Travel News
Colorado - 2003
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Updated Aug 28, 2003


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Gunnison, CO
Aug 6 - Sept 6, 2003
We moved on to Gunnison to get into the midst of the tallest mountains in the Rockies. We'd planned only to stay a week here but when we found that it was an ideal base for riding to Crested Butte, Ouray, and Silverton, we extended this to a month.  The main activities here are off-roading (bikes, ATVs and jeeps), hiking and fishing so we've pretty much stuck with bike rides.  Gunnison's weather is similar to our last stopover - sunny mornings and scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon - some days you get lucky, others you get soaked!
 
Crested Butte and nearby trails
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Crested Butte mountain, 12162', in the background, and lunch at the Paradise Cafe
Views from Gunsight Pass
Slate River Road

A well known ride is the Alpine Loop - it's only suitable for 4x4's, ATVs and trail bikes.  It lies between Silverton, Ouray and Lake City - the latter being about 50 miles from here.  The weather turned bad with violent thunderstorms when we went so we'll need to go back for another visit.
 

The Alpine Loop  - Starting at Lake City, the southern loop crosses Cinnamon Pass, goes to Animas Forks and then Back to lake City Via Engineer Pass
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Cinnamon Pass is over 12,000'
Engineer Pass, going up, the top and going down

In the 1880's gold mining was very active in this area and a railway was built from Pitkin to Buena Vista and  included the first tunnel through the Continental Divide.  The tunnel collapsed long ago and the railway is no longer in use but is open to off-road vehicles to see the incredible terrain the tracks covered.
 

The Alpine Tunnel Road
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The 1890 railway went across almost vertical rock faces

The road from Ouray to Silverton is known as the Million Dollar Highway - it goes over the 11,018' Red Mountain Pass and is a major highway suitable for trucks and RV's.  In many places it's just carved out of the rock face and doesn't often bother with guard rails! 
 

The Million Dollar Highway
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Ouray, at 7811', is nestled in the mountains
$M Highway
Silverton, 9305'.

While at Silverton, we took a side trip up Stony Pass - great views!


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Stony Pass, near Silverton

To get to Ouray, we passed through Ridgway and stopped for lunch.  Turns out John Wayne's "True Grit" movie was shot here.
 

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True Grit Cafe, Ridgway

Another week in Gunnison and then next stop Lake Tahoe ....
 


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This page last updated on Aug 28, 2003