Clear Creek Waterfalls

Along Colorado Highway 149 between Creede and Lake City are two nice waterfalls, North and South Clear Creek Falls.  The North Falls are easy to drive close to and we had previously visited them in 2002.  The South Falls required a bit of hiking.

A fairly weathered sign marked the beginning of the trail down to South Clear Creek Falls.

Looking back up the trail from about halfway down

Our first view of South Clear Creek Falls

From the bottom of the falls

There was a nice variety of wildflowers along the trail.

 Wild Rose

Fireweed

Wild Geranium

Shrubby Cinquefoil
 

Cinquefoil and Alpine Yarrow
 

Driving to the North Falls, the area does not really look like waterfall terrain.

From the viewing area it is clear that Clear Creek drops into a gorge, forming North Clear Creek Falls.

Tansy Aster

Littleflower Penstemon

Looking towards Lake City from the Slumgullion Pass area

Blue Penstemon

Fairy Trumpets

San Juan Mountains - July 6, 2020

We took another day to drive back up into the San Juan Mountains and revisit another OHV trail we had not been on in many years.  This time we drove over the Ophir Pass and then through the town of Ophir, up to the Telluride area and then to the Last Dollar Road to meet Colorado Highway 62.

As we started up the road to Ophir Pass, we kept a lookout for a wildflower that we hoped to see, the Colorado Columbine.  As we traveled up in elevation, we soon found abundant displays of Columbine.

We also saw several other varieties of wildflowers, including Red-stem Cinquefoil.

Looking down the valley we had just come up

Looking at the road leading up towards Ophir Pass

At the summit of Ophir Pass

Looking back at the road we had come up

Looking at the road leading down the other side

Looking at the road leading down to the town of Ophir

Ophir down in the valley

King's Crown blossoms

Fireweed

After passing through the town of Ophir, we traveled on paved roads until up near the Telluride Airport where we got onto the Last Dollar Road.

We soon found ourselves in dense aspen groves.

Much of Last Dollar Road was in open country with a good variety of wildflowers.

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