San Juan Skyway Visitor Guide Summer/Fall 2017 by Deb Kees

SanJuan

Skyway VISITOR GUIDE Summer/Fall 2017

Skyway

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Contents

Towns Along the Skyway

8 Ridgway

14 Ouray

20 Silverton 26 Durango 32 Mancos 36 Dolores

24-25 San Juan Skyway map and routes

40 Cortez 46 Telluride

Features 10

Two Wheels, One Love Mountain Biking the New Ridgway Area Trails (RAT) Network

16 Ouray Hot Springs Pool Reopens Transforming a Local Treasure

22 Meet Artist Eileen Fjerstad Eye of the Beholder

28 The Ghost at the Train Museum Kate’s Car

30 James Ranch Blends Tradition and Sustainability Ahead of the Curve

(970) 728-6500 • 157 South Fir (Pacific and Fir)

34 Mancos Alpacka Raft Business is All in the Family Building the Best Boats

Open 7am - 9pm daily

38 Big Adventures Along the San Juan Skyway Going to Extremes

42 Explore the Region’s Archaeology Rivers of Ancients

44 McPhee Overlook Trail is Complete The Missing Link

48 Photo Safaris Offer Different Kind of Mountain Lion Hunting Take a Shot

50 Curious Goat—photo by Jack Brauer Upshot

Featured Contributor – Craig Childs

50 4

SanJuan Skyway Visitor Guide - Summer/Fall 2017

A father, traveler, and rock-hugger, Craig Childs has been migrating around the Gunnison and San Miguel drainages for more than 25 years. Currently, he lives at the edge of the canyons west of Norwood where he keeps tracks of the sun’s movements on the horizon. His recent novels include Finders Keepers, The Secret Knowledge of Water, The Animal Dialogues, House of Rain, and Apocalyptic Planet, but all his books combine science, exploration, and storytelling to reveal the inner workings of the earth, the lives of wild animals, and the nuances of ancient civilizations

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Go Beyond

SanJuan

Skyway VISITOR GUIDE

TELLURIDE PUBLISHING, LLC

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Skyway ~

VISITOR GUIDE ADVERTISING

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EDITORIAL Deb Dion Kees ~ CREATIVE DIRECTOR Kristal Rhodes ~ DISTRIBUTION Telluride Delivers ~ WEB GURU Susan Hayse ~ PHOTOGRAPHERS Ryan Bonneau, Jack Brauer, Merrick Chase, Brady Dunne, Steve Fassbinder, Sheri Tingey Collection ~

ADVENTURES AND EXPERIENCES ON THE SAN JUAN SKYWAY

umans tend to think only of our limitations. We can only go so far, so high, so long. Our time is short, just a brief window to explore and see everything we can. So in this issue, we encourage you to break out of those constraints. Instead of thinking about what you can’t do, think about how to go beyond the boundaries and try new things, see new places, and have some new experiences. There’s no better place to explore than the San Juan Skyway.

If adventure starts with the first step outside of your comfort zone, then maybe you can take a huge stride and check out some of the extreme activities along the route. You can try zip lining, paragliding, climbing, or river running (“Going to Extremes,” p. 38). There are also ample opportunities to mountain bike—there’s a new network of trails in Ridgway (“Two Wheels, One Love,” p. 10) and a great new section of trail that connects McPhee Reservoir and Boggy Draw (“The Missing Link,” p. 44). Not thrilling enough? Try tracking a mountain lion and getting up close for a photo op with Bodhi Safaris (“Take a Shot,” p. 48). You don’t have to scare yourself by flying or climbing or stalking wildlife to have an adventure—you can always scare yourself the old-fashioned way, by ghost hunting. There are lots of tales about haunted places and restless spirits along the San Juan Skyway, but one of the most intriguing is Kate, the ghost that haunts the old sleeper car at the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad museum (“Kate’s Car,” p. 28). And if you’re really interested in the spiritual world, this region was home to the most ancient of civilizations, the Puebloan people that lived here more than

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a thousand years ago. The vestiges of their lives are still visible, on display at Mesa Verde National Park, or in other places that you can discover—pottery sherds hidden in sand, kivas beneath the earth—and renowned author Craig Childs writes eloquently about the archaeology here (“Rivers of Ancients,” p. 42). There are other, more relaxing things to see and do— like the brushstrokes of our regional artists (“Eye of the Beholder,” p. 22), the mineral hot springs (“Transforming a Local Treasure,” p. 16), and the pastoral beauty of a true heritage ranch (“Ahead of the Curve,” p. 30). The options are endless, so don’t limit yourself. Go beyond the typical sightseeing and roadside attractions, and experience something special along the San Juan Skyway.

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Happy Sojourn,

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WRITERS Craig Childs, Suzy Loeffler ~ The San Juan Skyway Visitor Guide is produced by Telluride Publishing. Telluride Publishing also produces Telluride Magazine

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SanJuan Skyway Visitor Guide - Summer/Fall 2017

~ COVER PHOTO BY Jack Brauer

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CALENDAR of EVENTS

MAY 18–20 MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL Sherbino Theatre Company presents live performances of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, at 7:30 p.m. nightly. MAY 20 LOVE YOUR VALLEY FESTIVAL The festival is from 1–6 p.m. and features micro brews, live music, and dog contests.

Ridgway

MAY 20 ROCC PARKING LOT SALE Starting at 8 a.m., rummage through the treasures and score some deals at this signature annual event behind the Ridgway Library.

EVEN HOLLYWOOD TOOK NOTE OF RIDGWAY’S SPECTACULAR

JUNE 10 RAT FEST AND RAT RACE Enjoy live music, rides and a race on the Ridgway Area Trails, and craft beers.

WESTERN SCENERY AND CHARACTER, SETTING THE ORIGINAL FILM TRUE GRIT HERE DECADES AGO.

JUNE 11 SCULPTURE CONTEST Michael McCullough hosts this annual amateur sculpting event in Ridgway.

Ridgway is the northernmost entry to the San Juan Skyway and is known as the Gateway to the San Juans. Its beautifully manicured town park hosts music concerts, arts festivals, and a farmers market and its county fairgrounds is home to a great professional rodeo that caps off the summer. Ridgway has a sprawling reservoir

JUNE 24 RIDGWAY RIVER FESTIVAL Annual river festival is held at Rollans park, with races, exhibitions, live music, food and drinks.

with camping and its tributary the Uncompahgre River, with all sorts of watersports opportunities, boating, SUP, tubing, fishing, and waterskiing. The community is a hub for artists and craftsmen, with lots of galleries and outdoor sculpture, and the Ridgway Railroad Museum pays tribute to the town’s advent as a transportation hub,

JULY 6, 13, 20, 27 SUMMER CONCERT SERIES Catch free, outdoor live music every Thursday at 6 p.m. in July at Hartwell Park.

headquarters of the Rio Grande Southern narrow gauge railroad serving miners,

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ranchers and farmers in the 1800s.

SanJuan Skyway Visitor Guide - Summer/Fall 2017

JULY 22 OURAY COUNTY RANCH TOUR The Ouray County Historical Museum presents the Ouray County Ranch Tour and Farm-to-Table Luncheon, featuring Cow Creek.

AUGUST 12–13 32ND ANNUAL RIDGWAY RENDEZVOUS This art festival features arts, crafts, food, and music. AUGUST 12 MT. SNEFFELS MARATHON/ HALF-MARATHON Runners traverse the county roads back and forth from Ouray in this popular annual race. AUGUST 26 RIDGWAY MOONWALK Check out this farm-to-table community dinner and potluck at Hartwell Park. SEPTEMBER 2–4 RODEO IN RIDGWAY Ranch rodeo events on Sept. 2 include a livestock fair and fire house dance. The CPRA Roughstock Rodeo events start at 1 p.m. at the Ouray County Fairgrounds in Ridgway on Sept. 3–4, and the Labor Day rodeo parade starts at 10 a.m. and is followed by a barbecue in Hartwell Park.

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SEPTEMBER 21–22 OURAY COUNTY RAILROAD DAYS Celebrate the historic railroads that created the region from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. at the Ridgway Railroad Museum. SEPTEMBER 23–24 MT. SNEFFELS FIBER ARTS FESTIVAL Workshops, classes, and exhibitions of fiberwork. Arts and crafts and more are for sale at this fun annual event sponsored by the Weehawken Creative Arts.

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Developers admit that it took a lot of “blood, sweat, and beers,” but they were able to turn an existing couple of miles of trail into a network of close to 50 miles of riding. They went through all the proper channels, says Brian Scranton: the planning, the scoping, and the environmental and archaeological surveys. “Some other networks were built the opposite way, asking forgiveness once it’s built instead of permission, but we started from scratch. The immeasurable things we were also able to build are our relationships with the public lands offices, local government, and regional businesses.” The RAT network is drawing riders from all over the four corners area, enticed by the quality of the mountain biking. Scranton says about 80% of the trails are intermediate riding, very approachable for a beginner but still enjoyable for experts who want to ride fast and enjoy the fun curves. There are no steep climbs or treacherous downhills, he says, but there are a couple of black diamond stretches. There’s parking right off County Road 10, but you can also access the network from town on the bike path. The design lends itself to any length of ride, from a quick half-hour lunch break to the standard three- or four-hour sojourn through the scenic piñon and juniper trails. The maximum vertical elevation is 900 feet, but because of the rolling terrain it’s easy to climb 2-4,000 feet depending on the chosen loops. RAT also includes some rugged, high alpine riding on the other side of Ridgway, the Dallas Trail that parallels the Sneffels range and National Forest. “That’s more expert terrain, from a cardio perspective. It’s about 11,000 feet in elevation and it’s gorgeous.” Developers were intent on making the wayfinding easy in the network, and they included signs so that no one could get lost. They also had some fun with the naming of the trails, playing off the RAT acronym: the 3-mile entry trail that climbs up 13 switchbacks is appropriately named The Big Cheese. The descent from there, with banked turns and straightaways is called Ratical. The Plagueround has fun, fast singletrack and can bring you back to the gut of the system and Double Crosser, Rattus Maximus, or Rat Trap. If you don’t have a bike with you, but want to check out the RAT network, you can always rent some wheels from Cascade Bicycles in Ridgway. Cascade is also a full-service bike shop, for repairs, tubes, and any accessories you might need to keep you rolling. For more information, visit ridgwaytrails.com.

