COME TO LIFE / San Juan Splendor: Montrose, Ouray, Ridgway & Telluride SAN JUAN SPLENDOR: MONTROSE, OURAY, RIDGWAY & TELLURIDE COLORADO DAY 1 It took thousands of years for the Gunnison River to carve out the area’s most identifiable feature — the 48-mile-long Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park (2) near Montrose . Check out exhibits on the area’s natural history at the Elk Creek Visitor Center , located on Blue Mesa Reservoir , Colorado’s largest body of water. Winds captured by the surrounding flat-topped buttes make for prime sailing conditions. Anglers, too, will find deep water filled with kokanee salmon and mackinaw trout. And boaters freely roam more than 41,000 acres of lake. The Morrow Point Boat Tour , on nearby Morrow Reservoir, is well worth the 232 steps down to the boat landing. Float on the 40-foot pontoon to the foot of precipitous 1,000-foot cliffs. Landlubbers can stick to the four-mile Curecanti Creek Trail (1) , which passes through ponderosa, aspen and riparian forests as it drops 800 feet below the canyon’s rim. In the afternoon, visit the park itself. The astonishingly steep walls of the canyon rise more than 2,000 vertical feet from the river. The cliffs expose 2-billion-year-old black metamorphic rock and are so sheer that hiking into the can-yon is an ambitious undertaking. Instead, take a relatively flat walk from the South Rim Visitors Center through the juniper, sagebrush and pinyon. Peer across the chasm to Colorado’s tallest cliff, Painted Wall — you’ll know it by the white gashes through the otherwise pitch-black stone. The park is also an International Dark Sky Park , with stargazing ops that will blow you away year-round but are especially vivid in the winter. Montrose is a gateway to biking, hiking, rafting, hunting and fishing. As a basecamp for exploring the area, you’ll be charmed by the Old West feel yet surprised by modern eateries and shops. Visit the new Water Sports Park on the Uncompahgre River for kayaking, tubing and swimming. West of Montrose, explore the Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area ’s 200,000 acres of red-rock canyon country. 2 1 DAY 2 Nicknamed the “Switzerland of America,” Ouray sits in a narrow valley, surrounded on three sides by the towering peaks of the San Juan Mountains, one reason it’s considered by many as ground zero for Jeep touring. An extensive and incredibly scenic network of old mining roads is another. Many of the town’s original Victorian structures have been lovingly restored to retain the town’s original charm. Peek into two unique history museums: QUICK TIP 146 / The Ute Indian Museum in Montrose will debut an expansion of their exhibits this summer to make connec-tions between past and contemporary Ute life and culture, including a celebration of the Bear Dance. COLORADO.COM THIS PAGE, FROM LEFT: CURECANTI CREEK TRAIL, LAURENCE PARENT; BLACK CANYON OF THE GUNNISON NATIONAL PARK, ERIC WUNROW. OPPOSITE PAGE, FROM LEFT: OURAY HOT SPRINGS POOL; TELLURIDE SKI RESORT.
Colorado Official State Vacation Guide 2017: Page 146
