Southern Colorado, part three (Sept 2020)

In last week’s ThrowBack Thursday, I mentioned having problems with my Old Cheap-n-Crappy^(TM) camera, resulting in a sorry lack of photos from Mesa Verde National Park. Shortly after I posted that, I realized that I had also taken some photos with my phone’s camera. Sometimes this camera seems worse than the Old Cheap-n-Crappy^(TM) ; but sometimes it captures some pretty good pics. So, for your enjoyment, here are a few more pics from Mesa Verde National Park…

Once the sun had set, I drove through the darkness to my next stop – Telluride. Actually, I drove to a hotel in the town of Mountain Village, which I guess would be considered a suburb of Telluride. Mountain Village sits WAY up on a mountainside above Telluride. The best way to travel between the two towns is their free gondola lift system. So first thing the next morning, I walked the 1/4 mile from my hotel to the Mountain Village end of the gondola system, and enjoyed the amazing scenery on the ride down. You can, too! Just check out this next batch of photos…

View from the gondola looking north across Telluride’s canyon

After disembarking from the gondola at the Telluride station, I made my way to the Idarado Trail. This trail was built on a long-abandoned railroad grade; it parallels Telluride’s main street (Colorado Avenue) from the middle of town up through the mining area that was Telluride’s original reason for existence. As you walk through the bottom of the canyon, there is plenty of good scenery above you. Some examples:

Autumn in the Rockies, when the aspen leaves turn to gold!

The Idarado Trail ends across the street from the Pandora Mill. This was where the bulk of the ore processing in the area took place, from the time it was built in 1920 right up until 1978.

After the Idarado Trail, I just wandered around town taking more pics of the amazing scenery, such as…

An old aerial tram tower, complete with ore bucket

After roaming around town for awhile, I headed back up the mountain on the gondola, and captured some more nice views…

That runway reminds me of the albatross in *The Rescuers*.

I ended my stay in greater Telluride by taking a few more pics during a walk around Mountain Village…

The next day was another long drive, this time from Telluride to Fairplay, Colorado. I stopped at a city park in Ridgway, Colorado to stretch my legs, and was glad that I did. As luck had it, I had unknowingly parked right across the street from the Ridgway Railroad Museum, which prominently features a Galloping Goose! Less than ten of these vehicles were ever made, but I have seen most of them in person, and even got to ride one at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden. What the living shit is a Galloping Goose, you quite colorfully ask? They are a very unusual piece of railroad history, unique to Colorado. Rather than rehash the whole story here, I refer you to the relevant article on Wikipedia. Whether or not you read the Wikipedia article, definitely take a look at the photos below, showing this weird old beast and a couple other oddities they have at the Ridgway Railroad Museum…

A “Galloping Goose” at the Ridgway Railroad Museum

And finally, I spent a morning at South Park City. This place is super cool. It consists of several historic structures that were moved from various places around South Park to this one location, to form a whole old west town. And it’s not just the structures. Each building is filled with antique items relevant to the building’s original purpose (livery, drug store, dentist’s office, etc). The town is complete with a small mine and a railroad line. Seriously, I could have spent the entire day here, and would probably purchase a membership if I still lived in the state. Here are just a few shots to give you a flavor of the place. To sum up…highly recommended!