868. Ouray, Ouray County (CO54)

Ouray was celebrating the Fourth of July. Unlike Telluride, however, they were more lowkey, opting for a baseball game, frolicking in the park, and other smaller diversions instead of a giant, community summoning one. Or so I thought initially. When I entered town, I found my self partially blocked by people seated in the street. Perhaps I had missed their parade or some other event, but I had to do some strategic redeployment to find my way to the Ouray County Courthouse, which was far more sedate than San Miguel County‘s had been. For some reason, I had expected a larger and grander courthouse, but it was well sized for the small town and I like the belfry, which seemed to be becoming my new favorite feature on courthouses. As a minor sidenote, there’s a library around the corner that I mistook for the courthouse because it had a tower and more impressive tower. I’m not going to complain about places of learning being more grandiose than the halls of power.

I looked back to the Imogene Pass again, and set off, knowing I had made a somewhat weighty decision. The (New) Colorado County Challenge had been placed up there, half a mile from the highest gathering/parking area. I wanted more than anything to go up and sign it. But I also knew that wouldn’t be possible. I know I said any vehicle is an off road vehicle if you take it off road, but this wasn’t Tarryall. The drive up was rated for experienced trail drivers and that’s not me. And, though I did a little calling around to try to find someone who might take me up, their holiday rates were far more than I was willing or able to pay. So I let it go. It’s not the first time I’ve missed out on a state’s county challenge (Connecticut calls to me still), but my goal is to visit every county or county equivalent, not to sign all the county challenges. It’s a laudable side goal, but not essential. One day I might come back here with some friends and go get this elusive prize, but not that day.

I began the drive up the Million Dollar Highway and into the Red Mountain Pass. They say the highway is called that because the views are priceless. That may be true; the views I saw were quite stunning. However, it’s hard to enjoy the views when you’re trying to not fly off a mountainside. I had never seen curves before that were rated at 10 miles per hour and that speed was a little high. But up in the pass I stopped for a Virtual. It was at a pulloff with three monuments, one devoted to a reverend and his daughters who fallen off the pass, one for road workers who had died in accidents there over the years, one with little more than a name and no explanation, leading one to assume that the pass had claimed their life as well. I got the important information from the markers and then sat with them for a bit. I have complained about how deadly mountain passes can be, but I was sitting with proof. And yet I was sometimes amazed at how casually other drivers seemed to treat them. Of course, I would probably have a different relationship to them if I had grown up driving them all the time. For me, these were harrowing drives beyond belief, but for most of the drivers around me, it was Tuesday (or Friday as the case may be). I tried to log the Virtual while I was there, but there was no cell service in those narrow confines. I did the only thing I could do: carefully continue on my course. I would be able to log it as soon as I reached…