Rugged mountains, waterfalls, quaint little villages and Indians

Bye-bye Denver,,, on Thursday morning our IPW fam(ilarization) tour started. Among several tour options we had chosen „Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Montrose, Telluride, Ouray“ - one of Colorado’s less known regions. With a group of 20 people in total - media and trade reps from Germany, Denmark, Canada, China, Panama, Malaysia, Hong Kong, France - we explored a part of Colorado we have never been before.

Compared to the time we burnt at Denver Airport, it was a quick, but beautiful 35-min.-flight over the Rockies (pic above, left) to Montrose, in the Southwest corner of Colorado. Picked up by a bus, Telluride was our first stop in the afternoon. Telluride, as well as Ouray, is a historic mining town nestled in lush canyons and surrounded by 4,000-meter high mountain peaks.

Telluride consists of two towns: the Mountain Village, higher up, and Telluride, connected by a free gondola, and surrounded by rugged peaks. The group was split up in different hotels and the two of us were fortunate to stay in „La Lumiere“, a top-of-the-notch boutique hotel. The apartment we got, was larger than ours at home: kitchen, dining room, living room with fireplace, 3 bathrooms, 5 balconies, 3 TV sets and beautiful views.

After a cocktail reception at another resort hotel, we took the gondola down to Telluride - and spotted a massive black bear roaming in the woods!!! Too slow to take a picture,,,

Dinner at SideWork, a local fine dining place, was a real treat, but it took very long and was a lot to eat.

Telluride is famous for its many festivals (during our visit the Mountain Film Festival was taking place), and, for its very elite, mixed population. We got to know a couple of the locals during a walking tour on Friday morning. Out of several options we refrained from adventures as rafting or a jeep tour and chose to explore the town instead.

On to Ouray on Friday afternoon, a tiny little town of about 1,000 population. Situated in the heart of the San Juan Mountains , Ouray is known as the „Switzerland of America“ and named for Indian Chief Ouray (pic).

The Ouray County Historical museum, our preferred option in the early afternoon, offered a comprehensive insight into the history of this mountain community. It's situated in the St. Joseph's Miners' Hospital, built in 1886.

On to Box Canyon Falls Park with fantastic waterfalls and spectacular geological formation (pics above). After a short hike to these fantastic falls and to the bridge on top, we got a chance to relax in the Ouray Hot Springs Pool.

This pool is in operation since 1927 and is fed by sulfur free mineral water. With a historian we walked over to our restaurant in downtown in the evening, the historic Outlaw, where we enjoyed great food accompanied by cocktails thanks to local KJ Wood Distillers.




Next morning: a Jeep Tour from Ouray, over Box Canyon Gorge to Canyon Creek. Passing steep canyons lined with waterfalls and aspen, we passed mining towns and traveled under a rock precipice known as ‘The Overhang’ into Yankee Boy Basin. This basin opens into a semi-circle of 13,000 to 14,000 ft high mountain peaks (4.000 m+) inside the Sneffels Mountain Range framing the Twin Falls. We had climbed an elevation of approximately 10,800 feet (3.300 m).

Next stop: Montrose, one of the “Top 200 Towns for Outdoorsmen“. First stop was the Museum of the Mountain West (pic on right), where a delegation of several reps, including the mayor, greeted us and gave us a tour. It was a whirlwind visit, including the Black Canyon National Park (pics below), with the Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area, a gorge carved through solid granite - a hidden secret of Colorado! The dark canyon walls plunge an awe-inspiring 2,700 feet to the Gunnison River below. We hiked to Hike Warner Point at the end of Rim Rock Road enjoying beautiful views of Black Canyon.

In the evening, we enjoyed great BBQ and Montrose hospitality at the local Ute Indian Museum, including Indian dances.

We departed early Sunday morning (departure 5:30 am!) for our flight back from Montrose to Denver. There we spent most of Sunday afternoon in the Coors Stadium at a baseball game of the Rockies (pic below) and had a wonderful final dinner at TAG on Larimer Square later with part of the German delegation and Denver/CO reps. We headed out on Monday afternoon and had a smooth direct Lufthansa flight back home.