Hello, Welcome to "Travel with Suri" Today we are going to see San Juan
Scenic Byway road trip. This Scenic Byway in Colorado is a 233 mile loop starting
at Durango to Mancos and then to Dolores. The 145 highway takes you from Dolores
to all the way to Telluride. The famous million dollar highway US550 takes
you from Ouray to Silverton and back to Durango. I was doing lots of research on
this one as driving a million dollar highway is a dangerous one in winter. So
I was looking into the weather forecast almost every day two weeks from my trip
to Colorado. I was lucky in a way that it was snowing heavily a day or two before
I start my trip and there was no snow on Friday and over the weekend. In this
way I can drive safe and at the same time I can see the fresh snow. The
closest airport to Durango is the Albuquerque International Airport in New
Mexico and it is a three hour drive to Durango where my real travel starts.
I can definitely say that it was my best ever train ride. The cascade Canyon
excursion departs from Durango and leads you on a 26 mile journey through
the San Juan National Forest and along the Animas River in the comfort of
heated coaches. Sit back relax and enjoy the breathtaking views along the
untouched land deep in the canyon. We started our magical journey and it was
like a fairy tale ride.
Once the train crosses the Rockwood station we had a real fun. See the video.
It was snowing up there, a cliff on one side. thousand feet drop on the other
side, snow packed mountain, river, lake etc what else we could ask for. It was really a
best train journey of my life.
I wanted to see the durango downtown from the smelter mountaintop. The only
way to see that is hiking to the top of the smelter mountain which is two miles
hike from the parking lot. I make sure I do at least one hike on my trip.
As it was snowing, trial was fully covered with ice and snow. I was the only
one there in the mountain the entire one and of our of my hiking, but the view was
amazing from the top.
The highway 145 takes you from Dolores to all the way to Telluride - the top US mountain town. This drive is very pretty especially as you
get into the high country, there are numerous places to stop and enjoy the
view. This is a most beautiful view of the San Juan Mountains south of
Telluride with a view of snow capped Mountain, aspen etc etc!
Don't miss this, it is a spectacular drive with a gorgeous view of river. This
is one heaven of a drive, the best two hour drive of my life. what a scenic way!
The snow-covered mountains, cliffs, lakes the rivers, hot springs, oh my god
unbelievable!
After two hours of drive, I reached Telluride.
The famous US mountain town. I reached Telluride at around 3:30 p.m. on
Saturday. I liked this mountain more than any other small towns in the u.s. maybe
except Brackenridge. The entire town is surrounded by mountains, there is a river,
there is a lake, there is a gondola which connects a Telluride to the mountain
village. what a serenity it was. This one is San Miguel River Trail, the beautiful
small mountain river that flows from the box canyon in the east through town park
along the southern edge of Telluride and then down into the valley as it
continues west.
For those who like to walk but do not like steep heights, this Riverwalk trail
is ideal, the trail is level and it is nice to walk right along the river. You
can pick up the trail almost anywhere in the town. I just walked from my hotel to
the gondola that takes you from Telluride to the mountain village.
The most innovative transportation system in North America is the Telluride
gondola. Operating since 1996, the gondola transportation system has been praised
for providing free convenient and environmentally sound transportation.
Unlike other gondolas that simply serve as a ski lifts, Telluride gondola also
links the historic town of Telluride to the european-style town of mountain
village.
Linking two towns, the gondola is the only transportation system of its kind in
North America, running daily from 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 midnight, this 30-minute
gondola rides eliminates the 20-minute, the eight mile drive between both towns.
The gondola provides quiet and spectacular transportation virtually
eliminating noise and air pollution parking demands and the need for people
to drive their vehicles to ski or work.
Mountain village is known for its peaceful nature and exciting ski slopes.
Both Telluride and mountain village are beautiful towns but they are unique in
their own way, which one is better to stay depends on what you want out of
your trip but remember whichever one you choose you don't have to stay in that
town as I told you the gondola is available so you can experience the best
of both the towns. A spectacular sunset in mountain village. This is mountain
village at early morning. The mountain village was designed to
please people who want the luxury experience in the mountains. If you are
concerned about your food quality, you never need to hesitate about a decision
in mountain village, the number of delicious restaurants is numerous.
This is a frozen lake in Telluride.
This is million dollar highway it stretches for about 25 miles in western
Colorado and follows the route of US550 between Silverton and Ouray. It is one
of the nation's most spectacular Drive, You will be literally on outside for a
while with the hell of a view to a right.
It seems the origin of the name million dollar highway are up for debate. It is
thought that a million dollars worth of gold and precious minerals were paved over
when creating the road another story is that the name stuck after someone
viewing it for the first time claimed they would not travel on the road for a
million dollars, I'll go with first one.
Ouray is a true gem of the Rocky Mountain region referred as "Swiss of America"
The hot springs pool surrounded by 13,000 foot snow-capped
peaks as fives separate geothermally heated pools. After spending some time
there I drove back to Durango and then to Albuquerque to catch my flight back
to Los Angeles. It was one of my best ever road trips. I really enjoyed it!
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