Camping in Telluride
Colorado is beautiful! It’s amazing to me just how different mountains can be. The mountains in our forest here look nothing like the mountains in Telluride, yet both are amazing in their own ways. I took off solo for Telluride last Thursday on the “short” route (seven hours). The drive was nice, I passed through Shiprock, NM and Cortez, CO and then into the mountains. I stopped several times on the road to take pictures (four rolls in four days! not to mention the 100 pictures on my digital camera). I made it to Telluride and attempted to drive through town just to check it out. They have this whole thing very well organized, so I couldn’t get into town without a special pass. I made my way back down the road into the national forest where I was supposed to meet everyone else later than evening. I was a bit earlier than planned so I made friends with two guys sitting on the side of the road up in the forest. Jeff, Dave, and I ended up hanging out in town that evening, mostly hiding out in a restaurant to avoid getting soaked (the downpour started shortly after I arrived in Telluride). Later that evening, I met up with some of my friends at the planned campsite (a nice flat spot off the forest road) and crashed in the back of the car. I woke up to beautiful mountains with miles of green beneath them and a dusting of fresh snow visible on the peaks. We made our way up to the Mountain Village just above Telluride, parked our cars, and took the free gondola ride into Telluride. The festival was SO MUCH FUN! Lots of people, music, things to buy, and things to eat. The festival has a very friendly ambiance about it. You’re welcome to go in and set up your chairs and tarps or blankets, but if you leave your stuff there, anyone is welcome to sit there until you return. People with sun shade tents or tall chairs (any chair that a basketball can be rolled underneath) set up behind the sound booth. There’s free stuff and plenty of booths with stuff to buy. The stage is set up in front of a mountainside that they light up at night. Just looking around while in the festival, and all you can see is mountains and more mountains.
Festivaaaaaaal!
And the music!! Next year I’m going for the whole festival (four days) instead of just one. 10,000 people each day. I spent Saturday just walking around Telluride, looking in shops, taking pictures, hiking to a waterfall, and listening to free music either by sitting outside the festival or in city park where the musicians from the festival came to jam and hold workshops. The drive back was quite a bit longer (eleven hours), but took me through some more amazing mountain scenes, many of Colorado’s Fourteeners (mountains with elevation of 14,000ft or more). The twisting, turning, uphill, downhill roads really tested my skills as a driver of a standard vehicle. Took highway 317 through part of the Navajo Reservation, which has exactly nothing for about 20 miles on either side of the very long, very flat, though well-kept road. Probably won’t do that one again.
I made it back to camp and settled back in. We’ve had a bit of rain and a little hail this afternoon, but not too much. I just had my first visitors to camp (in three years!). Hollie, Tom, and Kallen left this morning after three days in my forest. Clarke is arriving on Wednesday for a week’s visit including our Fourth of July pig roast and Alpine’s Ye Olde Tavern’s 10th Annual Worm Races.
One more bit of news, Madeline Kate Harris was born June 20th at 1am, weighing in at 5lbs 9oz. Madeline is Clarke’s first niece and so beautiful.
Take care! Only one month left out here. :)
Love and sunshine,
Stef ;)
