Up Up and Over

Sunday

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Having enjoyed our wander round Durango we hitched up and headed North, continuing up Route 550. This road would lead us up  into the Rockies proper, first to Silverton then over the Million Dollar Highway through Red Mountain Pass, this meant a climb from 6900ft to 11000 ft, before dropping down to Ouray and on to our destination for today - Ridgway State Park.

After the miserable weather we have had over the last few days today was bright and clear, after only a few  miles the mountains rose up on either side and we slowly climbed alongside the Animas River, then away up a side valley. We were not in a hurry, so we just let the Chevy climb along at between 30 and 50 m.p.h., not putting any strain on the engine. It was a very pleasant drive, the mountains were still covered with snow, but the road was dry and clear, very pretty, but to both of us the highway was not as spectacular as the railway had been back in 2003.
We arrived at Silverton and drove into town, it was more like a ghost town. We drove down Main St, one of the few paved roads in town. It was wide and quiet. It was time for cof/t, where to stop? the famous Black Bear Cafe? Closed! As was every cafe and hotel in the town. It was only April - the train was not scheduled to run for another two or three weeks. The town was closed! At the end of Main St we turned the rig and spied a small cafe - Kendall Mountain Cafe. It was OPEN!, we pulled in and sat for a bit with a drink and a cup of potato and bacon soup between us, very welcome in the cold sunny air, it was actually homemade, very nice. After the usual bit of chat with the waitress/owner and most of the half dozen customers who were there/came in while we were there we moved on.
Taking to the side streets we tried to find the Christmas Shop where we had been short changed back in 2003. everything still closed, including the Chatanooga Cafe, where we had eaten last time we were here. We did see some signs of life as shopowners were starting to freshen up their premises for the impending summer traffic.
When we visited in 2003 we had toured the shops and found three very nice pottery angels  in a little Christmas Shop, each about 10cm high. We bought them, the lady wrapped them in bubble wrap, packed them individually in three cardboard boxes and we carried them home very carefully in our suitcases. When we got home (UK) we unwrapped them to show to the family, only to find that there were three boxes, but only two angels, one had either not been packed, been removed en route home, or, being an angel, simply flown away. Anyway we were going to return and have this out with the owner! Only problem was it had gone! Couldn't find the shop, didn't exist any more! We found the photo shop, where you could dress up as a cowboy, or card sharp, or Madame, where we didn't get our photo taken. But no Christmas Angel Shop, perhaps it was one of those special shops that lives trans-dimensionally and only opens on the Earth Side at Christmas, or when special people come to it, at special times, like we did in 2003. We we did enjoy looking, but had to move on.
Leaving Silverton we had one more pass to climb - Red Mountain Pass. Now the road took on a more rugged nature, snow closed in on withe side, the road narrowed, in places was cut into the rock, with ice falls along the way where snow had melted, run down and frozen into icicles and ice walls. On the on the side it dropped away sheer, with no crash barriers, we moved more to the center of the road, as there was very little traffic. The views were now in the spectacular class! Climbing further we now met traffic parked at the side of the road, skiiers out for a Sunday Cross Country Ski. Lots of snow, also derelict mine workings from a long time ago (it was not called Silverton for nothing), made Christmas card images as we traveled. Then we hit the top and started the winding road down the other side. The weather was still and sunny, which meant the in the sun it was hot.
Now the views went from the spectacular to the stupendous, the road twisted and turned, but was manageable. The valley aheahe opened up with mountains on either side, a range of colours made it look beautiful, more beautiful than can be shown in photographs. We traveled downwards as slowly as we could, taking in the views, each twist in the road gave us another view. We reached a major stopping place and decided this would be good for lunch. We got out and took pictures up and down the gorge/valley. The we noticed that there was a viewing point which reached out over the cliff below us, the metal grating floor meant that Sally was unable to go very far, but down below us water gushed from under the road, from a small stream, and fella couple of hundred feet to disappear into a a tunnel of snow and ice, made by the spray. At this point words failed us. We just stood and looked at this amazing view.
We sat and ate our lunch, idly chatting to other people who stopped for the view, then continued downwards to the town of Ouray, which stretched along a shelf in the valley floor, another old mining town, like so many we had passed through, sleepy with signs of abandonment, just waiting for the summer tourists to come this way after Memorial Day in May.
The road now leveled out and straightened up, we were able to make good time to our campground - Ridgway State Park. After filling with water we found a very nice site overlooking the Uncam   River, below the dam, set up and relaxed with burger and salad for tea.