I am reminded of a song...
"Stuck in this ol' city, now, where livin' ain't no fun; Where steel and glass and concrete cancels out the wind and sun;
And I'm thinkin' of last winter, now, when we walked hand in hand; On the trails of the Colorado Rockies.
"The wind sang us a lullaby, the snow was thick as cream; and icicles were chandeliers like crystals in a dream;
and the streams were strips of diamonds; and the hills were white as snow;
and a bear ate all our soybeans in the night.
"Oh, Colorado's callin' me, from her hillsides and her rivers and her mesas and ravines;
When blizzards snap the powerlines and all the toilets freeze
in December in the Colorado Rockies.
"We had time and space and freedom; we had love and peace to spare;
'though we ran out of things to smoke, to say and eat and wear.
And the morning of the avalanche the Yeti kidnapped Blanche
and took her to his cave up in the Rockies.
"Oh, Colorado's callin' me ("Hey! You!!); From her glaciers and her canyons, and her badlands and ravines.
When infectious hepatitis was all that came to stay
in January in the Colorado Rockies.
"The baby didn't die until we burned up all our wood; Considering we ate her raw, she tasted pretty good.
And the facist health inspectors dug us out and mailed us home;
Except for Blanche, who wouldn't leave her mate.
"Oh, Colorado's callin' me, from her hillsides and her rivers and her mesas and ravines;
They tell me I'll be cured soon for I'm ready to return
When its April in the Colorado Rockies."
("Colorado", written by Christopher Guest, sung by Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner and John Belushi, from the National Lampoon "Lemmings" album, 1973)
Per Becki's suggestion, we stayed in Telluride. Technically, we were in a suburb of Telluride
called Mountain Village, which consists of very high priced log mansions and bunches of condo
units that mostly cater to the winter sports enthusiasts. Our accomodations were the best of
the trip, which is why we like it when Becki does her homework and makes the reservations.
The lobby of the condo unit we stayed in. It was a-verry niiiice.
One of the reasons that Becki picked this place was because the gondola station was nearby.
The gondolas ran until midnight and allowed easy access to the town of Telluride below.
Condos and log mansions galore. Nice scenery, too.
The condo complex in Mountain Village. Very posh. It sure beats a Super 8.
While Becki and Randy went off looking for birds and other small furry indiginous wildlife,
Linda and I went in search of waterfalls. Telluride sits in a closed valley, surrounded on three
sides by mountains. At the closed end of the valley, a road makes its way up the mountainside
via a set of steep switchbacks. This road is the Black Bear Road, one of the most difficult 4WD
roads in Colorado. The road is only open a few months out of the year, and is one-way-only
from Black Bear Pass to the waterfall seen below. We drove partway up the switchbacks, until
we came to a snowbank that blocked out way. Our Jeep won't be doing Black Bear Pass anytime
soon, at least not until the lift kit, skid plates, winch and knobbies are installed.
At the base of Bridal Veil Falls
Linda provides guidance as I turn the Jeep around at the snowbank
blocking the way. She may appear closer than she really is.
This was the third abandoned snowmobile we saw around Telluride. It must be the place where old sleds go to die.
There was a bulldozer parked nearby that was in the process of clearing the snow from the
road, but it hadn't gotten too far. The building at the top of the waterfall is a power plant.
Black Bear Road switchbacks.
A wintery Google Earth view of the Black Bear Road switchbacks.
Next...fun on the Last Dollar Road
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