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CALENDAR of EVENTS MAY 27–28 TRACE BUNDY (“ACOUSTIC NINJA”) CONCERT Acoustic guitar virtuoso Trace Bundy performs for two nights at the Wright Opera House.

JULY 8 THE RIVER ARKANSAS CONCERT Colorado favorites The River Arkansas play the historic Wright Opera House.

JUNE 1, 8, 15, 22 & 29 MOUNTAIN AIR MUSIC SERIES Every Thursday from 6–9 p.m. enjoy free, live outdoor music by the Hot Springs Pool at Fellin Park, followed by aftershows with the opening acts at O’Brien’s Pub & Grill.

JULY 15 & AUGUST 19 GUIDED HIKE OF THE CORKSCREW TURNTABLE Hike the historic Corkscrew Railroad Bed and Turntable route, guided by Ouray County Historical Society Museum Curator Don Paulson.

JUNE 24 CLASSICAL CINEMA DOUBLE FEATURE The Wright Opera House presents two notable feature films from classical cinema. JUNE 29 BLUE SAGE CHAMBER TRIO: THE LYRICAL CLARINET The Ouray County Performing Arts Guild presents a chamber trio performing works by Beethoven, Brahms, and Ninorota as part of the Dave and Mary Wood Classical Concert Series at the Wright Opera House.

OuRaY WHEN YOU DRIVE INTO OURAY YOU MAY WONDER WHERE YOU TOOK A WRONG TURN AND HOW YOU ENDED UP IN THE EUROPEAN ALPS. From Ouray’s incredible Uncompahgre Gorge (which is famous for its manmade ice climbing park in winter) to the pristine and beautiful mountains in which it is encircled, as well as its quaint Victorian architecture, old-fashioned shops, and historic main drag and museum, the town has a distinctly alpine feel. Ouray has all kinds of recreational opportunities, such as hiking, running, camping, jeeping, river sports, and mountaineering; whatever you do, don’t miss the Perimeter Trail, which offers a stunning view of the Cascade Falls and the gorge. After you recreate, relax by visiting one of Ouray’s geothermal treats, hot springs, a pool, or vapor caves.

SanJuan Skyway Visitor Guide - Summer/Fall 2017

JULY 1 ARCHITECTURAL TOUR OF FIVE OURAY BUILDINGS The Ouray County Historical Society invites you to tour five of Ouray’s architectural gems and learn about their history, with docents at each site. JULY 1 TAJ WEEKES & ADOWA CONCERT Enjoy summery Caribbean grooves when Taj Weekes & Adowa unite for an unforgettable show at the Wright Opera House. JULY 2 PETER DAVISON VAUDEVILLE FAMILY SHOW Juggler, dancer, and mime extraordinaire Peter Davison ushers in the July 4 holiday week with two family-friendly vaudeville shows at the Wright Opera House. JULY 4 OLD-FASHIONED FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION Enjoy the Fourth of July in Ouray, starting with the Ourayce 10k, a Main Street parade, kids games in Fellin Park, water fights, a Jeep glow parade at dusk, and fireworks after dark. JULY 8 GUIDED TOUR OF OURAY’S HISTORIC MAIN STREET Join Ouray County Historical Society staff member Irene Mattivi for a look at the history of the buildings on Ouray’s historic Main Street.

JULY 22 GUIDED TOUR OF CEDAR HILL CEMETERY Join Ouray County Historical Society Paper Archivist Glenda Moore for a guided tour of Ouray’s Historic Cedar Hill Cemetery. JULY 27–30 SHAKESPEARE’S THE TEMPEST Ouray’s UpstART theather group presents four nights of Shakespeare at the historic Wright Opera House. JULY 27–AUGUST 5 57TH ANNUAL ALPINE ARTIST HOLIDAY Celebrate the visual arts with this longstanding event and summer tradition at the Ouray Community Center. AUGUST 4-6 OURAY 100 ENDURANCE RUN This event is about as tough as they come for ultra-runners, with 100-mile and 50-mile run options through the mountains surrounding Ouray. AUGUST 5 GUIDED TOUR OF OURAY’S MAIN STREET Join Ouray County Historical Society staff member Irene Mattivi to get some of the backstory about the buildings on Ouray’s historic Main Street. AUGUST 9–13 OURAY CANYON FESTIVAL The 8th annual Ouray Canyon Festival welcomes adventurers at the Ouray Community Center to set out on canyoneering trips and check out gear vendor displays, movies, workshops, presentations, demos, socials, raffles, and more. AUGUST 12 MT. SNEFFELS HALF MARATHON & MARATHON RUN/WALK Runners traverse the country roads between Ouray and Ridgway in this popular annual race. AUGUST 12 GUIDED TOUR OF CEDAR HILL CEMETERY Join Ouray County Historical Society Paper Archivist Glenda Moore for a guided tour of Ouray’s Historic Cedar Hill Cemetery.

AUGUST 17–22 SAN JUAN CHAMBER MUSIC FEST Join world-class musicians in a celebration of classical chamber music at various locations throughout Ouray County. AUGUST 25–27 HIGHGRADERS’ HOLIDAY MINING COMPETITIONS Celebrate Ouray’s mining history and watch the hardrock competitions at the Miner’s Park near the Ouray Hot Springs Pool. SEPTEMBER 9 APOLLO CHAMBER BRASS QUINTET CONCERT The Ouray County Performing Arts Guild wraps up the second annual Dave and Mary Wood Classical Concert Series with a rousing brass concert at the Wright Opera House.

Continually Flowing Natural Hot Springs, Vapor Cave, Outdoor Pool and Private Lorelei.

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SEPTEMBER 9 IMOGENE PASS RUN Runners test their skills and lungs against the 17.1-mile course from Ouray to Telluride over Imogene Pass. SEPTEMBER 30 OURAY MOUNTAIN TRAIL RUN Runners circumnavigate Ouray on the Silvershield, Ice Park, and Portland trails and enjoy the great views and fall foliage. OCTOBER 7 OKTOBERFEST & 53RD ANNUAL JEEP RAFFLE DRAWING What better way to say goodbye to summer than by winning a Jeep in the annual raffle and enjoying authentic polka, German food, and beer. OCTOBER 21 JAYME STONE’S FOLKLIFE Enjoy an evening of sea island spirituals, Creole calypsos and stomp-down Appalachian dance tunes when Jayme Stone’s Folklife performs at the Wright Opera House. OCTOBER 27–28 ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW Experience this cult classic with an interactive performance starring local actors at the Wright Opera House. OCTOBER 28 HALLOWEEN BALL AT THE HISTORIC BEAUMONT HOTEL A frighteningly good time awaits you at this annual costume ball among the ghosts of the historic Beaumont Hotel.

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Ouray Hot Springs Pool

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TRANSFORMING A LOCAL TREASURE

ne of the best things about the San Juan Skyway is its geology. Some 60 million years ago, the plates of the earth’s crust collided violently and folded over each other, giving birth to the Rocky Mountains amid volcanic eruptions. The cataclysm also created faults in the earth’s crust, through which heated, geothermal water seeps upward and creates the natural hot springs and vapor caves along the Skyway that we enjoy today. There are lots of places to soak or swim in the geothermal waters in the region. Some of them are hidden secret spots, but there are also lots of great public places. The crown jewel among them is the Ouray Hot Springs Pool, which was built in 1927. This past winter, the community embarked on an ambitious $9.7 million renovation project to transform the pool. “We basically demolished the old pool structure and started from scratch,” says Tom Kavanaugh. “It was showing some wear and tear, leaking some water, and making it hard to keep the temperatures consistent.” The new design features five pools, an obstacle course and climbing wall, a splash pad for kids, and brand new, 25-foot-tall water slides. The pools will have a range of temperatures to suit all guests: there will still be lap swimming and recreation pools, but there will also be a shallow pool with moderate temperatures and two hot pools for relaxing and soaking.

The renovation will transform the whole facility, including a second phase that will feature a bathhouse remodel, but what won’t change is the atmosphere. Most of the hot springs and vapor caves in the region cater to either families, or adults and couples. Ouray Hot Springs Pool has always provided amenities for both, and its longstanding tradition of serving the community and guests won’t change, says Kavanaugh. “We’re really a mixture of both, we incorporate both worlds with an environment that suits everybody, of every generation— grandparents, mom and dad, kids—they can all find something to enjoy at this facility. It’s a pretty bold endeavor.” Kavanaugh is also pleased at the community support of the project. When the first pool was constructed almost a hundred years ago, citizens came with shovels and helped dig the trench from the Box

Canyon to the pool. This time, residents approved a bond measure and are holding fundraisers to rebuild their local treasure. The pool is a huge draw for tourists from all over the world, says Kavanaugh, but it’s also the hot spot (forgive the pun) for locals. They have birthday parties and social gatherings there, and they soak after races and concerts held in Fellin Park, adjacent to the pool. “Instead of the coffee shop, they hang out at the pool,” he says. “It’s a pretty special thing. It’s not just a pool—it’s the people, and it’s the geography, the mountains that surround us.” The project is still underway, but Ouray Hot Springs Pool and Fitness Center intends to have some pools open at some capacity by Memorial Day. For up-to-date information about openings and prices, visit www.ourayhotsprings.com or check the Facebook page.

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SanJuan Skyway Visitor Guide - Summer/Fall 2017

OTHER PLACES TO GET IN HOT WATER ALONG THE SKYWAY

Hot Springs Pool 1220 Main Street • Ouray, CO • 970.325.7073

BRAND NEW POOL

OURAY COUNTY HISTORICAL MUSEUM

OPENING MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND!

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Ouray Hot Springs Pool open year round. Hours are 10 am to 10 pm daily in the summer.

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Fun for the entire family!

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Three soaking areas from 80 degrees to 104 degrees.

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Ouray is a ‘must-see’ destination along the beautiful San Juan Sky Way.

