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.

It's a Snow Day!

 We anticipated the incoming snow storms, but we've both been desert rats for so long we were pretty conservative during the active snow.  We motored slowly down 550 and it was so moody.

We pulled into Ironton Park to let the dogs out to play.  

This was JB's first time in the snow (he's only 10 months) and HE LOVED IT.  

After both human and canine stretched their legs in the snow, we continued towards Silverton.  The closer we got, the worse the snow fell.  And sure enough, there was a little Corolla who lost the battle with the mountain.  A few Arizonan's and a Kansan pulled out a Texan on a Colorado mountain road.  We got to use our newly purchased MaxTrax and a tow strap and sent the Texan back towards Ouray.  He was clearly not going to make it south during this storm.

We found a wide spot and put our recovery gear away and turned back towards Ouray.  The conditions to Silverton were just not worth the risk.  We stopped for some white tail, then played tourist in Ouray proper before turning in for the night.  Tomorrow would be sunny and full of plenty of snow adventures.

Mountains and Lakes, Oh My!

After leaving Red Mountain, we made our way to this little nameless lake (I'm sure it has a name, but no map we have lists one).  Silverton is very quiet this time of year.  And we didn't mind one bit.  

  

The altitude was really kicking my butt the last two days so we left the lake and headed back to the lower altitude of Ouray.