Telluride Colorado 2014

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

So today was the big day - on into Telluride! We got up at our normal time, rode into Monticello to get gas and breakfast, then got onto US491 and on into Colorado. At first Colorado didn't look much different from Utah. But borders don't always indicate a change of scenery. Eventually though barren rock formations turned to mountains and aspen trees. We took the SR184 shortcut short of Cortez and followed SR145 across a set of beautiful 10000 and 11000 foot passes and headed on into Telluride. What a pretty little town nestled in a box canyon surrounded on three sides with high mountains. Skip Festival Pages

First, Telluride is a beautiful little town. As you can see from the pictures, it's nestled in a box canyon. The area was a summer camp for the Ute Indians in the 1700s and later by Spanish Explorers who gave the San Juan Mountains their name. By the mid-1870s the mining started and the town, originally named Columbia, took the name Telluride. Silver and gold were both mined here but eventually the boom busted out and it wasn't really until the 1970s when skiing revitalized the area. Since then the area has become home to many cultural events and Telluride has become a destination. click to enlarge The homes are well cared for and many in the community care to keep it that way. Much of the town's core was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1964. Looking at the home design and other aspects of the town's buildings give you an idea of the amount of snow that ends up here every year. We went to the registration area to get our wrist badges, then got our tents set up, with me pulling pretty much everything off the bike. The three of us then rode to Montrose which is 65 miles north, so we could drop my bike off to get it worked on. Then riding with Bill, we headed back to Telluride for the festival.

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