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While in Ouray visit the famous Box Canon Falls, open daily in the summer, cross the upper bridge 285 feet above the waterfalls. 970.325.7080

ORVIS Orvis, in Ridgway, has seven soaking pools of various temperatures, including an indoor pool/swimming area and private indoor tubs as well as an outdoor sauna. There is onsite camping and lodging and a changing room with showers and bathrooms, and the outdoor areas are beautifully manicured. Orvis is a clothing-optional spot where you can soak in the nude. (Bathing attire is required only in the indoor pool.) 970-626-5324

THE HISTORIC WIESBADEN HOT SPRINGS SPA & LODGING This is a casual but elegant inn and spa in Ouray that features a unique natural hot springs vapor cave with a soaking pool, an outdoor swimming pool, and the “Lorelei,” a private outdoor spa with a soaking pool. All of the Wiesbaden’s pools and cave are continuously fed by its hot springs, without re-circulation of the water. There is a full range of spa treatments available. Stay overnight in one of the rooms and soak, or purchase a pass for the day. 970-325-4347

BOX CANYON LODGE & HOT SPRINGS

HOTEL EST. 1898

~Aturn-of-the-centuryCountryInn~Established1898~

Guests of the Box Canyon Lodge in Ouray can soak outdoor in mineral hot springs tubs, which are terraced on the mountainside behind the lodge. There are four giant redwood tubs that offer great views of the surrounding mountains. 970-325-4981

TRIMBLE SPA AND NATURAL HOT SPRINGS Trimble is located in Durango, and there is lodging available on-site. There are two saunas, outdoor mineral hot springs pools, an outdoor lap pool for swimming, and a beautiful, sprawling poolside lawn for relaxing or picnicking. The spa offers massage and body and beauty treatments. There is a changing area with showers and bathrooms. 970-247-0111

DUNTON HOT SPRINGS Dunton Hot Springs is located in a serene alpine setting outside of Rico and near Telluride, and it is the most upscale and luxurious of the hot springs settings on the Skyway. Dunton is a restored ghost town, with hand-hewn log cabins, an old saloon/dancehall, an exquisite bathhouse, gorgeous indoor-outdoor hot springs pools, a spring on the river, and a private hot springs tub in one of the cabins. There is an on-site spa with a large menu of treatments, a gourmet chef who sources all of his natural ingredients from local farms and ranches, and an extensive wine list that includes regional wines. There are also high-end “tents,” canvas rooms, that can be rented during the summer. You must be a guest at Dunton to use its amenities, but there are packages where you can buy lunch and soak during the day, or buy dinner and soak during the evening. Dunton is a one-of-a-kind experience, and often the whole facility is rented for weddings or events, so make sure you call ahead for a reservation. 970-882-4800

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CALENDAR of EVENTS

JUNE 10--12 DEATH RIDE This endurance bike race starts at the Grand Imperial Hotel. Deathridetour.com. JUNE 24 ANTIQUE TRUCK SHOW Check out these beautiful vehicles at the parade and on display on Blair Street.

have miles and miles of ruggedly beautiful mountains as their private playground,

JULY 14–16 HARDROCK HUNDRED ENDURANCE RUN Perhaps the most grueling of any mountain trail race, the Hardrock Hundred starts and finishes in Silverton and traverses the San Juan Mountains.

with great jeeping, hiking, biking, trail running, mountaineering and river running in their own backyard. There are beautiful Victorian buildings to explore, including the notorious Blair Street establishments, mining tours and gold-panning, music, and theatre. Silverton is also home to the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, where visitors arriving on the first train each summer are treated to locals dressed in Victorian-era costumes and the old-time sounds of a brass band.

DEANNE GALLEGOS

JULY 22 SILVERTON MOUNTAIN RUN AND K2 DOUBLE Race up Kendall Mountain once—or twice—at this popular mountain endurance run, starting at 12th and Greene Streets and finishing in Memorial Park.

SanJuan Skyway Visitor Guide - Summer/Fall 2017

AUGUST 5 SILVERTON BARBERSHOP MUSIC FESTIVAL Enjoy the quaint sound of barbershop music at the Silverton gym at 7 p.m..

www.tontotrails.com info@tontotrails.com

AUGUST 19–25 1-2-3-6 DAY & 1,000-MILE CHALLENGE Mountain endurance runners race for 24 hours, 48 hours, 72 hours, six days or 1,000 miles, starting at the Kendall Mountain Recreation Area. SEPTEMBER 1–2 THE SILVERTON WESTERN MOVIE FESTIVAL Western cinema showings at the Silverton School Performing Arts Center. SEPTEMBER 9–10 SILVERTON QUILT SHOW AND SALE Check out the local fabric artistry at the Silverton School gym. SEPTEMBER 15–17 STEP BACK IN TIME The Historical Society sponsors this event where people dress in period costumes and celebrate the region’s history.

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AUGUST 19 SILVERTON ALPINE MARATHON & 50K A unique, high alpine course marks these running races, which start and finish at Memorial Park.

Silverton

AUGUST 17–20 TRUE WEST RAILFEST Celebrate the special narrow gauge railroad with events in Silverton and Durango.

JULY 4 FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION AND FIREWORKS Local festivities kick off with a Blue Ribbon fun run/ walk, then roll into a parade, the Fire Department’s water fight, the International Rhubarb Festival, a Silverton Brass Band Concert, a Ducky Derby, a theatre matinee, and a fireworks display after dark.

YOUR ADVENTURE. OUR RIGS.

JUNE 6 MOTORCYCLE SUMMIT Steel Horse Sisterhood Women’s Motorcycle Summit comes to Silverton, at the Grand Imperial Hotel.

AUGUST 12–13 HARDROCKERS HOLIDAYS This event celebrates the town’s mining history with drilling contests and a tug-of-war.

MAY 26–28 IRON HORSE BICYCLE CLASSIC Cyclists race the train from Durango to Silverton in this annual bike race.

AUGUST 11–13 GREAT WESTERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN BRASS BAND FESTIVAL Delight in these special, old-fashioned concerts at the Silverton School gym.

MAY 21 BAR D DINNER The Silverton Chamber of Commerce hosts this annual fundraiser dinner, and announces the Citizen of the Year.

San Juan Mountains, CO

AUGUST 5–6 MOUNTAIN MAN SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT Ball players convene at the ball field at the Visitors Center for this annual tourney.

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MAY 6 TRAIN’S FIRST DAY The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad makes its first trip of the summer.

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Iron Horse Bicycle Classic • Death Ride Bicycle Race • Taste of Silverton • Antique Truck Show • Fourth of July Celebration & Fireworks • Hardrock Hundred Endurance Run • Kendall Mountain Run • Mountain Man Softball Tournament • Silverton Barbershop Music Festival • Hardrockers Holidays • Great Western Rocky Mountain Brass Band Festival • Silverton Alpine Marathon • Silverton Western Movie Festival • Silverton Quilt Show & Sale • Silverton Double Dirty 30 100K Trail Race

ent Ends, life at Where the Pavem

9318’ begins!

SEPTEMBER 23–24 FALL PHOTOGRAPHERS WEEKEND Photographers shoot the beautiful fall landscapes at this event, hosted by the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. OCTOBER 28 LAST TRAIN The last summer train ride from Durango to Silverton heralds the coming of winter.

Call or visit the website for event dates and information. 1-800-752-4494 • www.silvertoncolorado.com SanJuan Skyway Visitor Guide - Summer/Fall 2017

Eye of the Beholder

Eileen E Fjerstad Landscape Artist

MEET ARTIST EILEEN FJERSTAD

rtists have a way of finding beauty in the everyday world. Where some people see a pile of snow they have to shovel, artists see a glittering landscape. Where some people see a parched desert scene, artists see the shimmering hues of the sand. Eileen Fjerstad loves both type of landscapes, and splits her time between Silverton, with its snowy peaks, and Bluff, Utah, with its serene desert scenery. “I’ve always skied. I love winter, especially the sparkly days with fresh snow…but when the melt begins, I love to go to the desert. The combination really works for me,” says Fjerstad. “We’re so lucky to have both options in close proximity in the Four Corners.” Fjerstad named her Silverton workspace “Sand & Snow Studio,” an homage to her favorite subjects to paint. Both of the communities where she lives, works, and teaches are rural places where people love to explore nature. The lifestyle is simple, without all of the urban conveniences, and that’s just how Fjerstad likes it. “It takes a little bit of grit to live in Silverton or in Bluff. It’s not easy, but it keeps me close to my subject matter and is well worth the inconveniences.” Fjerstad didn’t start taking painting seriously, she says, until after her son and daughter had both graduated high school. She is mostly self-taught, but she was mentored by her neighbor, who was a highly trained, accomplished artist, and she attends workshops and classes periodically to improve her technique. She started out at first with acrylics, but decided right away that it wasn’t the right medium for her—the arid climate in the West caused the acrylics to dry out too quick-

ly. So Fjerstad moved on to working with watercolor, painting the gorgeous landscapes that surrounded her. She was happy with watercolor until eight or nine years ago, when she turned to painting with oils. She was hooked, and challenged to change her artistic process. “Flipping from watercolor to oils required changing my approach. The most difficult part was to turn the process in my mind around. In watercolor you paint the lights first, and darks last. In oils, it’s the opposite. You put the darks down first and go toward the light, and you have to learn to go from thin to heavier. Oils are a bit more forgiving than watercolor, and I wanted the deeper, richer colors of oils.” She is what is known as a plein air artist, meaning that she takes her easel and materials outside to capture the landscapes. She treasures being outdoors and remembers a time once after a workshop in Monterey that she went to Big Sur, and wandered out on what was

typically a windy promontory to paint. She was greeted not by wind, but by sublime weather and two whales breaching. “What else can you do where you’re in a position to enjoy that kind of thing while you’re working?” More often, she finds herself surrounded by nature in the San Juan Mountains, capturing the beauty that is here. Her studio in Silverton has picturesque enough views that she occasionally will capture a quick study from inside. The artist begins most of her work outside at various locations, and finishes it in the studio, relying mostly on her memory of the scene. Always, she carries her brushes, paints, and easel to be ready to capture our bit of this amazing world. “I like plein air for a lot of reasons,” says Fjerstad. “It’s so immediate. The atmosphere is something you just cannot capture in a photo. Perspective, back-lighting, shadows, and color are all seen very differently by the artist’s eye. Plus, I am outside!”

