We drove along the San Juan Valley for a number of miles and stopped at this location to get a view of the whole area along with a large grove of Aspen trees, turning their vivid colors.
About half way to Lake City we turned off the main highway to see the North Clear Creek Falls. They were very impressive for September and I can assume that they would be incredible in the spring when the ice melt starts.
I suppose that this picture looks a little hokey tucked in with all these nature pictures but it shows how high we were and the fact that water wise we were now out west. Howdy.
We were really freaked by the color of the mountain top here, but unfortunately the camera just didn’t get it right. The side of the hill was really red and stood out like crazy.
This was a very interesting stop. It’s called the Windy Point Overlook and it shows all five of the 14ers in the one picture. This is rugged country as you will soon see.
From the same general location what’s left of one of the mountains can be seen. This is in the Slumgullion Pass area and not all that long ago some major things happened. There was a major mudslide and the side of the mountain headed downhill. This mass of mud, which is still slowly moving, crossed a river, created a natural dam which in turn created Lake Cristobal.
And speaking of Lake Cristobal, well here it is. We turned off the main highway and headed up the southern leg of the Alpine Scenic Byway. We drove alongside the lake for quite a while. The water is incredibly blue and I have no idea about what happens here: boating, fishing, whatever. There was nothing happening while we were here.
The Alpine Byway is a 70 mile loop that travels through some of the roughest area in the country. The Loop has three legs; Silverton, Ouray, and Lake City. Parts of the road are drivable with a two-wheel drive car. Parts of the road are not. There are two passes that are over 12,000 feet in altitude and the road gets very rough up that high. We took the lower route out to the remains of the city of Sherman and the picture above is just a sample of the scenery along the way.
After all of our mountain adventures today we settled in at the Inn at the Lake B & B, a Christian retreat B & B located near Lake Cristobal. The picture above was taken from our front porch and shows the lake and surrounding area.
Okay, you are all just dying to see the front porch, so here it is
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