San Juan Mountains - June 2020

From our base camp near Durango, Colorado, we drove up to Silverton, Colorado,  to revisit some OHV trails that we last drove in 2002.  The OHV trails in the San Juan Mountains around Silverton are some of the most spectacular trails we've been on.

Heading into the mountains north of Silverton

Red Mountain

Many of these back roads were built to support mining efforts.  This is one of the many mining relics along the roads.

Hurricane Pass at 12,730 ft.

Lake Como at the head of Poughkeepsie Gulch

California Pass at 12,960 ft.

Looking back at Poughkeepsie Gulch

Looking down at the road ahead in California Gulch

Our lunch spot at the head of California Gulch

Looking at our road down California Gulch

A Yellow-bellied Marmot next to the road up Placer Gulch

Mining remnants at the head of Placer Gulch

Looking back down into Placer Gulch from the Picayune Gulch Road

It didn't look like this section of road had been open very long.

A snow bridge and avalanche debris near Animas Forks

Waterfall near Aminas Forks

A few of the many wildflowers seen during our drive

Mountain Marigold

Alpine Sunflower

King's Crown

Wild Onion

Purple Fringe

Escalante Pueblo

Before we left the Cortez area we decided to visit the Escalante Pueblo ruins.  This site is a short hike from the Canyons of the Ancients Visitor's Center near Dolores, Colorado.  The pueblo sits atop a hill that overlooks the valley of the Dolores River, now containing the McPhee Reservoir.

Nice view toward the Rockies near the top of the hill

The pueblo's remains

The pueblo's kiva

Another view

Mesa Verde 2020

With travel restrictions starting to ease, Mesa Verde National Park has started to reopen.  While most services remain closed, some roads, viewpoints and restrooms have been reopened.  Since it is a relatively short drive from our current base in Cortez, we have made a couple of drives to and through the park. 

Approaching Point Lookout shortly after entering the park.

One edge of the mesa

After a while, you start noticing evidence of structure remains in many places along the cliffs.

Sun Temple Pueblo at the edge of a point on top of the mesa

But what makes Mesa Verde National Park famous are a few large cliff dwelling complexes which are much more intact.

Square Tower Ruin

One of the most famous ruins is Cliff Palace.

Cliff Palace from across the canyon

From the Cliff Palace Viewpoint

This is the canyon below the ruin.  It must have been a challenge getting to and from the dwellings

This slab left a very neat hole when it slid out.

One of the many ravens

A few of the wildflowers out

Mule's-ear Sunflower

Yucca blooming

Mallow

Cactus blossom

Penstemon

Hovenweep 2020

With things starting to open up a little bit, we were able to make a trip over to revisit Hovenweep National Monument which we had previously visited in 2006.  This was part of the southwest that the Ancestral Pueblo People built impressive stone walled homes, only to abandon them by about 1300 AD.   This national monument has several units protecting pueblo ruins, but the main unit is the Square Tower Ruins.  Even though the visitor's center was still closed, the loop trail around Little Ruins Canyon was open and there were surprisingly few other people there.

A view from the trail showing a few of the ruins along the edge of the canyon.

"Twin Towers"

"Eroded Boulder House"

"Tower Point"

"Hovenweep Castle"

"Hovenweep House"

"Square Tower"

"Unit Type House"

Remains of a round tower in the canyon bottom

"Stronghold House"

We saw a few plants still blooming.

Cliff Rose

Spiny Hop Sage

Cactus

Lizard Head Pass

On April 30th, after over a month of staying close to our temporary "home'" in Cortez, Colorado (due to COVID-19), we decided to drive highway CO-145 up to 10,246 ft. Lizard Head Pass.

From Lizard Head Pass

Trout Lake

Ophir, Colorado