939 Greene St

Silverton, Co 81433

www.sandandsnowstudio.com

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SanJuan Skyway Visitor Guide - Summer/Fall 2017

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Dallas Divide 8,970 ft.

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SanJuan Skyway Visitor Guide - Summer/Fall 2017

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U.S. HIGHWAY 550 From Ridgway, the byway turns south onto US 550 following the Uncompahgre River into the Victorian mining town of Ouray. From Ouray south back to Durango, the highway is referred to as the Million Dollar Highway, not for its priceless beauty but for the extreme costs of its initial construction. The first 7.0 miles (11.3 km) south of Ouray, the byway follows through the Uncompahgre Gorge. Just past the only tunnel on the route, just south of Ouray, the road

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STATE HIGHWAY 145 At Cortez, the byway turns north following State Highway 145 (SH 145) through the town of Dolores and follows the Dolores River into the San Juan National Forest. The byway passes through the small town of Rico, county seat of Dolores County prior to 1941; the old courthouse still remains. From Rico, the byway crosses 10,222 ft (3116 m) Lizard Head Pass and enters the Uncompahgre National Forest. Lizard Head Pass provides views of the 14,159-foot (4,316 m) El Diente Peak, the 14,246-foot (4,342 m) Mount Wilson, the 14,017-foot (4,272 m) Wilson Peak and the pass’s namesake, the 13,113-foot (3,997 m) Lizard Head Peak. The byway descends near the little town of Ophir past the location of the famous Ophir Loop of the Rio Grande Southern Railroad. A spur road heads off to the old mining town turned ski resort of Telluride. The

STATE HIGHWAY 62 The byway turns east at Placerville onto SH 62 and follows it over Dallas Divide. There are many excellent views of the San Juan Mountains, especially of the mountains around the 14,150-foot (4,310 m) Mount Sneffels. From top of the divide the byway descends into the town of Ridgway. The entire route of the byway from Durango to Ridgway roughly follows the route of the Rio Grande Southern Railroad.

crosses over Bear Creek Falls on a bridge at the location of an impassable toll booth on the original road. The Alpine Loop National Back Country Byway, a fourwheel-drive jeep road takes off in the gorge south of Bear Creek Falls. Before leaving the gorge, the byway passes through a snow shed under the Riverside Slide avalanche zone. A monument stands near here honoring those who have lost their lives in the avalanche, including several snowplow operators. At this point the byway enters Ironton Park, a nice flat valley in contrast to the gorge. The road ascends several switchbacks, or S-curves, past the Idarado mining operation to the 11,018-foot (3,358 m) summit of Red Mountain Pass, providing views of Red Mountain (Colorado) and several ghost towns. Back into the San Juan National Forest, the highway descends through the Chattanooga Valley to Silverton. From Silverton, the byway passes over the 10,910-foot (3,330 m) Molas Pass and the 10,640foot (3,240 m) Coal Bank Pass descending past the ski resort of Durango Mountain. From Hermosa, the road parallels the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad before returning to Durango.

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he San Juan Skyway is the ultimate road trip. Along its breathtaking 236-mile loop are vibrant alpine communities, historic landmarks, Mesa Verde National Park, the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, wild rivers, pristine waterfalls and lakes, high-elevation passes and the gorgeous, jagged San Juan Mountain Range for which it is named.

U.S. HIGHWAY 160 Starting in Durango, Colorado, the largest city on San Juan Skyway, the byway follows U.S. Highway 160 (US 160) west through the town of Mancos to Cortez passing the entrance to Mesa Verde National Park.

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SCOTTY KENTON

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The Southwest region of Colorado boasts nearly 30 independent producers of unique crafted beverages, including beer, wine, cider, spirits and soft drinks. Discover brew pubs, explore rural wineries, and tour in-town distilleries, all while enjoying the diverse scenery and rich attractions of this beautiful part of the state.

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SanJuan Skyway Visitor Guide - Summer/Fall 2017

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JULY 4 INDEPENDENCE DAY IN DURANGO Come join in the fun for all of Durango’s 4th of July events, starting with a breakfast and 5k run at Rotary Park and ending with a parade and a river parade followed by a street dance on Main Avenue and fireworks at dusk.

! !

Durango Craft Spirits

Vancorum Naturita

each year. Durango is the perfect mix of Old West and New West culture.

OCTOBER 5–8 DURANGO COWBOY POETRY GATHERING A celebration of the culture and heritage of the American cowboy with performances by poets and musicians.

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lining or a paintball fight, to an old-fashioned shootout at the quick draw competition

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JUNE 21, 28 & JULY 5, 12, 19 TRUE WEST PRO RODEO Watch a professional rodeo at the La Plata County Fairgrounds.

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SEPTEMBER 1–4 FOUR CORNERS BIKE RALLY Experience the Four Corners, some of the best motorcycle riding in the world.

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JUNE 3 ANIMAS RIVER DAYS Celebrate the Animas River with fun events, including a parade, dog contest, river races, and more.

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AUGUST 26 THIRSTY THIRTEEN HALF MARATHON The race starts at the Hesperus church and follows a mostly downhill course to Ska Brewing, just in time for the San Juan Brewfest.

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AUGUST 25 SAN JUAN BREWFEST Durango is known as the “City of Brewery Love” and the “Napa Valley of Beer,” and you can find out why with a food and beer tasting on Main Avenue.

Honey House Distillery

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EVEN A FEW TRAFFIC LIGHTS ON ITS MAIN CORRIDOR—AND

Teal Cider

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MAY 26–28 IRON HORSE BICYCLE CLASSIC Bicycles race the narrow gauge train from Durango to Silverton in this annual event, which also includes a criterion in Durango.

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AUGUST 9–13 LA PLATA COUNTY FAIR Enjoy this classic county fair at the La Plata County Fairgrounds.

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MAY 21 TASTE OF DURANGO Sample the best from Durango’s many restaurants and listen to live music on Main Avenue in downtown Durango.

JULY 22–30 FIESTA DAYS Celebrate the region’s Spanish history and cowboy heritage with rodeos, a parade and other activities.

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MAY 13 DURANGO FARMER’S MARKET Stroll through the farmer’s market on 9th Street and check out the fresh food and locally grown and homemade products. The market is open on Saturday mornings through October 28.

JULY 9–30 MUSIC IN THE MOUNTAINS Summer music festival featuring classical music, a complement to the yearround youth educational programs.

MAY 4–6 DURANGO WINE EXPERIENCE Three days of wine tasting, educational seminars, wine dinners, and unique tastings. The events include hundreds of wineries, artisan spirits, and craft beers.

JULY 7–9 GEM AND MINERAL SHOW Located at the La Plata County Fairgrounds, the gem and mineral show features kids’ activities, a silent auction, raffle, mineral displays, and about 40 vendors.

MAY 6 TRAIN’S FIRST DAY The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad makes its first trip of the summer.

Kate’s Car THE GHOST AT THE TRAIN MUSEUM

Not everyone believes in ghosts, of course, but even the skeptics are familiar with the strange happenings involving the sleeper car. The sleeper car has never been restored, because it is the last of its kind still in its original condition. The chipping paint, worn floorboards, and aging fixtures give it the air of an old, haunted train car, so museum curator Jeff Ellingson assumed at first that its atmosphere was what caused so many visitors to remark about its “ghost.” Ellingson grew fond of the ancient car, so fond that he once said aloud while cleaning it that he would “always take care of it, no matter what.” Just after that, the museum operators decided to bring a new car into the museum and to pull the sleeper car out into the rail yard. Ellingson got a call in the middle of that same night: The bay doors that they used to pull the car out had mysteriously blasted open. The bay doors are extremely heavy and tall and secured by steel rods; the steel was bent in a 90-degree angle and the doors were wide open. There were ten inches of fresh snow, but no footprints or tire tracks inside or outside. Security guards were stumped, and they ended up pulling the precious sleeper back inside the museum. Had they upset the ghost in the car when Ellingson broke his promise by putting it outside? Ellingson was curious, so he researched the car’s history. It turns out that in 1937, when the car was being used to clean up train wrecks, a fireman (person who shoveled coal for the trains) snuck his girlfriend, Kate, a 15-year-old prostitute, onto the car with him. A brakeman, who was also making the trip, made inappropriate advances toward Kate, and a fight ensued. The fireman was stabbed to death, and Kate, inconsolable, took her own life shortly after. “It’s a sad love story, is what it is,” says Ellingson, who has been at the railroad for 33 years, and at the museum for

19. “Ever since we’ve had that car in here, we’ve had strange things happening.” Ellingson says that people have taken photos that have apparitions or orbs of light in them that can’t be explained. He says that in addition to the bay doors being blasted open that night, the motion-sensing cameras have also picked up some eerie, inexplicable footage. He says that a team of paranormal investigators with scientific equipment tried to spend the night in Kate’s car, but they left in a hurry at about 2 a.m. Ellingson says that whatever is causing the phenomena, it seems to be a gentle “presence” that likes children and intrigues

grownups, who say that they sense a sadness. Is it Kate’s ghost, still lingering around the 135-year-old car? “I was one of the biggest skeptics of all,” says Ellingson. “But things happen. With all of this stuff going on, you can’t ignore the fact that something is happening here.” Even if you don’t believe in ghosts, or haunted train cars, or the paranormal, this particular sleeper car comes with a captivating story, as do all the objects in the museum. Each piece is a little bit of history that deserves to be resurrected and enjoyed, just like the train itself, which is still carrying passengers and letting them experience our railroad heritage.

very inch of the train museum is packed with all sorts of curiosities and intriguing exhibits: railroad and war memorabilia, various wild creatures preserved by taxidermy, historic train cars, fire engines, and planes. There is even a miniature model of the actual Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, winding through the mountains. Each of these pieces comes with its own story, its own little piece of history. But the most fascinating of all the items in the museum is the old sleeper car, tucked in the back corner of the museum.

This particular sleeper car is the only such relic of the railroad era that still exists anywhere in the United States. Sleeper cars like the one in the museum were used more than a hundred years ago to transport immigrants, and this one also had a second life as a car that was used to haul workers out to clean up after a train wreck. This sleeper car had the grisly duty of bringing back survivors and victims of the crashes. It was on one such mission that the car came to be inhabited by what some people believe is a ghost.

