Silverton 2010
rec·re·a·tion (rkr-shn) n. Refreshment of one's mind or body after work through activity that amuses or stimulates; play.
We dropped off the map. At least, that is how I have felt last weekend. My husband and I went to Silverton, Colorado. I always feel transported into another place when we go there. I felt it more this time than before. It is good to recreate! 
The first time we went to San Juans was in 2003. That was the year our daughter, Heidi, graduated from high school. In ’04 we went several times because that same daughter (who really liked Silverton the year before) took a job at a hotel and a restaurant. I think David has been back every year since with me or family or friends. It only takes 6.5 hours to drive from our house to those beautiful mountain peaks. These are the jeeps that have traveled that road with us.
David's Rubicon ~ his current and most beloved Jeep.
It is by far the most comfortable one I have been a passenger in.
This Jeep was so rugged.
David had it for several trips to Silverton.
This was a 4 cylinder jeep with a carborator. I loved
driving this one but it coughed and coughed at
higher elevations so it fell out of favor with David.
SILVERTON
This is a great place to go and leave the world behind. My only request was we stay in a motel. We are campers and this is a beautiful place to camp. But camping requires gathering stuff and packing it up and then unpacking it and setting up camp then pack it up again and take it home and unpack it and put it away. That is so OK with me, but not do all that and drive far away too. So I just wanted a motel. It made a lot of difference. We slept better and had a shower (and a potty).
After a 40 minute drive north from Durango you drive
around a mountain bend and this is what greets you. Silverton, Colorado.
Triangle Motel. Our room was tiny, the bathroom small and the
shower smaller but mmmmm....it made all the difference.
SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS
There are a lot of things to do there if you like the great outdoors. And there is never of shortage of people who obviously do. But David goes for the trails. We jeeped for 2.5 days. I think he got his fill....but one never knows.
The trails are rugged. Very rugged in spots! I am posting some of the pictures of flowers that I took. They are so beautiful this time of year but I need to warn you (if you consider going for the flowers) that the trails are rough and can be scary. Miners made these trails. They were meant for one wagon at a time pulled by mules. We marvel at that and the men who made the trails out of granite rock at elevations upwards) of 13,500 feet. Many of them are on rock faced cliffs.
Heading up Poughkeepsie. David had to use his wench
to get up a rock called "The Wall". (Of course, we could have
gone around it but where's the joy in that?)
Early in the trail to Imogene Pass. We have a friend
who took a motorhome on this trail a couple of years ago and had to climb up on
top and take off the air conditioner to get through here. Word
of advise: don't take your motorhome.
It is beautiful but can be scary.
If you look at the center of this picture you see what
appears to be two white lines. This is actually
a small waterfall. This trail, the west end of the
Alpine Loop really gets to me. We are on the east side
of a granite canyon....it is a shear drop off and the
road is scary narrow. And you can see how far
bottom is.
If you took one or two steps forward you would
fall off another shear cliff.
When we go to bed at night and I think about our day’s journeys I shutter to think I was 6 inches away from my last breathe so many times. That sounds crazy but it is true. I try to be brave and have gotten used to it because we do it so much. David loves it. Not the “near death experiences” but the travel over the trails. He loves climbing up and over the rocks. There are a lot of trails that aren’t on the cliffs, and that is where the flowers are. But you can’t get there without taking a mountain trail. But this is what you will find:
FLORA
Chiming Bells
Mountain Lupine
Cow Parsley
Larkspur
Columbine (Colorado State Flower)
Penstemon
Monkshood
Coneflower
Wild Onion (We put some of these in our supper one night.)
Purple Aster
AND THESE ARE JUST A SAMPLE!
I thought about my willingness to do this time after time. I don’t take chances. I am a person of routine and happy to be so. I am boring by design. But David likes to do this and I like David. I always ride with him. THAT IS MY RULE.
On road to Imogene Pass
THIS IS THE RULE FOR THE TRAILS. Vehicles going up have the right of way. That is the only rule necessary (don’t be an idiot would be another nice rule) and everybody follows it. Sometimes it gets stressful for me when we are on the ones going down and need to pull over. It is hard to pull to the side when there isn’t one. It always works out because there are wider spots and everyone works to use them or you can also run up the side of the cliff and be leaning into the oncoming vehicle. My favorite place on the trail is the inside hugging the cliff. Going early in the morning is the best....fewer vehicles on the trails. The trails can get crowded and that is what bothers me the most. When we have it to ourselves I feel safe.
SIGNS
This sign makes me laugh. The trails are so primitive and
rugged leaving one is unreasonable.
This really says "for real men only".
The is Ouray. We were at the start of our trip over
Imogene. This is looking north.
The 911 sign is the only one I ever saw. Depending on
where you might be ~ this sign would only be a nice thought.
Keep going.
Almost there.
Yea! We have been atop this pass on a 4th of July
weekend and it was snowing.
FRIENDS
The Halls family were our companions. (It is a good thing for
two or more vehicles to travel together ~ in case of break down
or other problems.) We were driving and looked back at
them and they were all hanging out or standing up so
we wanted to capture the moment. (This is a great family!)
Emily
She spent a long time with me searching out flowers.
She was so impressed with the size of the leaves
from Cow Parsley.
LIKE MINDED PEOPLE
Scramblers headed up Alpine Loop.
There was a FJ 40 Jamboree. We talked with one
of the men and he said there were a 107 total there.
RANDOM PLACES
Picnic Table
Beaver Dam on Ophir Pass.
Old mine tunnel. Guess they didn't want anyone inside.
Tunnels carved out of solid rock.
What stories they could tell.
On the road to Imogene ~ picture from 2005
and then, again, this year: heavy snows finally
caused the roof to cave in.
Late afternoon looking west from Engineer Pass.
FAUNA
These sheep were on the side of a mountain. There sheep herder
was moving them across the mountain with three dogs.
And finally ~ a marmot. These are the size of a smaller dog and we caught this one by surprise. He was sunning himself early in the morning.
