Hi friends! I’m finally getting around to recapping our road trip to Telluride, CO from before the break. It seems like an eternity ago, doesn’t it?! These recap posts of our fun adventures are some of my favorites but take so long to edit and write-up. My goal this year is to never get too far behind on these (and to catch up on all the trips I haven’t recapped yet!). So today I’m starting by recapping our 3-day trip to Telluride and sharing the first pit stop along our route: Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park!
The morning started by packing up our car and stopping for a quick breakfast at Einstein’s Bagels. It’s one of our favorite traditions for starting any road trip.
Since it was nice and snowy, Allen also let me stop to get a warm coffee for the road. We actually had wanted to make the trip a 4-day event, but a major snow storm moved in the day before and we decided to postpone our journey until the road were clear. It was a smart move and didn’t hinder our plans much at all.
The drive to Telluride is a long one, coming in at around 7 hours from Boulder. So we planned our road trip with deliberate stops in mind. Day one was focused on exploring Black Canyon of the Gunnison and then staying overnight in the small town of Ouray.
One of my favorite parts of taking road trips is finding all the beautiful places you didn’t plan though. And such was the case with the magical gem we found below. It was breathtaking and just off the road we were traveling on.
Allen as usual…stick in hand. 😛
Weekend vibes for sure!
After a few hours of driving, we stopped near Gunnison for a slice of pizza at Mikey’s. Another favorite part of road trips? Finding fun, spontaneous restaurants to try!
As you can see, the pizza place was bicycle-themed, so Allen was a huge fan! The pizza was ah-mazing too!
Along the road we also saw these really neat hoo-doo looking structures, similar to what we experienced in Bryce Canyon earlier this year. It’s amazing but sometimes we take for granted that places don’t have to be dubbed a “National Park” to be interesting and beautiful. I loved experiencing this lesson first hand here.
And then we found the entrance to Black Canyon! I almost always miss the sign coming in, so even though this picture is a little grainy, I just had to include it as a small victory of mine for capturing it! Haha.
We pulled into the first view point we found…and wow! The views were…
Black Canyon of the Gunnison reminded me a lot of the Grand Canyon. It’s obviously not as deep, but the steep canyon walls were stunning all the same. And the black coloring of the stone was gorgeous.
We hoped back into the car and drove to the next pull off. We found this little guy eating shrubs on the side of the roadway.
He’s just my favorite!
We then drove down to the end of the roadway where we took the Warner Point Trail about 1.5 miles out to watch the sunset. We only had a few hours to explore the park, but we are already looking forward to going again soon. But we tried to hit all the highlights while we were there!
The trail was fairly snowy and we loved smelling all the sweet juniper berries as we walked along. It’s my favorite scent of Colorado. …that and firewood while camping.
I also love capturing the life (and death) during winter. I just think nature is so beautiful, no matter what season or stage of life.
Following the snowy path around the final turns to the outlook point.
The views were stunning and we loved watching the canyon sides glow on fire as the sun set beyond the horizon.
It was a magical experience and these pictures definitely don’t do the views justice.
Love this shot I captured of Allen taking it all in. Probably my favorite of the day!
On our way out we even spotted some deer! We love finding animals in National Parks, so it’s always a good idea to keep your eyes peeled for them.
After leaving the park, we then drove the rest of the way to Ouray, where we would be staying for the night. We were traveling during the off season, and so for a small town like Ourray most everything was closed. But that was perfectly ok in our book. It was the perfect little sleepy mountain town getaway we were hoping for.
We stopped by one of the only restaurants open (Ouray Brewery) and grabbed food for dinner. Hiking works up an appetite, don’t ya know? 🙂 I got chicken fingers and Allen got a sandwich. My phone died right as we were taking these last photos, so I didn’t get the chance to snap any of our yummy food. But I’m so glad I captured some of the swingy chairs we were sitting on! So much fun (and a little scary haha). Living life on the edge!
Our server was one of the most genuine and nicest people I’ve ever met. Everyone was so interested in where we were from and what we were up to. It was such a nice change of pace! They were also so accomodating in recommending what we should do while we were in town and the surrounding area. They even convinced us to go into Silverton the next day, which we had been debating.
If there was ever a town more like Stars Hollow, this one would be it! It was so small town in the best of ways. Loved it! We’re definitely planning to come back in the busy season too.
After dinner we headed back to our hotel (Timber Ridge Lodge), where we sat by the fire, watched whatever movie was on t.v., and fell asleep before another day of exploring began. It was a fun midpoint along our long drive to Telluride, and I’d definitely recommend stopping by Black Canyon of the Gunnison if you’re out that way (or just because!).
What about you? Have you ever stopped for a little hiking adventure en route to somewhere else?
You might also like…Taking The Scenic Route To Aspen and Hiking To Lake Agnes.
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