  This ought to be fun.  Spouse saw some construction workers and asked about towing on the larger road.  The response was ‘only if you want to die’.  Hmmm…  no flies on us!!  Spouse was able to back up, then use a driveway to back down so we could turn around.  We then retraced our steps back to 550.  Ooops…

The rest of the road to Ouray is extremely windy.  You are between 9,000 and 11,000 feet of elevation with steep drop offs that I am sure are over 40,000 feet!  Hair pin turn after hair pin turn.  The scenery is magnificent with steep rocky mountains, some covered totally in green with grasses and trees, while others have bald tops screaming in red and copper strata.  As a passenger, I get to look at the beauty, while Spouse has to keep his eyes on the road.  Too bad…

We got to our spot next to our friends.  Time to actually relax…  We get a cocktail hour, and Jake and Lynn made a beautiful salmon dinner.  Life is good…  And some rain for our entertainment!

Then I figured I had an hour and better start getting my blog together.  It will take a bit to set up, but once that is done, it should be a bit easier to maintain.  Oh, and did I mention I love our new coffee maker?  It is light weight and fits in Hannah so much better than our other one.  Like I always say, when life deals you a lemon, make lemonade!