Hello and welcome!
If you’ve read my About Me section, then you know a little bit about me! I’m Cassie and I have a passion for travel. This is my first blog post and I am going to focus on Silverton and Telluride, Colorado. I am so excited to get this page going. I always have so many people ask me about my travel recommendations and a travel blog has always been a dream of mine. I decided to take the leap and start one! I am hoping this will be a great resource to inspire travel and also a nice diary of sorts for me and my family to document our travels.
I’m going to cover everything from local hikes, day trips, Disney, national parks, to some of the more exotic locations I’ve had the opportunity to visit. I have traveled with my husband, girls trips, as well as with children!
I am starting this blog by highlighting my very first trip to Colorado. September 2017. This will forever be a favorite of mine because it is also the first trip that I took with my husband. (Then boyfriend). We had just began dating a 6 weeks or so prior to this trip. I never had a desire to go to Colorado, but after this trip we have ventured back there multiple times. It has a piece of my heart.
We decided to do an ultimate Colorado road trip and we basically drove a huge circle within the entire state. Our first stop was in Ouray. Well, if I’m being honest we stopped at least 30+ times on the side of the road for me to take photos of the mountains. I was so enamored with the Rockies. I had never seen anything like them! So, we ended up with tons of terrible phone camera shots of the mountains through the car window.
Ok, back to the first OFFICIAL stop.
Ouray
We made a quick stop in Ouray at Box Canyon Falls. We stopped here to see this 285 foot waterfall plummet into a narrow quartzite canyon. It was a quick and easy stop!
Silverton
Silverton is the most quaint, old-western town you’ve ever seen. The small restaurants and taverns have the BEST food. You can also take a scenic round trip train ride to Silverton from neighboring town Durango.
We stayed in a cabin located in Purgatory during our 2 nights for Silverton. The cabin we stayed in was so quaint and isolated. It was extremely romantic. I swear I have never seen so many stars at night. It is impossible to put into words. I would link our Air BNB, BUT this cabin has sadly since been turned into a bar at the Purgatory ski resort.
I decided to stay here because I had my heart set on doing the Ice Lake hike. Words and photos will never do this hike justice. We began our hike at approximately 9300 feet. This hike has an elevation change of approximately 2,680 ft over 7.7 miles. This elevation change doesn’t sound terrible, but I definitely wasn’t accustom to high elevations. We ended up at an elevation of around 12,000 feet….I felt a little winded to say the least! We started this hike with the temperature in the low 60’s. At the top near the lake, the temperature had dropped in the 30s! It was insane! Snow covered the ground and gave the lake the most surreal blue glow. This trail is rumored to have gorgeous fields of wildflowers in spring. It is a goal of mine to make it back and do it again to see them.
We made a quick day stop in Durango. We traveled out to Vallecito lake and explored. Then, I attempted fly fishing for the first time in the Animas River. It was freezing and I was super unsuccessful. There are lots of activities that you can do in Durango, including zip lining, white water rafting, and ATV tours.
Telluride
Oh Telluride, how you have my heart. Telluride is such a quaint, little ski town with gorgeous views and great food in the fall. We saw Bridal Veil Falls here – a 365 foot waterfall at the end of a box canyon. Unfortunately, the road was closed due to poor weather and this was the best photo we could get.
We also traveled Last Dollar Road. This was the main access road to Telluride in the 1800’s and today it is home to some of the most jaw-dropping, breath taking views imaginable. I saw my first bugling elk off this road! The sound gave me chills. It was a surreal experience. I did feel bad for the poor cow he was chasing. Before you travel this road, beware that it is EXTREMELY narrow in some places, and rough. I would not recommend traveling it without being very confident of your driving skills and in a 4-wheel drive. We had to back out of this road and turn around in one spot. A truck had partially gone off the edge and blocked the road.
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
We made a spontaneous trip to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park! It is insane and you are allowed to drive down inside the canyon! I was terrified the entire time, but it was a cool experience and people were even fishing down in the canyon!
Colorado Springs
Our last stop before returning home was to Colorado Springs. We went to Garden of the Gods, Manitou Cliff dwellings, and we attempted to do the Manitou incline and couldn’t find parking. The weather was yucky and foggy. We weren’t able to see as much as we wanted at Garden of the Gods, but it was still fun.
This trip to Colorado gave me a true love for the state. The southwestern portion of the state is gorgeous beyond belief. We made the most out of this trip and crammed as much as we could in. There were lots of other places I wanted to visit, and we didn’t have time. No worries, we will make it to all of them…eventually! Check out my “Must-See” guide for Colorado, Silverton-Telluride edition if you’re thinking of a trip out west!