SanJuan Skyway Visitor Guide - Summer/Fall 2017

Ahead of the Curve JAMES RANCH BLENDS TRADITION AND SUSTAINABILITY

t’s easy to romanticize the idea of owning a ranch in the West. There is something beautiful about ranching: the way it brings together the generations of a family, the simplicity of rural living, and the cycle of rebirth with spring calves and piglets, chicks hatching, and tender new plants. Long days of caring for animals and working the land, followed by a swim in the pond or an evening on the porch, looking at the stars. Sounds dreamy, doesn’t it? Well, pull up a chair. You can get a peek at real Western ranch life at the James Ranch.

This is not your typical heritage ranch. Yes, it’s idyllic—450 acres nestled in the Animas River Valley beneath the Missionary Ridge, basked in sunlight and buzzing with life—but the atmosphere here is an unusual mix of traditional and contemporary. That all started back in 1961, when Dave and Kay James bought the land and started raising cattle. After a stint in the more traditional cattle market, they broke with convention; no finishing the cows in feedlots, instead rotating them in different pastures. It was just pure, natural, grass-fed beef, and they sold it locally, decades before that kind of meat was popular. “This was 30 years before it was a ‘thing,’” says their daughter-in-law, Becca James. The James family managed to hold onto the ranch all this time, despite the vagaries of the cattle industry, raising their five children there and sending them off into the world. Then the kids came home… back to Durango and the ranch, with new enterprises and ideas, some spouses and a third generation of ten grandkids. Their children started new operations at the ranch. They planted an organic garden and flower farm. They started raising poultry and producing pastured and soyfree eggs, and opened a landscaping tree farm. They created a dairy and even began making artisan cheese using raw milk from the dairy. They also started raising pigs on pasture which, in addition to grazing and foraging, are fed a mash made of the whey from their cheese-making mixed with spent grain from local breweries. After years of farmers’ market attendance to sell

SanJuan Skyway Visitor Guide - Summer/Fall 2017

their locally grown products, they built an actual market onsite. Recently, they added the Harvest Grill & Greens where people can sit down and try the gourmet burgers, cheese melts, steak sandwiches, salads, and more. Everyone likes to talk about the new farm-to-table culinary trend, but this is the definition of it: the farm, the dairy, the gardens, and the animals are a couple hundred feet away from the grill. The cuisine is as fresh as it gets. People these days like to see where their food comes from, and at James Ranch you can, in the most literal sense. They even offer tours of the facility where you can watch the cows being milked, the cheese being made, and the chickens, pigs, and cattle roaming. When Dave James first pieced together his ranch, it

was like planting a seed. He was ahead of the curve then, pioneering what has become a trend in the cattle industry. His family embraced his entrepreneurism and helped the farmstead to flourish with all of the new branches of the business. They built something bigger than just a ranch, they created an integrated system of family businesses, and a home where they could live and work in harmony. Even the grandkids take part in raising animals, producing food, and serving customers. James Ranch is both timeless and timely, with all of the elements of the traditional lifestyle, and all the modern trappings of sustainable agriculture and artisanal food. Buying food at their market or having a meal at their grill is more than just shopping or dining, it’s a cultural experience not to be missed.

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CALENDAR of EVENTS

Bed and Breakfast / Retreat Center

MaNcos IT IS EASY TO SEE WHY THE PROLIFIC WESTERN AUTHOR LOUIS L’AMOUR CHOSE THE MANCOS AREA AS HIS HOME AND AS THE SETTING FOR HIS BOOKS. The Mancos Valley continues a 140-year tradition as the center of ranching at the edge of the San Juan Mountains and Mesa Verde National Park. Mancos is the bridge between the culture of the Old West and the New West, with cattle drives down Main Street and modern art galleries along Grand Avenue, an old-fashioned distillery and a coffee house, as well as easy access to the hiking, biking, fishing, and hunting that make people fall in love with the West.

MAY 11–15 UTE MOUNTAIN-MESA VERDE BIRDING FESTIVAL Spring migrants and early nesters attract birdwatchers from across the nation to the Birding Festival. Located in the Archaeological Center of America, many of the field trips visit spectacular areas such as Mesa Verde National Park and Ute Tribal Park. Workshops, an art show, and a special dinner speaker round out the events at the festival. MAY 27–28 INDIAN ARTS & CULTURE FESTIVAL The communities of Cortez, Dolores, Mancos, and Towaoc and their partners at Mesa Verde National Park celebrate the 15th Annual Mesa Verde Country Indian Arts & Culture Festival. Visitors are invited to explore the area’s cultural and archeological features. JUNE 1–OCTOBER 5 MANCOS FARMERS MARKET Mancos hosts a farmers market every Thursday evening, 4:30-6:30 p.m. at Boyle Park. Live music, crafts, and lots of local producers and growers vending fresh food items.

JUNE 25 MANCOS HALF MARATHON/5K/FUN RUN Runners meet at the library for this event, which is sponsored by the Mancos Project, a running club and training center. JULY 28–30 MANCOS DAYS Mancos Days features family fun, parades, softball, music, and great food. JULY 28–AUGUST 5 MONTEZUMA COUNTY FAIR Enjoy this classic 4H county fair with livestock auctions, food, arts and crafts at the Montezuma County Fairgrounds.

Kelly Place is an archaeological preserve from the Ancient Puebloan era and a unique bed and breakfast located in the heart of the Four Corners, just 10 miles west of Cortez Colorado. Lodge rooms, cabins, RV hookups and tent sites on 38 acres are nestled between the red-rock canyons and majestic Sleeping Ute Mountain. Fantastic hiking abounds! Check out our archaeologist-guided tours into Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, at our northern border.

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AUGUST 19 MANCOS COMMUNITY BREWFEST Sample the local beers and food and listen to live music at this summer festival at Cottonwood Park. SEPTEMBER 22–24 MANCOS VALLEY BALLOON FESTIVAL Watch hot air balloons float in the sky. The balloons ascend as a group, are tethered for balloon rides, and set aglow at night for viewing. This is the 13th annual event, and is held at Boyle Park.

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SanJuan Skyway Visitor Guide - Summer/Fall 2017

299 North Main Street • Mancos • (970) 533.7300 SanJuan Skyway Visitor Guide - Summer/Fall 2017

SHERI TINGEY COLLECTION

rafts, it was in survival mode. The boats failed, and the team was so cold that they couldn’t speak and could barely start a fire. Their new homegrown boats revolutionized the sport, keeping people dry enough to not just endure but enjoy packrafting. “The interest in packrafting really grew as those people started doing trips with our boats,” he says. “The technology of our boats made it fun, even for people who could not withstand a great deal of suffering.” Sheri continued to design and craft Alpacka Raft boats, and Thor went on to a career in corporate law. Fast forward to 2017, and Thor and his wife, Sarah, who also worked in the outdoor industry, have come back to help Sheri run what is now a flourishing business. They each have their sphere of experience, in business and in design, and they are building and selling the boats out of Mancos. They work tirelessly to improve the performance and weight of the rafts, so having the Animas and Dolores Rivers in the backyard gives them the opportunity to test them and to enjoy the outdoors. “It’s a raft, but I want to get it as close to the performance of a kayak as I can,” says Sheri, who at 71, is still running rivers. “They’re really practical, functional, and easy to handle. The boat is so stable you can take someone who’s never boated before and they can run even a class 3 rapid.” Every time Sheri upgrades the design, they make sure that anyone who already has an Alpacka Raft can retrofit the upgrade. These boats are so durable that they are a lifetime investment, but they want every customer, even someone who has already bought a raft, to be happy. “We’ve offered retrofits with new spray decks, cargo fly system retrofits; we want everyone to be able to take advantage of the innovations,” says Thor. The resurgence in packrafting means that Alpacka Raft has some competition in the boat-making world, but for the most part, their competitors manufacture their boats overseas. Thor says that making the boats in the tiny, beautiful town of Mancos has allowed them to keep their prices competitive, and that they source their materials almost exclusively from the United States, except for a few things that aren’t available here. Alpacka Raft has a reputation as the best in the business not just because they are a homegrown business, and not just because of their customer service, but because of their commitment to design. Alpacka Raft boats are consistently the highest rated crafts in the industry. Designing outdoor gear is the love of her life, says Sheri. The essence of packrafting is that it’s a tool, a way to travel places you couldn’t explore before. It allows you to look at a topo map in a whole new way, she says. Suddenly those blue lines are trails. Alpacka Raft has also allowed Sheri to travel a career path she’d never imagined, to merge her passion for design and the outdoors and to do something that she loves, with the people that she loves. She was thrilled to return to her roots as a designer. “Having this in my life has been such an incredible gift,” she says. “I feel so blessed. When he dumped that boat on my desk, he helped me get my life back.”

MERRICK CHASE

BUILDING THE

BEST BOATS MANCOS ALPACKA RAFT BUSINESS IS ALL IN THE FAMILY

t all started back when Thor Tingey went on a 200-mile expedition in Alaska in 1996. He brought a cheap Sevylor boat from WalMart so that he could pack it in to traverse the river sections, but ultimately it wasn’t rugged enough. The team ended up swimming and hypothermic and miserable. He tried again, on a 600-mile expedition with a similar boat, and the same thing happened. “We really liked packrafting, but the trip would have been easier if we had more durable, river-worthy boats. They weren’t even remotely Alaska tough.”

