Snow in September?

The first morning I woke up at Ridgeway, there was a light dusting of snow on the camper. "Oh how cute! Snow in September!" I thought. "I'll take a picture of it". More snow had fallen in the higher elevations (my drive of hell on Hwy 550 the previous evening). But the day cleared up, so I did the Hwy 550 drive again. This time, some beautiful snow and fall aspen scenes:


I assumed that the snowfall had been a freak occurance and that the rest of the week would be nice, as it said in the last forecast I'd seen a few days ago. Well.... the Rockies can be very unpredictable in September. The next morning, I woke up to 6 inches of snow on the camper, and the snow was continuing to fall at a very rapid rate!

I was unable to get any radio or TV reception, but one of the fellow campers had a satellite dish and he said they were calling for continued heavy snow all day at elevations above 4,000 feet. Hmm, the campground was only about 5000 feet, and I had remembered that the town of Montrose about 30 minutes away was at 4000 feet. So, I quickly decided to pack up and leave camp a day early to head down to lower elevations. A couple of the retired men near the campground said "you're going to drive a trailer in this???" But I had a good feel for what I was about to do. I knew my trailer towed well without swaying, and knew Montrose was an all down hill 30 minute drive. So I went for it!

As the weather report predicted, by the time I got down to Montrose, it was all rain. I continued to drive northwest to lower elevations, and by mid-afternoon, made the snap decision to drive out west a couple hours to Moab, Utah where I was hoping it'd be clear and dry. Turns out, I made a VERY wise decision! I found out later that day that Hwy 550's upper elevations near Silverton, had received 36" of snow, and at Ridgeway where I'd been camping, they received 18" of snow. Had I stayed, I would have been snowed-in and stuck for days!

A bit of heaven and a bit of hell on Hwy 550

Perhaps the most spectacular and frightening 25 miles I have ever driven in my life is Highway 550 between Ouray and Silverton, Colorado. The mountains in this region are giant and literally vertical (unlike the mountains near Denver and Vail that are much more spread out). My brother said Ouray reminded him of the Alps in Switzerland. Ouray is rich in history and architecture with lots of historic mining buildings, hotels, and shops.

The road to Silverton ascends to 10,400 feet, mostly while hugging sheer rock cliffs with no benefit of guard rails. Some gorgeous aspens along these cliffs--

At the top is an old mining camp at Red Mountain Pass. Another spectacular spot for photos.

So, the first time I drove Hwy 550, it was raining on the bottom and lightly snowing on the top of the pass. By the time I turned around to drive back, however, it had started to get dark, with blinding snow and fog, and very slick hairpin turns. Even though I had 4WD, I drove about 10mph the whole way home....scared to death!

Experiencing the San Juans

After a few days in Vail, it was time to get to my photo destination--- the San Juan mountains in southwestern Colorado. Millie and I hooked up the T@B and drove to Ridgeway State Park just south of Montrose to set up camp for the next few days. The weather forecast was for sunny or partly cloudy days in the 60's with lows in the low 40's, with a chance of rain on Friday.

The next morning was sunny as expected. I drove just west of Ridgeway to the Dallas Divide to shoot a "postcard" mountain shot with aspens in the foreground. This northern edge of the San Juans was on the border of western Colorado's arid high mesa region, so the fall colors here were still a bit spotty, but still breathtakingly beautiful.

Later in the morning, I decided to drive the Last Dollar Road to Telluride. What an incredible 4WD drive! There were a couple nearly-impassable large mud puddles, but otherwise, the road was in fairly good shape. It took me way up to the top of the moutain range shown here and after about 40 miles ended up in Telluride. By the time we reached Telluride, it was starting to cloud up and get colder so I didn't take many pictures, but Telluride is a gem of a little skiing village with lots of historic buildings. Well worth another visit!

By afternoon, it had started to rain steadily in the lower elevations. I decided to drive the spectacular Hwy 550 from Ridgeway to Silverton. In the upper elevations, it had snowed a little as the clouds slowly passed across the mountaintops and this was just perfect for photography.

With Randy in Vail

Randy manages the Christy Sports ski shop in Vail. He had to work one day, so Mom, Dolores, Millie and I decided to pay him a visit. This was the first store other than Petsmart that Millie had ever been to, so she kept seeming to hunt around for the store for milk bones. Randy tried to sell her a pair of ski boots, but she wasn't buying, and was much more interested in continuing her milk bone hunt!

On another day, our Dad's cousin Dorothy came up the mountain for a mini-reunion. Dorothy has been a life-long Coloradoan and still skis even though she's nearly 80! I snapped a quick pic of her, Randy, and my mom. Even managed to capture camera-shy Dolores in the background.

Vail Oktoberfest

Everybody in Vail seems to have a cool laid back dog that calmly walks amidst the crowded streets or calmly waits outside the restaurant while their owners eat lunch.

That is, except for my dog. She wanted to run up and kiss all other dogs and children, and generally wanted to keep a 10 foot distance from any man, that is unless the man happens to have beer (her real name is Miller, after all!).

One couple came to pet her and I was surprised to see her quite pleasant to the man. His wife then mentioned that he had just spilled a beer all over his hands, so that certainly explained why Millie was lavishing him with slobbery kisses!

Vail was celebrating their annual Oktoberfest, so the streets were pretty jammed with beer-toting cheerful singing and dancing folks. Since it's a skiing mecca, there were real Germans and Austrians leading their Oktoberfest (as opposed to the less authentic fests we have in the Midwest).






















Good music, food, and beer was had by all!