Day 2: Telluride Loop

Today we did a loop that included Telluride. In the map above the red lines show how we went, much of it dirt road and Jeep trail. First we rode to Telluride via Last Dollar Road which was somewhat rough, but went through some beautiful areas. Then we had deep dish pizza in Telluride for lunch. Here are some pictures from the morning ride.

After lunch we headed out from Telluride to the very small town of Ophir and then to Ophir Pass, and then back to Ouray via the MillionDollar Highway. The views as we rode up toward the pad were amazing. There are huge swaths of Aspen trees going up the sides of mountains that are just turning yellow. Here are some pictures on the way up.

as we got closer to the pass the trail got tougher and rockier. The last mile or so before the pass turned into two wheel ruts with nothing but rocks 6 to 10 inches across and a steep drop off right beside the wheel ruts. It was very challenging to ride of this last portion. Almost all of us tipped over in slow motion fall overs. These typically happened when we trying to get started again after a stop with shifting rocks and spinning wheels. Here are s few pictures of the trail of pure loose rocks carved out on the side of a mountain side also consisting entirely from loose rocks. You can see a close up is these rocks by the Ophir pass sign.

once we crested the pass the Jeeo trail hot mych better and we trade past breathtaking mountain scenery. Eventually we turned into the pavement again of the Million Dollar Highwaybfir a pavement ride the rest of the way back to Ouray. Here are some pictures, which cannot due justice to the breathtaking alpine scenery we rode through. That seems to be snow on some peaks off in the distance in this next picture.