Durango and the San Juan Mountain Range of the Rockies

09/25/2021 – 10/02/2021

We landed in Durango on Saturday 9/25. When we started planning our route to Florida back in August, we thought we would be going to Balloon Fiesta during the first weekend of the event. After a little research it was decided we would go the last weekend because more of the events we wanted to see occurred then. This left a little hole in our schedule. Studying the map, I saw Durango. When I Googled Durango, jeep trails and scenic drives popped up. The first one being the San Juan Scenic Byway. Reservations made and we are going. I did not take into consideration that we were going to have to drive over some of the Rockies to get there. Now I am Googling US 160 to get pass information. Yes, Google and I are very good friends now. What’s the first thing that comes up? Beware of the Wolf! Great… Hairpin turns on the way down heading west on a 6.8% grade and pictures of trucks that have rolled off the side because they went too fast. The anxiety has returned.

The day to make the drive to Durango has come and it’s time to face the fear. As we were heading up the first climb at LaVeta Pass, Theo (that is our rig’s name) was having some trouble pulling the hill. It was warm and she was getting hot. The decision was made to unhook the jeep and drive it separately. Once we got over that little pass, Bill asked if I wanted to hook back up. Nah, I’ll just keep driving and we’ll hook back up once we get over Wolf Creek (wink, wink).  I won’t have to be in the coach while we are driving the pass. But the jeep needs some gas, so he tells me to pull in and fill’er up. If you don’t know, we don’t have to pump our own gas in Oregon. I haven’t pumped gas in almost 20 years! And the jeep is a little picky with how to get the gas nozzle in. So… he has to find a place to park Theo and walk over to coach me on pumping gas LOL. Now I know 😊

We made it over the pass (thank you Jesus) and hooked the jeep back up and continued on to Durango. The drive is beautiful. I absolutely love the Rocky Mountains. We safely made it to Durango and set up camp at the United Campground right along the Alamosa River. The Durango-Silverton Narrow Gage Railroad runs thru camp and it is a lot of fun to go out and wave to the people as they go by. Practically the whole campground goes out and waves.

Sunday, we drove the San Juan scenic byway; all 230 miles of it. It was GORGEOUS! We hit the area right at peak season for fall foliage. The jagged and rugged mountains with all the glorious yellows and oranges of the aspens were breathtaking. The drive took us along the portion of road called the Million Dollar Highway and the towns of Silverton, Ouray and Telluride. As we were driving along we noticed a lot of jeeps and forest roads. It was then we started recognizing the names of some of these roads; Ophir, Engineer, Black Bear, etc. We realized just where we were and these are some of the trails we have talked about doing one day. Unfortunately, it was a little late in the season and the weather was not cooperating. Some storm systems moved across and the upper elevations started getting a little snow. We opted to plan another trip to the area and do these runs in the summertime.

All the fall colors and the crisp cool air made me want to bake. Fortunately, we were given some fresh picked apples from Bob & Catherine while we were visiting in Ft. Collins. Apple Turnovers? See my recipe here.

We did manage to get a jeep run in on Old Lime Creek Road. This was a fairly easy ride, except for the 2-mile one way portion along the shelf with a sheer drop off. The views were amazing, but don’t look down. I often wonder what you do if you meet up with a vehicle coming the opposite direction? There is absolutely no room to pass. Bill says some one backs up until there is a point in the road that allows you to pass each other safely. Well, I will not be in the jeep if we are the ones backing up. This was a good run and took us about 1 ½ hours to do. A nice way to spend the afternoon when the work day is finished.

The last place we visited in the area was Mesa Verde National Park. Again, I am so thankful I bought the National Park Passport book. If you don’t have one, get one. There are SO many more parks, monuments and sites than we ever realized. I check the map that was included with the book to see what’s in the area. Looky looky, Mesa Verde is 30 minutes away. Perfect for an afternoon visit. We had no idea what to expect other than some cliff dwellings. Some cliff dwellings? Boy, were we surprised! After driving 20 miles from the Visitors Center up to the top of the mesa, we finally saw our first pit house. This area was once home to the Pueblo Indians. Ranchers first reported the cliff dwellings in the 1880’s and the archeologist began exploring. Pit houses dating back to 600AD were found as well as kivas and villages dating back to 750-950AD along with cliff dwellings from 1150-1300AD. Cliff Palace is the oldest known cliff dwelling in North America that housed about 100 residents. Spruce Tree House is the third largest cliff dwelling and is the most preserved in the park. They estimate it housed 60-80 residents. The villages were very impressive considering all they had for tools were sticks and rocks. I wonder what people of the future will think about our houses and villages 1,000 years from now? This is a must-see National Park and I am so glad we took some time to visit.

It was a great decision to come over and check out Durango and the San Juan Mountain range of the Rockies. We are making plans to come back and do the jeep runs we missed out on. However, next time we will stay up in the Ouray area to spend more time in the northern end of the range.