San Juan Skyway - The Most Scenic Drives in America: 120 Spectacular Road Trips - page 434

8. Telluride
Its fanciful setting and gingerbread architecture give Telluride the kind of ambience you'd
expect from a fairy tale come to life. The quaint streets of this turn-of-the-century town are
crowded with a mixture of colorful clapboard houses and brick buildings. Mountains rise a
mile above the valley floor, their flanks adorned in spring with tumbling waterfalls.
Some locals claim Telluride is a contraction of “To hell you ride,” a reference to the
town's rowdy past. (Butch Cassidy robbed his first bank here in 1889.) Actually, the town
was named after a mineral compound often found with gold and silver that, ironically, is
extremely rare in Telluride.
Because of its remote location, Telluride was once “hell” to get to as well—especially
in winter when snowdrifts blocked the winding roads. But thanks in part to a new airport
thataccommodatessmalljets,thetownhasbecomeapopulardestination.Thismayexplain
whythepriceofrealestatearoundTelluridehassoaredhigherthanthepeaksandwhypart-
time residents include a bevy of high-profile celebrities. The town is shared as well by a
newbreedofbuckaroos:kamikazeskiersandmountainbikerswhohurtlethemselvesdown
the surrounding slopes. On some days it seems all roads lead to Telluride; the burgeoning
ski town hosts a number of world-famous film, arts, music, and sporting events throughout
the year. A must for Telluride visitors with some time on their hands is the relatively easy
two-hour round-trip hike to Bridal Veil Falls. Accented by rainbows as it plunges off a
425-foot-high cliff, Bridal Veil has the longest freefall of any waterfall in Colorado.
9. Lizard Head Pass
After retracing the spur from Telluride to continue south on Rte. 145, the drive heads
acrossahighplateauofgrasslandsanddenseaspengroves,withWilsonPeakandSunshine
Mountain towering to the southwest. In spring (mid-June in these parts), lilies bloom from
snowfields—vast canvases that also bear the tracks of passing animals in search of food.
Put an ear to the snow and you may hear the soft tinkling of hidden streams.
Fartheron,theroadpassesthetownofOphir,glisteningTroutLake,andacampground
with the ambitiously alpine name of Matterhorn. It then climbs to 10,222-foot Lizard Head
Pass (named for a reptilelike monolith near the road). Indians used the pass for thousands
of years, and highway markers note that the Rio Grande Southern Railway passed through
here until 1952.