Wildwood Canyon Inn Telluride

... Junction Creek. It's so amazing that a campground in such a prime location (about 4 miles out of Durango) is always half-empty. After setting up our tent and eating and drinking our spoils from the farmers market, we drove into the mountains to Silverton and the trailhead. A few times during the morning, Allison reminded me that it was her birthday weekend, usually in order to get her way. I asked her if she was gonna be a ...

So I just get back from Colorado where I hung out with old friends for a buddy's bachelor party.

It was an amazing trip. We were very blessed to have a free condo to stay in which was plenty big enough for the 7 of us. A special thanks to the Jays for letting us stay there.

We did a ...

... and made the
native americans move away from the San Juan mountains because they
were mining for precious metals. The museum is on the site of Chief
Ourays property. Both he and his wonderful wife Chipeta are both
buried here.

That afternoon we ended our day in
Gunnison, Colorado where they were having a very cool car show. It is
an annual event where all and sundry turn out for a fun street party
as an opening to the weekend long fair.

... easy on Saturday morning and even walked over to the Peace Tree and got coffee and sat on the deck for a while. After lunch we packed up and headed to Dolores to get a camp site so we could set up the tent and stuff before the Demo derby.
We stopped at the visitor center in Dolores to get some info on campgrounds in the area and found one only about 5 miles out of town- McPhee Reservoir Campground- picked a site, set up our tent, and we ...

Family and Grandma Connie went to Ouray to drop of some tile work for art show. On the way, we stopped at a couple of abandoned mine sites and explored. Founds some cool rocks with imbedded crystals. Stayed at Box Canyon and soaked in spring fed hot tubs made from old wine barrels ...

... a tourist town- the buildings and stores were all really old looking and there were people walking all over the place.  As we were pulling into town we saw that the train (the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad) from Durango was coming, so we went over to see it.  Tons of people were getting off and it really felt like you were back in the wild west!
  We walked around and looked at all the shops and restaurants.  We saw that there was a BLM/Forest Service ...

... wanted to stay longer, but the weather was not cooperating and Kristi was feeling worse with sinus troubles, which the high altitude did not help.

We chose to drive to Ouray to try out the hot springs. We made it to the hot springs and jumped in for about two minutes before lightning was sighted and everyone was told to get out. We could either wait for twenty minutes after the last ...

... were low clouds shrouding the mountains, and most of the time we followed a swollen and swiftly flowing river through the mountains to the old mining town of Silverton. The mine just closed down in 1991, and since then the town has become a tourist destination. There are some beautiful old buildings in Silverton, and lots of craft and souveneir stores. It finally stopped ...

An overnight stop in Durango (a very cool town, which we would have liked to explore more of) and on to Silverton and Ouray (Victorian, mining towns), gave us a chance to slow down and adjust to the higher altitude of Colorado's San Juan Mountains. The winding mountain roads exposed alpine valleys, snow melt pour-offs, and the ...

... out. Even went past a house owned by Katie and Tom today. Have only updated the map so you can see where I've been so far, and will update again when I get the chance, but that may not be until I finish the tour in late July. If anyone has any questions about anything, send me an email at shep_rtw@hotmail.com I should be able to answer them in good time. Darren.