And Just Like That, It's Over

 We explored around Ridgeway, and by lunch, we had packed the A frame and started the long slog home. This was a trip to remember.  The mountains are dangerously beautiful this time of year.  But with patience and compromise, you can have your favorite trails and haunts all to yourself.

Don't think we'll top this trip.

Last Dollar Road

 As predicted, more snow rolled in.  We chose to head north/west and do the Last Dollar Road, since we knew it would keep us in "lower" elevations.

We crested into the pines and hiked a two-track.

The sun was trying its best to come out, but the snow just kept coming in waves.

We drove through Telluride, thinking we'd head to the base of the falls.

The mountain had other ideas.  We went from snowless shelf road, so snow packed road in one turn and the Jeep stopped wanting to grip.  We turned around as the snow came heavily.

This mountain is not to be trifled with.

We didn't stop in Telluride - the snow was coming hard and fast and we needed to make it back to the cabin.  It snowed into the night, accompanied by a freeze.

Animas Forks is a Snow Globe

 We lead the way towards Animas Forks, following a set of tracks for a little ways.

We hit a turn and noticed whomever was here before turned around.  We contemplated the journey with our new adventure pals in the Ram, when a local in a Toyota pickup showed up.  They were hellbent on making it to their cabin to fix some plumbing issues and had snow chains.  Throwing caution to the wind, we followed them.

The locals turned up a switch back and we forged through the snow to Animas Forks.  At this point, we could see the shale road peaking through the snow, so we were confident to continue on. And boy were we glad we did.  This will probably be the only time we can say we had Animas Forks to ourselves.

A family in a 4Runner followed us all in and the Ram left with them to continue up to more mining ruins.  We stayed around, let the dogs get some energy out and had a picnic lunch from the Jeep.  It was just so amazing to have unfettered access without the noise of side by sides.  

After a while, we packed up and headed towards Silverton to tourist and get pizza and beer from the Golden Block brewery (best pizza) to take back to the cabin.  The 

These are a Few of My Favorite Things

 Surprisingly the forecast was exactly as expected and it was sunny the following day.  We wanted to head back to Red Mountain to see it dressed in white.

I had to recreate the photo I took Monday - it was just too perfect.

It was purely magical.  Watching the clouds dance around the snow covered mountain tops, hearing the crunch of fresh snow under our tires and knowing we were the first ones out here.

At the point, the snow had drifted heavily in some spots, making continuing on a little dicey.  A Ram followed us up and we all collectively decided it was safest to turn back.  The couple in the Ram really wanted to head to Animas Forks but wanted company for safety purposes.  We figured, why not? It's worth a shot.