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Sunday had some scattered showers in the area so we delayed leaving for any sightseeing. There are gondolas that join the villages of Mountain Village and Telluride but you can drive to either town. After checking out parking options for both, we decided to head to Telluride. As we approached the town we started to see lines of cars and then the roadside sign that said Telluride Blues and Brews Festival info. Every possible parking place in town (and even for 1/2 mile in and out of town) was totally filled. So onto plan B!

We ordered our wood-fired pizza for pick up from Brown Dog Pizza and waited until it was ready and Paul dropped me off to get it. We ate while we drove over to Mountain Village where we found parking right at the gondola lot.

There are actually 2 different gondolas. The first one takes you across Mountain Village.

The next gondola is two parts. The first part takes you to an elevation of 10,500’ and the beginning of lots of ski runs. Beautiful views of Telluride from here. We got out here and took a short walk up the hill for the views.

We took the next segment of the gondola down to the village of Telluride for the view, but opted to get back on and head back to Mountain View because we wanted to get back to Ouray for a dip at the hot springs.

Heading back to our campground and on to Ouray we were struck by some of the red rock. From an elevation over 10,500’ down to 7500’ the roads certainly didn’t have the steep and windy sections we experienced on the Million Dollar Hwy!

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Our stop tonight will be back to the hot springs. They were rebuilt in 2018 and look very different from our last time here. The hot pool sits about 120 degrees F. The lap pool is quite a lot cooler! The overlook pool for adults only is up at 106 F. Hopefully we won’t get too much rain while we’re there but our forecast for tomorrow is much more rain and then on Tuesday we leave for our next stop.

Saturday morning was beautiful – the sun was shining and warming our trailer and the skies were blue – a great day for a drive.

After breakfast, we headed north, through the town of Montrose, until we arrived at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. We’ve been close here before but on the other side of the canyon, on the day we drove the West Elk Loop Scenic Byway.

Arriving at the park, we once again were able to use our park pass for entrance. A designated dark sky park, there are views of the dark canyon walls amongst the tall spires of Douglas Firs, poplar, pinyon-juniper and Gambel oak. In fall, many of these turn a lovely golden yellow. We were just at the beginning of the colour change.

Our first stop was the visitor centre which had a short trail for a lookout of the canyon. It was just before noon and the lighting on the walls was good.

After another stop along the south rim, we decided to turn around and take a drive to the bottom of the canyon. It was a long paved road, with some 16% grades bringing us down about 2000’.

At the bottom of the road, we saw a dam and the river below was moving fairly fast. The main reason people go down is to fish. We saw one man fly fishing and a couple others dropping their lines in some holes.

Back up to the top, we drove the road out to the end of the south rim. A couple of short hikes at several of the overlooks gave some nice pictures but as is often the case, they just aren’t the same as seeing it in person!