This year we stayed close to home and went up river through the Dolores canyon, over Lizard Head Pass and then down towards Telluride on the other side, but before getting there, we took a detour, to the high mountain town of Ophir...
Situated in the San Miquel Mountains, Ophir sits at just over 9,600 ft.
See the white line across the mountains in the back, that is Ophir Pass, a thin little road, over a shale slide and down the other side of that mountain is Silverton and Ouray. We have driven that, me closing my eyes, while Jon very expertly drives over the shale which makes a horrid sound under the tires, but today we stayed on this side and only looped around the little town...
It's really pretty in the summer and fall, but in the winter, snowed in with four or five feet of snow and a snowmobile the only way to get to the highway, "housewives might be looking for butcher knifes!"
Just kidding.... Ophir is a very well organized community and the road is open most days, after the plows go through, here is a run down of their population and stats...
Okay, the avalanches would get to me, not so much that I would be afraid of them burying the town, you can see the chutes where on the side of the hill below the town there is a stream of rocks and just little trees, cause they never get a chance to grow very tall, being stuck on one side of a snow slide for days, that would bother me...
It bugs me enough, here, down the mountain, when the grocery store shelves are getting empty because the trucks haven't been able to get through. But the population of Ophir and Silverton are use to that and have big freezers to freeze milk and bread, though on occasion the National Guard does fly in supplies.
Beautiful photos! It looks like you had a gorgeous day for a drive. And happy late birthday!!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos Julia, the colours are stunning. I cannot imagine living somewhere so isolated. And yet it appeals to me too.
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