SanJuan Skyway Visitor Guide - Summer/Fall 2017

women’s ski wear was lacking. “I really hadn’t intended to make it a business. But the clothes just weren’t functional or good quality, so I made myself a suit… and people started ordering them.” So Sheri and Thor collaborated on a prototype packraft. They pondered the technical specs—weight, size, the diameter of the tubes—and made four or five prototypes that summer. A testament to their durability is that, 16 years later, they still have one of them… and it still works. “There were only about 20 people in

Alaska who were interested in packrafting at the time. But pretty much all of them bought boats from us that first year. They were so much better than anything on the market,” says Thor. “We realized we couldn’t keep making them in our basement, and that we needed more sophisticated equipment.” They started Alpacka Raft, and in doing so they also made an obscure and incredibly challenging type of adventure accessible to the more casual explorer. When Thor made his initial expeditions with the old

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When Thor came home, he dumped the heavy, busted raft on his mom’s desk and asked her to help build a better boat. His mom, Sheri Tingey, was uniquely qualified for the job. Sheri had designed outdoor clothing and gear early in her life, and as an accomplished kayaker and outdoorswoman, she understood the rigors that the boats would need to endure. “I started making ski clothing in 1968, when dinosaurs were still roaming the earth,” jokes Sheri. She had moved to Jackson Hole, and found that the

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27758 Hwy 145 • Dolores CO 81323 (970) 562-3826 or (800) 477-6381 • www.ckranch.com SanJuan Skyway Visitor Guide - Summer/Fall 2017

CALENDAR of EVENTS

dolores DOLORES HAS A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING THAT MAKES A WESTERN TOWN GREAT: HISTORY, CULTURE AND OUTDOOR RECREATION. There is incredible fishing, boating, and waterskiing on McPhee Reservoir (the second largest body of water in the state), and other water sports on the local lakes and rivers. Hiking, camping and mountain biking abound in the surrounding San Juan National Forest. The Anasazi Heritage Center is a fun, interactive museum devoted to the history of the ancient cultures of Pueblo, Ute, and Navajo Native Americans, and has two 12th century pueblo ruins on site. Dolores has an exact replica of an original train depot and a Rio Grande Southern Railroad Museum and a restored Galloping Goose car. Escalante Days is the region’s celebration of its historic Dolores River Valleys, where the Dominguez-Escalante expedition camped in 1776 and mapped and logged the first record of the lands and people in what would become Colorado and Utah.

MAY 27–28 INDIAN ARTS & CULTURE FESTIVAL The communities of Cortez. Dolores, Mancos, and Towaoc and their partners at Mesa Verde National Park celebrate the annual Mesa Verde Country Indian Arts & Culture Festival. Visitors are invited to explore the area’s cultural and archeological features.

JULY 28–AUGUST 5 MONTEZUMA COUNTY FAIR Enjoy this classic 4H county fair with livestock auctions, food, arts and crafts at the Montezuma County Fairgrounds.

JUNE 7–October 25 DOLORES FARMERS MARKET The Farmers Market is held every Wednesday from 4 to 7 p.m. at the town hall in Dolores.

AUGUST 11–13 ESCALANTE DAYS Escalante Days features parades, booths for vendors, a Kiwanis Club duck race, the Rotary Club mountain bike race, chainsaw and arm wrestling competitions, live music, food, arts and crafts, Galloping Goose Days activities and more for the whole family at Flanders Park. This year’s events also include bike races.

JUNE 10 DOLORES RIVER FESTIVAL Listen to great music outdoors, participate in river events, free raft rides, and the river dog contest, and sample the food and craft from vendor booths at the Joe Rowell River Park in Dolores. JULY 4 DOLORES TOWN FOOD AND FIREWORKS Celebrate Independence Day in Dolores with a barbecue and fireworks over Groundhog Lake and RV Park. JULY 22 CHILI COOK-OFF Join in the fun at the chili cook-off at Groundhog Lake. No entry fee, and there will be sampling, judging, and prizes for the winner.

SanJuan Skyway Visitor Guide - Summer/Fall 2017

AUGUST 4–6 DURANGO AGILITY DOGS TRAINING Agility training for dogs at the Joe Rowell Park in Dolores.

SEPTEMBER 2–30 GROUNDHOG LAKE AND RV PARK FALL FESTIVAL Celebrate autumn with food, beer, music and campfires at Groundhog Lake on Saturday nights throughout September. OCTOBER 2 ORCHARD HARVEST FESTIVAL Harvest Festival with Montezuma Orchard Restoration Project is a fun outdoor fall event, featuring vendors, a beer booth, live music, apple tasting, apple cider press, and hard cider tasting at Flanders Park.

GOING TO EXTREMES BIG ADVENTURES ALONG THE SAN JUAN SKYWAY

ay attention: Your bucket list is about to get bigger. Maybe you’re already an adrenaline junkie, or maybe you’ve just been thinking about trying something a little outside of your comfort zone, but either way, you’ve come to the right place. The San Juan Skyway is full of extreme adventures for people who want to try something new and exciting, and there are lots of guide services to help keep you safe. ultimate, once-in-a-lifetime experiences you can have, and the San Juan Mountains are one of the most exciting places you can do it. Learning to paraglide takes a huge commitment—expensive equipment and a whole lot of training—but there are tandem pilots who can take you on a flight as a passenger. You take off by running down from the mountain, attached to the glider and the pilot,

and after a few steps, you’re airborne. Paraglider pilots soar thousands of feet above the ground, circling on the columns of thermal air like birds, and they even call their nylon parachutes “wings.” The flights are terrifying and dizzying and thrilling, all at once. There is just one tandem pilot in the region, Ryan Taylor, and he can be reached at tellyourideparagliding.com, or (970) 708-4247.

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Everyone dreams about flying, but now you can try it in real life. Those giant parachutes you see in the sky are actually paragliders, a sport that’s a little bit like skydiving, except that you take off from the side of a mountain instead of a plane, and you don’t just go down, you go up, gaining altitude by riding the thermal lift and soaring above the mountains. Flying a paraglider is one of the

Speaking of flying, zip lining is another fun way to enjoy the sensation of flight. At Full Blast Adventure Center, they offer a true canopy tour, above the treetops. They have a dozen zip lines, suspended 20 to 40 feet above the ground, and guests travel from platform to platform at speeds of up to 50 miles per hour. There are two tours, the Ponderosa and the longer Ponderosa Grande, and there’s even an optional freefall at the end of the Ponderosa Grande tour—it’s a 50-foot drop—for people who want to experience not just the feeling of flying, but also the heart-in-your-throat exhilaration that comes with falling. Full Blast owner Cameron Winters says that some people are nervous to take that first step off the platform, and sometimes they will have a guide go tandem to help, but without exception they are more comfortable after the first couple of zips. “The first step is the hardest, but they have a ball once they get going,” says Winters. “They are always connected and it is a totally safe feeling.” Zip lining is unique because it’s one of the few extreme adventures suitable for the whole family—kids 40 inches or taller all the way up to grandparents take the tours. Find out more at ziplinedurangoco.com or (970) 759-9880. There are other ways to enjoy the altitude, without catching air. Climbing adventures like bagging a Fourteener (peaks that are 14,000 feet and higher) or testing your mettle on Telluride’s Via Ferrata are a great way to get your pulse racing. Telluride’s Via Ferrata is one of the most popular excursions that the Mountain Trip guide service in Ophir offers, says co-owner and guide Todd Rutledge. Like all the via ferrate in Europe, Telluride’s is a mountain route with fixed cables and “ladders” to make it accessible for climbers and hikers. The route is particularly exposed (read: scary) and involves scrambling along ledges at high altitude and then a traverse on iron rungs across a sheer rock face while suspended hundreds of feet above the ground. The traverse is called the “Main Event” and for this section and some other parts of the trail, climbers wear harnesses and lanyards to clip into a cable for safety. “The Main Event pushes everyone to the edge of their comfort zone, even if they’re a seasoned rock climber,” says Rutledge. “Some people freeze up and get really scared, but we talk them through it and break out a rope and they can often exceed what they thought was possible. They come out the other side having changed a little bit. This is high-end, high-consequence guiding…the Via Ferrata is one of the scariest things we guide.” Guide services can help you summit the local peaks or try the Via Ferrata. Mountain Trip is online at mountaintrip.com, or (970) 369-1153, and San Juan Outdoor Adventures is online at tellurideadventures.com, or (970) 728-4101. For some people, running a river is the perfect adrenaline rush. A raft trip is one way to get the experience without too much risk, because there’s a guide handling the craft, but if you want to float your own boat, RIGS in Ridgway offers guides, shuttles, and inflatable kayak and SUP (stand up paddleboard) rentals. RIGS takes clients out on the lower Gunnison River, and escorts them as they learn how to maneuver in whitewater. Running a river is one of the extreme adventures that doesn’t seem intimidating, but can be very dangerous. “A lot of people want to jump in to the extreme scenario right away, but it’s a progression,” says RIGS owner Tim Patterson. “It’s great when you’re in the boat, but everything changes when you’re out. Rivers are fast and continuously moving.” Having a guide teach you to paddle and read the river is a safe way to get hands-on experience and learn how to navigate swift water. Kayaking and stand up paddling are exciting ways to explore the beautiful rivers of the San Juan Mountains. If you want to dip your foot in and try it, contact RIGS Adventure Co at fishrigs.com or (888) 626-4460. Every adventure starts with the first step, whether it’s off the side of a mountain, the safety of a platform, across a precipitous rock face, into a boat or onto a board in the river. Whatever journey you pick, make sure you have a guide so you can relax (a little) and enjoy the rush.

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CALENDAR of EVENTS

Conquistador Golf Course Where Mesa Verde meets the Greens

MAY 5–7 STEVE BLACKWELL’S ULTIMATE OUTDOOR & GUN SHOW Check out the outdoor gear and guns at this special event at the Montezuma County Fairgrounds in Cortez.

cortez CORTEZ IS THE MOST ANCIENT STOP YOU’LL MAKE ON THE SAN JUAN SKYWAY TOUR—MONTEZUMA COUNTY HAS BEEN SETTLED SINCE APPROXIMATELY A.D. 600 WHEN ABOUT 100,000 PUEBLO INDIANS MADE THIS AREA THEIR HOME. Today you can explore the archaeology of the first settlers as well as the arts and culture that still bears their imprint. Cortez also has great networks of mountain biking trails, hiking trails and terrific fishing. The cowboy culture from more recent eras is still alive and well, and you can experience it firsthand at the Ute Mountain Roundup Rodeo, the 87th annual event and a professionally sanctioned rodeo. The region also offers agritourism opportunities, where you can see dryland beans such as the unique old cultivar Anasazi bean or visit some of the lovely modern wineries in the McElmo Canyon and Montezuma Valley.

