Ouray, Colorado

Th drive from Durango to Ouray followed a route that Calvin had ridden on a bike ride through Colorado several years ago.  We once again drove through spectacular mountain scenery.  There are three mountain passes between Durango and Ouray, each a little higher that the last.  The first is Coal Bank Pass at 10,640 feet.

The second pass was Molas Pass at 10,910 feet. It is reputed to have some of the freshest air in the world, but it was pretty cold air so we didn't stay long.

On the way to the next pass we stopped at a waterfall Calvin had seen on his bike ride. Another rider had flagged him down on the ride and said he had to see this waterfall. It was not as spectacular a waterfall late in the fall, but the canyon was gorgeous.

So we took our picture in front of it.

Then on to the last pass, Red Mountain pass at 11,008 feet.

This is one of the Red Mountains.  There are actually three named Red Mountain 1, 2 & 3.  Red Mountain 2 looked the reddest to me.

A bike ride that took all day was considerably shorter in the car, so we arrived in Ouray about lunch time.  We went to Box Canyon to have a picnic lunch and see the waterfall.  Pretty nice dining.

The Box Canyon Waterfall rushes down a cliff face, but it is mostly hidden by rock outcropping. So this is actually the stream as it exits the waterfall.

The highlight of Box Canyon was a short hike to the bridge across the stream. This shot looking up canyon from the bridge shows an interesting geologic feature. 

This is called the Box Canyon angular unconformity.  The vertical layers you see are Precambrian Rock. After a lot of twisting, folding and erosion about 1 billion years of earth history are now missing in the rock record and the Precambrian layers are topped by Devonian marine sandstone.

We were still to early to check into our hotel we hiked to another waterfall, Cascade Falls. It was interesting but not as interesting as my favorite subject.

We stayed at the Beaumont Hotel. This hotel built in 1886 was lovingly restored to its turn of the century glory and was a real treat. (I give the bath tub two thumbs up)

We had time in the evening to stroll around town and admire the beautiful location.

And the next morning we got the message "Winter is coming" on the same mountain.