I left Montrose around 7:30 this morning, headed south on US 550, CO 62, and CO 145 down through the mountains to Ridgway, Telluride, Rico, and Dolores, finally turning west on US 160 at Cortes. It was about 125 miles through the canyons to Dolores, and the scenery was breathtaking. The surrounding mountain peaks are in the range of 14,000 feet tall, and we were over 10,000 feet in elevation going through the mountain passes.
This picture was taken between Ridgway and Placerville, where I was just starting to climb up into the higher elevations:
Between Telluride and Rico there was some spectacular scenery. Here are a couple examples:
The picture above was taken right at Telluride, while the one below was about 20 miles further down the road:
I thought this little tidbit was interesting. It was at the same location as the picture above. (Double-click on the picture to enlarge it and then click once more so you can read the text.)
I stopped for a cup of coffee in Rico, which may have once been Rico, but sure isn't now. But...it was pretty picturesque:
From Cortez, I took US 160 West through the Four-Corners Region and the Hopi and Navajo Reservations. This route actually skirted Monument Valley to the east by about 50 miles, but I still saw some pretty interesting formations:
Both these pictures were taken between Kayenta and Tuba City, AZ (real names!)
South of Tuba City, which is about 80 miles north of Flagstaff, I was dodging really big thunderheads most of the way. This'll give you some idea of what they looked like:
I got rained on pretty hard a couple times, but did manage to avoid being struck by lightening.
I arrived in Flagstaff about 6:00 local time for the night. Tomorrow it's to Phoenix to spend a few days with our son, Patrick.
Miles today: 418. Total: 2,599.
