Earache

North end of the canyon opens up a bit to wider views...

Red rock for miles....

The canyon is about 50 miles long with a river and road at the bottom and several hundred foot tall walls at the sides....

This road is so much fun that I rode it 3 times today. Once at speed as curves are so much fun and then back down and back for pictures. Love this place!

And now off to the canyons...

The wooden structure you can see on the side of the canyon is a hanging flume - a waterway to transport water to a mine. Probably from the 1880's......

And on to Gateway - the real reason I wanted to head over to this part of the state in the first place. Desert road with bends, drop offs and walls. There are a few cars at the bottom of the cliff, just below the turn of the road - hard to see the bends at night...

Rode through Telluride, but it was beyond crowded with tourists, didn't take a single picture. Did stop outside of town at the abandoned gold mine there - place was huge! Looks to be from the 1920's or so...

Courthouse and the surrounding area....

Check out the handrails on the steps of the post office - old narrow gauge train rails! Use what ya have on hand, I guess...

Headed back north, rode through the small town of Rico - yet another gold mining town that has fallen on hard times. Cool architecture though!

100 miles down the road, I came across this monster. I had heard of these things but never actually saw one before....

Downtown Durango...

Up and outta Durango early, but stopped by the train yard located in the city center. This train does the 50 miles loop to Silverton and back. Clsoed, but took some pics over the fence...

Like @XTreme, I like ot keep my bike clean at all times. maybe wash it when I get home....

Dark as I wanna get - I find those old towns kinda spooky and eerie....like I'm walking through someone else's home and I really shouldn't be there. Folks had it tough back then. Not just the climate either, had to be hard working up there. I did about 475 miles yesterday and will do about 400 today. Headed back home on Friday and that'll be about 400 as well. So not a big, long trip. Just wanted to get out one last time for the season and ride a few of my favorite roads before packing it all away for the winter.

Let me know next time you're headed north and I'll try to come down this way. We go to Santa Fe a lot as well - usually around Xmas. Have stayed a few times at the Beaumont in Ouray and also the Ouray Chalet Inn a lot. Did the Best Western once a few years ago. The wife works for Marriott so I get free rooms - or nearly free - so I tend to stay there as much as I can when on solo trips. Can't beat free.

Made into my swanky hotel about 12 hours after I left home today. A nice day's ride. Missed dinner tonight as no delivery of anything out here and I don't wanna get on the bike to find something. Will eat tomorrow. Sorry @Pedro, no food pics today. Tomorrow will be Gateway, Telluride and Grand Junction, followed by Moab on Friday.

Cruised outta Silverton and down to Durango as fast as I could. It was getting dark and cold out....

Awhile later , I came upon an crash that had just happened. Dunno what happened but one adult was trapped in the side by side, one got out and three kids all had head trauma and bloody heads. No helmets on any of them. It looked like it fell from above or rolled a few times - not sure which. Side by side was fucked up! I raced down the hill as fast as I could and luckily found a Sheriff's Deputy and sent him up the hill to help. Hope they're doing okay....

What's left of last year's avalanche - tree debris....

Enough with old houses, time to get down the hill and to a hotel....

One even had an indoor shitter - no plumbing, but at least you didn't have to go outside. Bet that smelled nice...

Great views from home in the Summer. Not so much in the winter. The mine was very close to home....

Some of the homes had multiple rooms - fancy!