6/15 Telluride, CO

Telluride is probably mostly known as a ski resort, but it is a beautiful place to come in the summer.  It is in the heart of snow-capped mountains at 8,750 feet in elevation and is at the end of a box canyon.  This is what the drive in looks like:

I just can't stop taking photos of mountains!  I parked my motorhome on a street one block off of the main street and then walked to the free gondola.  Because the town is surrounded by mountains, there is not much room to expand, so the town expanded on the other side of one mountain.  That required a free gondola to take you up the mountain and down the other side. It makes a nice tourist ride.  You can stop at the top, which I did, or just ride up and down.

Believe it or not, THIS is an airport!  I would hate to have the brakes fail on the plane.

Going down on the other side to "The Village" you can see shops and lots of apartments and condos. 

This is the plaza at the end of the gondola.  It is on top of a sort of high-end shopping center.  Actually, everything is pretty high-end in this town!

Then, there is a third gondola that goes to more apartments and a hotel and conference center. I rode it round trip without getting off.  No interest in hotels and more shopping.  

And here I am going back down to Telluride on the first gondola.

Lots and lots of ski slopes around here. Very crowded on weekends in winter.

But it is a nice town in summer. 

Headed west today to Ridgway State Park, so got my vehicle and continued my drive.

6/12 Mesa Verde National Park

I have been here before, but this time I stayed in the campground inside the park.  Only problem is a lack of cell phone service and very poor internet access.  The mesa in the distance is Mesa Verde. 

Actually, this is the north end of the mesa, but no ruins or even hiking trails here.

There have been several fires over the past years.  I was told that these areas burned 10 years ago and that pinion pine forests take a long time to regrow--up to a century. 

This is Square Tower House.  I have hiked down here before so I skipped it this time.  This was very close to the museum, and I spent a considerable amount of time there.

I drove around Mesa Top drive to see the pit houses built there.  They tend to be a lot older than the cliff dwellings, and I find them more interesting.  These are among the oldest pit houses.  You can tell because the builders dug down only a couple of feet to build them.

More pit houses, but these were more modern.  You can tell that because they were dug deeper and there is a ledge around the edge.  These were actually two houses, constructed at different times.  It is thought that the larger one collapsed, so the newer one was built next to it.

In the far room, you can see an opening in the far end, with a flat stone in front of it.  This was intended to let in fresh air and the stone was a baffle.  The smoke came in here and went up the smoke hole left in the ceiling.

This is a better photo of the air shaft hole.  (See bottom of photo.)

This is one of the newest pit houses.  It has been dug very deep and has places along the side for wooden posts to support the roof.

Two very old houses, next to a very deep pit house. 

More older pit houses built on the surface. 

Getting tired of pit houses yet?  This shows how one pit house was built next to an older one that had collapsed. 

You can see this this newer pit house had a fresh air shaft and stone baffle.

Just a couple of photos of the pinion pine forest and scrub that most of the Mesa consists of.  Altitude is about 7,500 to 8,000 feet, by the way.

This is a view of Sun Canyon.  There are more cliff homes here than anyplace else on Mesa Verde, mainly because of several very good springs.


A cliff dwelling across the canyon.

And a smaller one nearby.

6/11 Wolf Creek Pass, Colorado

Very nice drive up and over this pass.  The pass is about halfway between Alamosa, CO, and Pagosa Springs, CO.

This is a shed that is intended to protect the road from avalanches!

My GPS tells me the summit of the pass is 10,856 feet high. 

This is a photo of the wide parking area at the top.

A couple of interesting signs at the top.

And down we go, in 3rd gear of course.

About halfway down, I stopped at this very pretty falls. 

On my way to Mesa Verde National Park!