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As the rain/snow was rolling into Ouray we traveled over the mountains to the sunny, sleepy little town of Telluride. As we had been camping for six nights in a row, we treated ourselves to a cozy hotel room, beer at one of the local brew pubs, Monday night football and the hot tubs on the roof of the hotel. The next day was an awesome multisport day. We loaded our bikes on the free gondola and rode it to the top of the mountain. From there we rode 10 miles on the singletrack Prospect Trail to the Mountain Village. We found the local disc golf course and boulder to get an upper body workout and round out the day. We were exhausted but content.
We found a nice campground south of Telluride called Matterhorn (and a bonus was it had a shower!). On our second day we started the day visiting Alta Lakes, window shopped in the town of Telluride, grabbed a delicious Detroit style Pizza at the Brown Dog, took in views of Bridal Veil Falls, and sampled the brews at the Telluride Brewery before heading back to camp.
Ryan once again found a great long day hike for the next day on the Lizard Head trail. It was a gorgeous 9 mile hike through aspen groves, up some steep switch backs, before we were up on the ridge. From the ridge the 360 degree views of the surrounding mountains were breathtaking. When we stopped for lunch just below tree line we had four elk walk right past us. The trail took us just below the rock formation called the Lizard Head and past Wilson Mountain (the mountain that is on the Coors beer can).
The nights were cold camping at about 9600 feet – we woke up to frost a couple times - but as soon as the sun covered our campsite and lit up the golden aspens surrounding us we didn’t want to leave. We packed up camp after four nights and headed up and over Ophir Pass (a short cut to Durango). It was quite the adventure. The views were stunning; however, the road was quite scary in Lisa’s opinion. Our car makes a few new noises but we made it.
In Durango we took one day to regroup (we call it an admin day): doing laundry, groceries, and finding internet for a few moments to reconnect us to the world. The next day we visited the ancient Indian ruins at Mesa Verde National Park, enjoying another beautiful fall day in southern Colorado. The next morning we rode our bikes out the back of our campground on the Colorado Trail for a few miles and hiked a six mile loop on Animas Mountain with sweeping views of Durango and the surrounding area. We were lucky to catch up with family, Steven and Rosalba Paulick for a delicious dinner in Durango.
We are now in Santa Fe for four nights, taking in the sights and eating lots of delicious southwestern food. After Santa Fe we are going to visit our friends who are living in El Paso Texas before heading back up to southern Colorado. It’s amazing how much of the west we have explored in just a month!
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