COME TO LIFE | Montrose, Ouray, Ridgway, Telluride SUMMER FUN AT SKI RESORTS UP THE FREE GONDOLA TO MOUNTAIN VILLAGE, you’ll find the Telluride Adventure Center, with activities including a canopy tour, bike park, bungee trampoline and more. to Colorado’s tallest cliff, Painted Wall. As a basecamp for exploring the area, Montrose is a gateway to biking, hiking, rafting, hunting and fishing. You’ll be charmed by the town’s Old West feel yet surprised by modern eateries, breweries 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 red-rock canyons. In town, the Ute Indian Museum connects the past with contemporary Ute life and culture, and the Museum of the Mountain West offers an authentic peek at the Wild West. COLORADO MOUNT SNEFFELS WILDERNESS Day 2 Ouray sits in a narrow valley with the towering San Juan Mountains — one reason it’s considered ground zero for Jeep touring. An extensive and scenic network of old mining roads is another. Many Victorian-era structures have been restored to retain the town’s original charm. Check out nearby Ridgway Area Trails ’ 40 miles of mountain-bike and hiking trails. Ouray’s Western Slope Rides shuttles get you to a hiking trailhead, backcountry mountain biking, ice-climbing expeditions and more. Stop first to pick up picnic provisions at the locally focused Ouray Meat & Cheese Market . In the winter, the town lives up to its Ice-Climbing Capital nickname when the Ouray Ice Park opens more than 200 routes to spiked adventurers. MOUNTAINS & MESAS SAN JUAN SPLENDOR The San Juan Mountains encompass rolling hills of ranch country, plunging canyons and peaks so jagged it seems they were carved yesterday. Find these scenes and more in Montrose , Ouray , Ridgway and Telluride . Day 1 The Gunnison River took thousands of years to carve Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park near Montrose . For a look at its wonders, start at the Elk Creek Visitor Center on Blue Mesa Reservoir , Colorado’s largest body of water. Winds captured by IN WINTER, ENTRY TO BLACK CANYON IS FREE AND RANGERS LEAD NIGHT-SKY AND SNOWSHOE TOURS (SNOWSHOES PROVIDED). ALL FOUR TOWNS OFFER HISTORICAL, SELF-GUIDED WALKING TOURS. 128 1-800-COLORADO TONY LITSCHEWSKI. buttes make for prime sailing conditions, anglers find deep water filled with kokanee salmon and mackinaw trout, and boaters roam more than 41,000 acres. On the Morrow Point Boat Tour , float on a pontoon to the foot of the cliffs. Landlubbers stick to the 4-mile Curecanti Creek Trail , which passes through forests as it drops below the canyon’s rim. In the park itself, the astonishingly steep walls expose 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 ADVENTURE PACKAGES RULE IN THIS PART OF THE STATE, FROM MOUNTAINEERING TO RAFTING, OFF-ROADING, BACKPACKING, HELI-SKIING, SNOWMOBILING, FLY-FISHING AND BEYOND.
Colorado Official State Vacation Guide 2022: Page 128
