Day 3: Ouray, Telluride, & .... Ouray!

This is Box Canyon, in between some of the mountains that surround the city
It was loud and wet down under the falls, hence the water on the camera


The Catholic spaniards called them the San Juan because it was their ideal spiritual retreat into God's wilderness- a la Saint John the Baptist
Indians used to hunt wooly mammoths up there, seriously
Waterfalls and rivers everywhere, so powerful, so amazing
Ouray grew in that spot because it was so low in elevation (7700), yet so close to so many mines, and easily accessible to the North, thanks to a 300 foot glacier that carved a valley over milions of acres.

That is me standing on a 300 foot bridge above Box Canyon Falls, and not looking down
That is Brittany on top of the 300 foot bridge, and not lookng down
The miners blasted that tunnel in the late 19th Century

Geological strata




The blue one in the middle is our B&B as seen from the bridge, for a reverse view, see the bottom

A blue bird
A paw print of some animal

In the Winter all these waterfalls freeze, and they become the worldice climbing capitol, everyone comes and competes- seriously


The Uncompaghre River("un" "come" "paw" "gray"), I love it, follows the Million Dollar Highway all through there



The Hot Springs Park, very warm, very relaxing, and you just have to look up and try not to smile

In the late afternoon we did the 50 mile loop over to Telluride, this is Bridal Veil Falls, and that is a resort on top of it- Wow
Bridal Veil Falls, zoomed out, those insane switchbacks I guess are the way up to the resort
The first time in my life I bought sunglasses, my eye balls were practically getting burned so I had to give in


A river runs through everything up there this time of year (they once got 62 inches of snow in one day), the roads have rivers on the shoulder. This one runs through Telluride, 8700 feet elevation

In 1893 Congress passed the Sherman Act and went off silver based currency. The San Juan mning towns died overnight, with the US Treasury instantly selling, instead of buying, silver. William Jennings Bryan went to Telluide and said "You will not press down this crown of thorns upon the head of labor. You will not crucify mankind upon this cross of gold." Bryan swept Colorado, but lost elections. Frank Baum wrote a book mocking the whole thing. It is called 'The Wizard of Oz.'
Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Jerry Seinfeld, and lots of others have 48 week a year empty houses in Telluride. It's no better than the other San Juan cities, and not as nice as Ouray, but there is a film festival, ski left, and most importantly, an airport there
On the gondola which goes up to the top, and then down into Mountain Valley. 99% of what I hate about flying made me uncomfortable in that thing. But, it was awesome.
Telluride was also the site of Billy the Kid's first bank robbery. The sherriff was paid off to be out of town, and was himself a member of Jessee James gang. Wyatt Earp, on the other hand, was in Silverton for 3 months before he went back to Dodge. And in 1929 the local bank didn't lose a dime of deposits for the community because the bank manager pulled a $500,000 fraud on Wall Street after the crash, he got 3 years in jail, but the town loved him forever.

What a wonderful trip it was

Probably standing at 12,000 feet. The San Juans have 14 peaks over 14,000 feet (Utah has zero). There are hundreds over 13,000 feet. I felt like there was so much oxygen and my blood was thick when we came home down to 6200 here at Suncrest.
We got to know the bed and breakfast owning family very well, including their adorable and friendly dog named Tiger
The 300 foot bridge over Box Canyon Falls from our bedroom window
And then zoomed in from our bedroom window