A great time getting to Durango

We left you with a picture of our view at our campsite in Colorado and were being intentionally cagey about where we were as we wanted to surprise Jan's sister Karen and Tom.  We originally were planning to go back to our "secret" Clear Creek parking area north of Creede for a few days, but with weather cooling way down, we decided that a few days at over 10,000' might be mighty cold.  So instead we decided to go to Montrose first and when we found out Karen and Tom who we were planning to see for a week in Durango changed their plans to be in Montrose before Durango, we figured we'd surprise them and we sure did!

But before they arrived we wanted to do a favorite loop of ours, down into Ouray to walk around and then back to Ridgway for a nice lunch and then up past Ralph Lauren's ranch to the Last Dollar Road which cuts up through beautiful meadows, gleaming stands of bright yellow aspens, past amazing overlooks and finally ends up just outside of Telluride. It was a gorgeous day and we enjoyed it immensely.

Yes, fall is here with its amazing colors!

Rugged mountains in the distance

A tangle of aspens

Beautiful road

The overlooks are phenomenal

What views

Awesome!

Another day we drove down into the Black Canyon of the Gunnison to where there is river access for fishing.  We had been down there before, but hadn't been aware of the access point.  A work camper at the campground told us about it and although we didn't have time to fish we wanted to check it out.  This canyon absolutely scares the crap out of me, it is so steep, so deep, so sheer, for someone who hates heights this is the worst in my opinion.  So it is hard to fathom that I can drive down the switchback, 12% grade, descent, 2000' to the river, but the road is aligned just perfectly so the sheer drop offs aren't apparent.  

You can't see it in this picture, but it goes way, way down

The Gunnison River

We tried our best to get a few pictures to show the road, but it is so twisty, you can only see a tiny bit of it at any time.  We decided when we come back to Montrose, we will definitely fish it.

When we got back to the campground we noticed that at least Karen had arrived as her motorhome was in a site, but no truck, and just like that Tom drove by us with the truck, of course, didn't see us, and then went to park at their motorhome and caught a glimpse of us and came over to ask WTH?  We then walked over and surprised Karen as well.  Their son Walker and Mirasol live in Montrose, so we joined them for a delightful dinner and visit.

The next day we caravanned to Durango which was absolutely fantastic, the weather was stellar and the views fabulous.  We had our lunch at the top of Lizard Head Pass at 10,246'.  

One of our views along the way

The time went by quickly with drinks, lunches, and dinners together with lots of enjoyable visiting.  We even got to do the Spud Lake hike together, one of our favorites.

Along the trail

A view of Purgatory Ski Area

A beaver pond on the way

Beautiful Spud (Potato) Lake

Gathered around the fire for happy hour, yes it's nippy

Our flag and the moon

We grabbed some sandwiches and had a picnic way up behind Purgatory near Hermosa Creek.

Another nice day

The view coming back

We had to say good bye as they needed to leave a bit early to try to get some issues with their motorhome attended to, but we plan to join back up in Taos in 3 weeks before we head east again.  Wow, our travel time is coming to an end, Florida in just 2 more months.