MAY 10–14 UTE MOUNTAIN-MESA VERDE BIRDING FESTIVAL Spring migrants and early nesters attract birdwatchers from across the nation to the Birding Festival. Located in the Archaeological Center of America, many of the field trips visit spectacular areas such as Mesa Verde National Park and Ute Tribal Park. Workshops, an art show, and a special dinner speaker round out the events at the festival. MAY 13 12 HOURS OF MESA VERDE MOUNTAIN BIKE RACE Mountain bikers compete in this popular annual team relay endurance race at Phil’s World in Cortez. MAY 29–SEPTEMBER 4 NATIVE AMERICAN DANCES Special Native American dancers perform at the Cortez Cultural Center, at 7 p.m. every Wednesday through Saturday. MAY 27–28 INDIAN ARTS & CULTURE FESTIVAL The communities of Cortez, Dolores, Mancos, and Towaoc and their partners at Mesa Verde National Park celebrate the annual Mesa Verde Country Indian Arts & Culture Festival. Visitors are invited to explore the area’s cultural and archeological features.

JUNE 8–10 87TH ANNUAL UTE MOUNTAIN ROUNDUP The Ute Mountain Roundup is a rodeo that started after World War I, and today is sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. The rodeo features all the classic roping, barrel racing, bronc busting, and bull riding events. JULY 4 CORTEZ BURST TRIATHLON AND ROTARY FIREWORKS Catch the action at this Independence Day triathlon and the fireworks display at Centennial Park.

www.fourcornersgolf.com

JULY 28–AUGUST 5 MONTEZUMA COUNTY FAIR Enjoy this classic 4H county fair with livestock auctions, food, arts and crafts at the Montezuma County Fairgrounds. AUGUST 4–6 CORTEZ RENDEZVOUS HOT AIR BALLOON RALLY Watch the hot air balloons launch from the Parque de Vida and fly over the landscape. AUGUST 25 MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK FOUNDER’S DAY Come and celebrate the anniversary of our national park system at Mesa Verde— admission is free. SEPTEMBER 9 19TH ANNUAL HARVEST BEER FESTIVAL Enjoy the great fall food and taste craft beers at the Parque de Vida.

JUNE 2-4 UTE MOUNTAIN NATIVE AMERICAN BEAR DANCE Celebrate this special traditional dance each summer in Towaoc.

SanJuan Skyway Visitor Guide - Summer/Fall 2017

EXP LORE T HE R E G I O N ’ S A R C H A E O L O G Y By Craig Childs

A site like this is not unusual. Some of the hilltops between Mesa Verde and canyons of Hovenweep below the southern flanks of the San Juan Mountains are heaped with ruins, mostly buried, some you’d walk right over and scarcely notice. The people who erected these sites and lived in homesteads and small mudwalled villages moved south now take up the mesas of Zuni and Hopi in New Mexico and Arizona. Pottery coughs up from the ground, sherds of corrugated jars and brightly painted black-on-white ceramics broken to pieces by the ages. They are reminders of what happened here, signs of civilization. The rivers that flow out of the mountains have their own people, their own histories. The tributaries of the Gunnison flow north, passing through ancient hunter-gatherer territory, rock art up in the canyons belonging to early Utes. Rivers that flow south enter Pueblo country, a drier landscape of cliff dwellings and masonry villages left in ruins many centuries ago. The flanks of San Juans stretch to the towns of Dolores and Cortez, leading to circular towers of mud and rock perched on boulders and mesa tops, or ringed around the heads of canyons, looking out on ancient farmlands, their walls half crumbled like turrets of Scottish castles.

SanJuan Skyway Visitor Guide - Summer/Fall 2017

BACKGROUND IMAGE BY GREG WILLIS

unipers twist in the drought and grow green when it rains and snows. Their roots buckle up through the ground, lifting stone walls into the light, breaking open the chambers of an underground kiva. The chamber they expose, now filled with centuries of dust and soil, had been a ritual space built during early Pueblo occupation of the Four Corners from 800 to about 1,300 years ago.

Signal systems laced the land from Comb Ridge in Utah to Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, high points on which fires were lit, each in view of at least two others. Messages could have raced across the desert in minutes, fire hearths and broken ceramics left at these hilltops and ridges as evidence. You can pass through and never notice. At highway speeds, archaeology slips by unseen. The country might seem like a blank slate, nothing but geography, and whatever we most recently laid upon it. What we don’t see are the fortress pueblos now buried into hills, a few of them trenched by archaeologists, most pothunted and half forgotten. Look closer. The rolling bean fields, what was once called the Great Sage Plain, have shapes in them you might recognize, islands of junipers where the plow sometimes goes around, humps in the ground lined up like walls and rooms. In the northern shadow of Sleeping Ute Mountain, one of these pueblos was massacred. Archaeologists found human bones chopped apart, skulls penetrated by what appear to have been stone axes. Women, children, and men died in what might have been a surprise attack, kivas burned, human bones charred. A child was left with a broken limb in a firehearth, head trauma suggesting blunt impact, possibly an axe. The worst of the worst happened here. It’s worth stopping on the side of the road, perhaps offering a small prayer, like the ones you offer when you see a cross or a death marker on the side of the highway. It did not all end this way, however. Many of these beanfield pueblos were abandoned in what appears to have been a more peaceful manner. Archaeologists found burned kivas, but without clutters of charred hu-

man bones. Objects in the kivas had been placed like offerings before fires were set, as if in a ritualized departure. A large painted bowl was placed upside down on a burned kiva floor, and when archaeologists peeled it up, they found protected beneath it two small baskets stacked on each other. The lower basket held coarsely ground corn meal. The basket above it held a carbonized pile of corn as fine ground as pastry flour. These people appear to have prepared their exit, said their goodbyes, and burned their homes as they left, as if the rising of smoke was a signal, yet another pueblo left behind. These were times of droughts, which came regularly in the Four Corners, a marginal place to live to begin with. The region had had been abandoned before, homes left in ruins in the same way. Some of these kivas had been built, abandoned, and several hundred years later returned to, opened up, and rebuilt. Occupation comes in layers, not what you can see when your eye is on the windshield, the hulk of Sleeping Ute and the long serrations of Mesa Verde flying by. Where some see a mysterious disappearance, the ground tells a different story. The people who lived here came and went like weather over many centuries. If you talk to their descendants, the modern Pueblo people, you will hear that the story is not over yet. Like they have so many times before, they may again someday return. The land has not forgotten who lives here. Archaeologists find it all the time. You can hardly walk to a hilltop without encountering some Pueblo remnant, a glassy shard of flaked rock, a sherd of fired, painted, or pinched clay, or the bread loaf rocks of a kiva wall buckling up with the roots of a gnarled juniper, brought back to daylight.

SanJuan Skyway Visitor Guide - Summer/Fall 2017

THE MISSING LINK

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Come see us for trail maps and info from our friendly knowledgeable staff. All four corner adventures start here! 130 W. Main • Cortez, CO • 970.565.4408

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Colorado we love you MCPHEE OVERLOOK TRAIL IS COMPLETE

his new section of trail has everything: It is accessible from the town of Dolores. It connects with 40 miles of buttery, beautiful singletrack in Boggy Draw and the House Creek campground. And best of all, it features some amazing scenery as it teeters along the rim above the McPhee Reservoir with views all the way to Shiprock in New Mexico and the Abajo Mountains in Utah.

SanJuan Skyway Visitor Guide - Summer/Fall 2017

Southwestern and American dishes with a creative twist, served in an upbeat atmosphere with delicious drinks from a full bar and friendly staff!

WELCOME TO PROSPECTOR “WE GET LOCAL” Enjoy highly acclaimed dining at the region’s favorite, Prospector, Modern American Kitchen, where renowned Chef Eamonn O’Hara creates fascinating flavors using regionally cultivated ingredients.

Open 7 days from 7am to 9pm Everyone is welcome, kids too!

PHOTOS BY ROB HUBER

The McPhee Overlook Trail was a long-awaited treasure finally completed in 2016. Cyclists, horseback riders, and hikers are now able to trek from the town, circumnavigate the fifth largest reservoir in the state, and tap into one of the local mountain biking meccas. The McPhee Overlook was the missing link in non-motorized travel across this rugged backcountry corner of the San Juan Skyway. The route starts at the cemetery in Dolores and switchbacks up the mesa before running parallel to the rim of McPhee. Planning a connector like this took a lot of time and effort—the Colorado Historical Preservation Society had to review the layout and make sure the trail avoided archaeological sites protected by the Antiquities Act, and the use of the trail had to be restricted to certain months of the year (May through November) to avoid any stress on elk and deer habitat. The construction of the McPhee Overlook cost more than $200,000, but to the people who will recreate on it, the trail is priceless.

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SanJuan Skyway Visitor Guide - Summer/Fall 2017

CALENDAR of EVENTS MAY 26–29 MOUNTAINFILM IN TELLURIDE The festival celebrates the outdoors, featuring films about adventure and ecology, symposiums, and lectures. JUNE 5–10 WILD WEST FEST Celebrate the culture of the West at this weeklong, familyoriented festival hosted by the Sheridan Arts Foundation. JUNE 2–4 TELLURIDE BALLOON FESTIVAL Watch hot air balloons soar above the San Miguel Valley or stroll past them, tethered and aglow on main street during the early evening.

RYAN BONNEAU

telluride TELLURIDE IS ONE OF THE MOST STRIKINGLY BEAUTIFUL PLACES YOU WILL EVER SEE; IT IS ALSO KNOWN AS THE “FESTIVAL CAPITAL OF THE ROCKIES” BECAUSE OF ITS VAST ARRAY OF CULTURAL EVENTS EACH SUMMER. Like many of these Western towns, Telluride started out as a mining community but earned renown for its skiing and mountaineering. Today visitors can climb the acclaimed Via Ferrata route high above town or to the top of Bridal Veil Falls (the state’s tallest waterfall), see a Grammy-award winning musician in Town Park, catch a free ride up on the gondola and hike around or zip back to town on one of the downhill mountain biking courses, eat at one of the top-rated restaurants in the country, or even watch a world premiere of a new movie at one of the film festivals. There are galleries to stroll, classes to take, and rivers and trails to explore, and don’t miss the Telluride Historical Museum, which hosts unique indoor and outdoor exhibits.

