The Telluride to Durango to Cortez Ride

The first day in Cortez, CO, we met a delightful lady at the dog park, and she told us about a scenic drive up to Telluride Colorado which was only about seventy five miles.

You may recall that, while in Mesa Verde, we were flirting with the Ute God who stored rain clouds in his pocket and many of those clouds were escaping. On the way out of Mesa Verde it began to rain, then hail and then snow with an ice sheet across the wind shield which the wipers easily wiped off. Once out of the park, we didn't think much of the event because though everything was wet, there was no frozen stuff on the ground. We chalked it up to a freak mixed precipitation event due to altitude.

I took a picture of the Monolith across the way because it looked so neat.

Since the precipitation had stopped and the sky looked promising, we headed into town to pick up
some quick supplies and then head for Telluride. We made a quick stop at Wal Mart and headed back the way we had come when we were slightly taken aback by snow on a distant mountain range.

Here are some of the pictures we took on this almost six hour scenic trip. Colorado is one beautiful state. Counting both Mesa Verde and our side trip to Telluride and Durango, we took almost 700 pictures this day (night). We all, boys included had burgers for dinner. One lesson we learned (should have already known) was to not drive in strange mountains on strange roads after dark.

Here are the pictures without narrative.