The San Juan Mountains near Ouray, Colorado, are often
referred to as the “American Alps.” The
peaks here are absolutely soaring. One
of the best places to see them is in Yankee Boy Basin. The four-wheel drive road starts out easy
(one of the reasons there is a lot of tourista traffic), but gradually gets more
difficult as it approaches 12,000’. In the
same general area, and accessible from the same road, are Governor and Sydney
Basins. Imogene Pass, a 13,000’+ pass
that goes from Yankee Boy Basin to Telluride, is also a popular trip from this
same road. In addition to driving Yankee
Boy Basin, we drove up Governor Basin to its end, but time and the threat of
storms again forced us down before we could access the other side trips.
The start up Yankee Boy Basin
An interesting stretch of the road in YYB
An abandoned mine in YYB
Near the top of YYB
Governor Basin Road
Near the top of Governor Basin
Among the more interesting things about this region is the
fact that many of the mines are operating again. Remember that most of these mines date from the mid-1870s and 1880s. The road had lots of mine traffic, including
a large load of pipe and a tractor dragging a large container that we had to
follow up part of the trip. We didn’t
catch up to the container until we got on the Governor Basin road and had to
follow it all the way to the mine at the end of the very narrow road—above 12,000
feet. Mines have reopened because the
price of commodities is such that they can once again make a profit, even with
the high costs of extraction. We were
surprised to learn that platinum has been found in many of these defunct gold
and silver mines in addition to the other precious metals.
A load of pipe (front vehicle) makes its way up YYB
A container being drug up Governor Basin road
Modern day mine tailings in YYB
We are always drawn back to Telluride any time we are in
this area and this trip was no exception.
Many of our favorite hikes are in the Dallas Divide area near Ouray,
Ridgeway, and Telluride…now many of our favorite four-wheel drive trails/roads
are also in this region. Our most recent
adventure was taking Last Dollar Road from the Dallas Divide to Telluride. As far as four-wheel drive roads go, this one
is a bit of a drive in the park, but the beauty one encounters is well worth
the low difficulty rating of the track.
Often, we spend most of our time above timberline when we go off roading,
but Last Dollar Road was mostly in aspen and pine forests in addition to
traversing beautiful high-country ranches.
Aspen forest on Last Dollar Road
A mixed pine forest on Last Dollar Road
Scenic view from Last Dollar Road
Mount Wilson 14,252'
Beautiful downtown Telluride
On the Telluride side of the pass the road passes through a vast
hillside of upper 1% holiday homes, whether used for skiing or summer
respites. It is clearly and
eye-opener…the rich truly do live different lives than the rest of us. There will be no photos of these palaces as
you all know what they look like.
The elusive elk finally showed up a mile or two outside of
Telluride in a rancher’s pasture. It was
a sizeable herd containing young bulls, cows, and calves. There was one slightly older bull in the
herd, but it was difficult to determine if he was the herd’s leader. In any event, we captured their images for
you.
The big guy in tghe center may be herd's leader
More Elk
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