JUNE 15–18 TELLURIDE BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL This year marks the 44th annual festival, one of the country’s most renowned bluegrass music events, held during the weekend of the summer solstice. This year’s lineup includes Jason Mraz, Norah Jones, Dierks Bentley with the Travelin’ McCourys, Brandi Carlile, and more. JUNE 22–26 TELLURIDE WINE FESTIVAL The festival features four days of fine wines, seminars, tastings, winemakers’ luncheons, and cooking demonstrations. JUNE 28–JULY 4 TELLURIDE PLEIN AIR FESTIVAL Landscape artists from across the country come to paint the region’s vistas; plein air painting is done outdoors, and the art is exhibited and sold to benefit the event’s host, the Sheridan Arts Foundation. JULY 4 TELLURIDE 4TH OF JULY CELEBRATION Telluride’s Independence Day features a parade, a community barbecue, games and activities for families in Town Park, and a grand fireworks display after dark. JULY 20–23 TELLURIDE YOGA FESTIVAL Yoga instructors from all over the world convene in Telluride to offer workshops in all types of yoga, meditation, and other events. JULY 8–9 THE RIDE FESTIVAL KOTO Community Radio hosts a two-day music concert in Town Park, featuring Beck, Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, Kaleo, John Butler Trio, Big Something, and more.

SanJuan Skyway Visitor Guide - Summer/Fall 2017

JULY 14 AH HAA ART AUCTION This madcap annual fundraiser for the local arts school features a live auction with entertainment and a silent auction for all types of artwork and prizes.

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SUMMER GREEN

JULY 24–AUGUST 10 TELLURIDE CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL Classical music concerts are held outdoors and in various small venues around town. AUGUST 4–6 TELLURIDE JAZZ CELEBRATION From international jazz legends to up-and-coming brass ensembles, the annual festival hosts the best of the genre at Town Park during the day and at the local venues in the evening. This year’s lineup features Mavis Staples, Macy Gray, Bootsy Collins, Hazel Miller, and more. AUGUST 17–20 TELLURIDE MUSHROOM FESTIVAL Symposiums, classes, forays, and a parade all celebrate fungi in this fun weekend event.

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SEPTEMBER 1–4 TELLURIDE FILM FESTIVAL Telluride hosts an internationally acclaimed film festival with world premieres, movie stars, filmmakers, directors, and a free outdoor cinema. SEPTEMBER 9 IMOGENE PASS RUN Runners start in Ouray and cross over 13,114-foot Imogene Pass, finishing in Telluride. SEPTEMBER 15–17 TELLURIDE BLUES & BREWS FESTIVAL This popular fall music festival features craft beers from all over the country and a beer tasting, as well as big name music acts in Town Park and at late night “Juke Joints” performances in local venues. This year’s lineup features Bonnie Raitt, Steve Winwood, Taj Mahal & Keb’ Mo’, Anders Osborne, and more.

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SEPTEMBER 21–24 TELLURIDE FESTIVAL OF CARS & COLORS This event is a celebration for automobile enthusiasts with the mountain foliage as a backdrop.

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20643 Highway 145, Sawpit • Located on Highway 145 12 Miles West of Telluride at Mile Marker 80 SanJuan Skyway Visitor Guide - Summer/Fall 2017

take a shot

PHOTO SAFARIS OFFER DIFFERENT KIND OF MOUNTAIN LION HUNTING By Suzy Loeffler

SanJuan Skyway Visitor Guide - Summer/Fall 2017

There is a sense of peace as we look out over the canyon rim, but there is also excitement, and anticipation of the adventure to come. Dunne spots some tracks. “A big tom,” he says. Brady Dunne and Jason Knight have an intimate knowledge of this area. Brady has been working on the Uncompahgre plateau since 2006, when he first started working on the Uncompahgre Puma Project as a capture specialist. “That was when the idea for Bodhi expeditions began,” says Dunne. “I thought that the public should be able to experience this.” Knight sets the hounds loose on the trail. He has been running hounds on the Uncompahgre Plateau for over 20 years. He grew up in the area, hunting and fishing. Knight and Dunne met on the Uncompahgre Puma Project in 2008. They both agreed that a collaboration was important to promote the mountain lion population in Southwest Colorado, and to provide a similar means of conservation all over the west. “The idea is an evolved form of hunting photo safari open to the public to increase social and economic support for the development of optimal wildlife management practices,” says Dunne. The mountain lion is one of the least photographed of North America’s wild animals. They are incredibly elusive and rarely seen, but Dunne and Knight can get anyone within 25 feet of a lion. The dogs are bawling intensely. They have treed the big tom. I ask Dunne if using the dogs to trail and tree the cats is harmful to them. He explains that although there are no longer wolves in Colorado, wolves and mountain lions shared territories for thousands of years, and evolved together. The cats could always find safety in the trees. He also makes it clear that they have used dogs to tree cats for wildlife studies, where they capture the cat then collar them for tracking, and they have seen no negative effect to the collared animals. We climb down the side of the steep canyon, where the dogs are barking. The cat is about 20 feet above the ground in a big old Ponderosa tree. My heart is beating fast, and I’m a little out of breath. I ask Brady if there is a danger being this close to a wild mountain lion. He tells me that they are one of the least aggressive of all cats. He says he has treed hundreds of lions, and never had an incident of aggression. Jason calls off the dogs. Silence falls over us. The treed lion is still looking wary of us. Brady tells us we have about two hours to observe and take photos. Spending the day with Brady you will learn about mountain lions, but you will also learn about other local inhabitants of the land, and the sky. Brady has worked in wildlife biology for 15 years, and he’s spent all of those years in the field. As we stalk the lion he will identify a distant bird call, or a raptor circling, and will explain their migration patterns, their habitat, their

PHOTOS BY BRADY DUNNE

he rugged landscape is softened by the early dawn light. We step out of the all-terrain vehicle. The team is here, Brady Dunne, Jason Knight, and the blue tick hounds, Molly, Titan, and Maximus. We are near Horsefly Mountain on the east edge of the Uncompahgre Plateau. It took about an hour to get here from Telluride.

calls, and their songs. He will point out tracks of other animals like fox, bobcat, coyote, elk, and deer. His time in the wilderness has afforded him astute observation skills, and he is truly passionate about the wild animals and birds of the area. Large carnivores are his specialty, but Brady has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of all the creatures of the ecosystems he works in. He has worked in Montana with wolves, wolverines, grizzly bears, lynx, and bobcats. He has also worked in Colorado with raptors, song birds, and many other species. Bodhi Expeditions offers photo expeditions in all seasons to observe bear, elk, deer, big horn sheep, raptors, and songbirds. His web site has details about all the seasons’ offerings. The safaris require different levels of skill and endurance, but Brady can design a tour for any skill set. He has a small fleet of four wheel and all terrain vehicles to access remote areas of the plateau. The treed lion has relaxed into his nook in the old snag. It is thrilling to be so close to a mountain lion. The sun has reached our little spot in the canyon, providing some warmth to the chilly morning. Brady tells us a little about this majestic being we are observing. The mountain lion or puma has earned the nickname “Ghost of the Rockies” because their presence is felt, but rarely seen. They are elusive, inhabiting remote canyons, and plateaus, and hunting mostly at night. They are amazing hunters, with keen hearing and sight, coupled with remarkable speed, strength, and agility. They weigh between 80 and 200 pounds. They are native to the Americas, and have the largest range of any large carnivore in the western hemisphere—from Canada to the southern Andes. Their main source of food is ungulates, predominantly deer and elk. They do prey on livestock from time to time, which is where some of the misunderstanding and conflict begins

between pumas and humans. As cities and towns expand they infringe further into lion territory. Remedial hunting, or sport hunting, was implemented to manage mountain lion populations believing it would lessen their interactions with people and impacts on livestock, and also help with the management of ungulate populations. A study in 2013, and previous studies on the effects of remedial hunting, were interestingly paradoxical. They found that livestock predation and human-puma conflict increased with each lion taken. The reason is that the hunting usually targets more mature cats in wild places. The more mature cats have learned to avoid areas where there will be human interaction. This leaves younger cats, particularly males, moving into territories where they are more likely to approach humans. Brady started Bodhi Expeditions to expand awareness of the delicate balance that exists in the ecosystems of the west, and the social imbalance in the management. “We need to add value to wildlife in order to get the public to support their conservation. Right now the only monetary value is in hunting. We want to change that by bringing in another form of income for conservation through tourism.” Brady has been a carnivore researcher for over a decade, and believes that the Bodhi concept is the “missing link needed to catalyze the evolution of wildlife conservation in North America and the rest of the planet.” The way he envisions this happening is by including wildlife watchers into the mix. Seventy-eight percent of the revenue for state agencies is supported through hunting tags. If there were money coming in from people who simply want to observe and photograph wild animals and wild places it would enhance the conservation of many wildlife species. When Brady and Jason tree a cat, it is strictly to shoot photos and check out the animal. “Photo hunting and wildlife watching will help

support state agencies and bring money to local economies,” says Dunne. “Being with wildlife and in wild places enhances your consciousness, and makes you a happier person. That is why the outdoor industry continues to grow. I believe that if people who live mostly in cities and have less access to wild places have an opportunity like this to experience wild nature, they will take it home with them, tell friends, and gain an appreciation that will make a difference.” Bodhi Expeditions run their safaris on public lands from the Uncompahgre Plateau in Western Colorado to the Abajo mountains in southeastern Utah. The federal lands where they work allow them to use operational permits to access some of the wildest and most scenic places in the Southwest United States. They offer a unique opportunity to interact with wild nature, and learn about the entire ecosystem. To find out more details on the Bodhi safaris go to www.bodhiexpeditions.com.

SanJuan Skyway Visitor Guide - Summer/Fall 2017

UPSHOT

Kidding Around

There’s no doubt that the people who travel the San Juan Skyway region are curious about the wildlife here. And from the look on the face of this mountain goat, it seems that the wild animals are every bit as curious about the humans they come into contact with. Photo by Jack Brauerr

SanJuan Skyway Visitor Guide - Summer/Fall 2017

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