COME TO LIFE / San Juan Splendor 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 . Start at the Elk Creek Visitor Center , located on Blue Mesa Reservoir (3) , Colorado’s largest body of water. Winds captured by 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 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 , which passes through 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 canyon is an ambitious undertak-ing. Instead, take a relatively flat walk from the South Rim Visitor Center . 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 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 or the Buzzard Gulch Trail System . In town, the newly expanded Ute Indian Museum (1) connects the past with contemporary Ute life and culture. 2 1 DAY 2 Nicknamed the “Switzerland of America,” Ouray sits in a narrow valley with the towering San Juan Mountains on three sides — one reason it’s considered 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. Ouray Mule & Carriage Co. can give you a carriage tour along with tall tales of the mining era. QUICK TIP 148 / Getting to this part of the state is easier than ever. Montrose and Telluride have daily flights from Denver year-round , and Montrose also has flights from Dallas year-round and seasonally from Phoenix, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, Charlotte, San Francisco, Salt Lake City and Houston. COLORADO.COM THIS PAGE, FROM LEFT: UTE INDIAN MUSEUM, LU ANNE TYRRELL; BLACK CANYON OF THE GUNNISON NATIONAL PARK, JASON LEWANDOWSKI. OPPOSITE PAGE, FROM LEFT: BLUE MESA RESERVOIR, @LOVELIVINGINCOLORADO; TELLURIDE SKI RESORT, MILES/MATT INDEN.
Colorado Official State Vacation Guide 2018: Page 148
