Our initial adventure into the San Juan Mountains was coming to a regrettable close. Elizabeth and I had loved every moment of our Memorial Day weekend (except maybe for the last mile of the Ouray Perimeter Trail) and were already talking about coming back to the San Juans on a skiing trip that winter. We would fly back from Montrose to OKC the next day, so this drive from Telluride to Montrose was our last part of the trip in the high terrain.
But.
There was one more stop, and an unplanned one at that, that we needed to make.
You see, on the way down to Telluride, Elizabeth and I had noticed a pull-off entitled the “San Juan Mountains Scenic View”. The name hadn’t disappointed earlier. And now, with the sun setting in a golden flare and lighting up Mount Sneffels, I was going to do some of the best landscape photography of my life. We only pulled off for 5 or 10 minutes, but I’m not kidding when I say that the views from this overlook were life-changing. Please enjoy my photography, starting with this wide-angle view of the overlook.
And now for the real show.
I genuinely have been wracking my brain trying to think of the most beautiful vistas I’ve ever seen. The eastern Alaska Range, the Many Glacier Valley, and the Snake River Overlook at sunrise come to mind. All of those are flashy, well-knowns spots overrun by tourists (ok, maybe not the eastern Alaska Range). This view, an easy contender along with them? Elizabeth and I shared it with one other couple in their RV who were all the way on the other side of the lot. That’s real value in your scenery.
We continued our way towards Ridgway. Before we got into town, Elizabeth had a very uncharacteristic fit of whimsy. She suggested that I take a detour onto County Road 1 and that we take the scenic way home. Who was this person and what had she done with my wife? It was a great decision, though. The road switchbacked up the southern end of a big mesa that points all the way back to Montrose before it finally climbed up to the top of it. If I’d thought the last overlook was poignant, this one felt even more like I was immersed in the landscape.
We lingered a few more minutes until the sun truly was going down on the horizon. Which, now that we were committed to driving on this mesa, didn’t seem like it was super ideal. With great regret, we got back into the rental car and turned our backs on the San Juans one final time.
On top of the mesa there was a small community. There was also a golf course – and wouldn’t that be an insane view to golf to? Just not in the evenings, because then you would have to play around the locals – and by that, I mean the scores of mule deer that were on top of this mesa. They were everywhere.
Now in addition to trying to beat sunset, I was also trying not to run down a mule deer. And then the road stopped being paved. And then Elizabeth’s Aunt Terri called about something completely unrelated. It was slightly stressful driving, though I tried not to let that show because Elizabeth had shown such an uncharacteristic desire to just wing it on a random adventure and I didn’t want to squash that desire out of her. And to be honest, it was totally worth taking the road less traveled.
There wasn’t a whole lot to pack at our cabin. When you only have like 100 square feet, you’re limited in the mess you can make. We spent the rest of the evening cleaning it out and getting ready for the morning, then fell into one final deep slumber with the sound of the river running in the distance.
Morning brought another beautiful day. I woke up before Elizabeth and took a walk to the other side of the RV Park to say goodbye to the roaring Uncompaghre. We loaded up the car, did a final check of the cabin, and dropped off our key. The Riverbend RV Park was honestly a fantastic place to stay and I would go there again in a heartbeat. Next time I probably would even remember to not book us into twin beds!
We still had a little bit of time before our earlyafternoon flight to Denver – not enough time to go and do something out of town, but enough time to get a breakfast sandwich at Backstreet Bagel Company and then drive up to the top of Sunset Mesa to say goodbye to the scenery. There was Black Canyon, there were the mountains, and there was Montrose spread all around us. Wouldn’t this be a grand place to live?
If you can’t tell by now, the San Juan Mountains had a profound effect on Elizabeth and me. I don’t know that I have ever felt such a strong desire to revisit a place after my first trip there – maybe Yellowstone, but that’s about it. We have talked about becoming southwest Colorado people – the types to take a vacation to the same general spot each year. That’s so antithetical to everything Elizabeth and I believe in travel-wise that it should tell you how much we loved it.
Until next time, mountains.
