COME TO LIFE / Montrose, Ouray, Ridgway, Telluride SAN JUAN SPLENDOR 1 COLORADO MOUNTAINS & MESAS The San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado encompasses such a variety of settings in one view: rolling hills of ranch country, plunging canyons and peaks so jagged it feels like they were carved yesterday. Find these scenes and more in Montrose, Ouray, Ridgway and Telluride . DAY 1 The Gunnison River took thou-sands of years to carve 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 , Colorado’s largest body of water. Winds captured by flat-topped buttes make for prime sailing conditions. Anglers, too, find deep water filled with kokanee salmon and mackinaw trout. And boaters freely roam more than 41,000 acres. The Morrow Point Boat Tour is worth the 232 steps down to the boat landing. Float on the 40-foot pontoon to the foot of 1,000-foot cliffs. Landlubbers stick to the 4-mile Curecanti Creek Trail (1) , which passes through forests as it drops 800 feet below the canyon’s rim. Visit the park itself: The astonish-ingly 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 undertaking. 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 other wise 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 connects the past with contemporary Ute life and culture. 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. Check out nearby Ridgway Area Trails ’ 40 miles of mountain-bike and hik-ing trails. Or for something more intense, the epic Old Twin Peaks Trail takes you to a 360-degree overlook. Ouray’s Western Slope Rides has a handy adventure shuttle that will get you to a hiking trailhead, backcountry mountain biking, winter ice-climbing expeditions and more. Another easy option is Ouray County Watersports ’, which will deliver kayaks or stand-up paddleboards to your lodging for use on the area’s waters, including nearby Ridgway State Park . Stop first to pick up picnic provisions at the locally focused Ouray Meat & Cheese Market . In the winter, the town lives up to its other nickname — the Ice-Climbing Capital of Colorado — when the Ouray Ice Park (3) opens more than 200 routes to spiked adventures. Those visiting in the summer will have to make do at Basecamp Bouldering , QUICK TIP 144 / Ridgway is homebase to the San Juan Hut System , which connects you to Colorado’s best mountain-biking trails, hiking trails and backcountry skiing/snowshoeing while staying in a network of 16 isolated mountain huts connected by singletrack trails and routes through amazing terrain. 1-800-COLORADO FROM TOP: CURECANTI NATIONAL RECREATION AREA, LAURENCE PARENT; BLACK CANYON OF THE GUNNISON NATIONAL PARK, ADOBESTOCK/GALYNA ANDRUSHKO. 2
Colorado Official State Vacation Guide 2020: Page 144
