Today we decided to head north up Rt 550 to Montrose, Colorado.
First stop, Pinkerton Hot Spring.
It is so cool to see warm water come right out of the ground.
There are a lot of these hot springs in this area.
The mountain lakes are beautiful.
At about 9000 feet we hit snow.
We started to go up to this mountain lake, but decided that even
with 4 wheel drive, it looked impassable.
The temp is dropping as we get further up. Yes, that is a frozen lake below.
At the summit of Molas pass we are at 10,910 ft.
Can't you tell we,re getting high.
Overlooking Silverton as we are coming in.
It looks like a giant asteroid hit this mountain.
Downtown Silverton. An old mining town built in the late eighteen hundreds.
Most of the building are all the originals.
This house, built in 1888, was the last brothel in Silverton.
Madam Jew Fanny closed shop in 1947.
Leaving Silverton.
A state trooper stops us, and has us wait a minute,
because they are shooting a Suzuki commercial, ahead.
One of many old mines in this area.
The pictures don't do them justice.
The colors are vivid.
Hiking around another lake.
This is a snow shed. It allows the snow to slide over the road.
The snow was melting and the streams were roaring.
Here the water enters a cave, and travels underground
for a couple hundred feet.
The water comes out the other end,
and falls a 100 feet into the valley below.
Coming into Ouray.
Another mining town built back in the late eighteen hundreds.
From there we drove out of the mountains and on to Montrose.
Tomorrow we head East to Black Canyon National Park.
See you then.
Ralph, Prilly & Sue