It’s All Uphill From Ouray

 

Our main activity while visiting Ouray has been hiking, and there is plenty to go around. On our own we hiked a good portion of the Perimeter Trail, went to Box Canyon Falls,  Henn's Overlook and the Uncompahgre River Walk. With our great guides Mark and Bobbie, along with the newly formed, temporary, and ever changing Ouray Rving and Hiking Team we also got to take a couple hikes we may have turned around on before we arrived at our destination had we not had their encouragement. By hike #3 we learned a couple things about Bobbie, (who is also a good artist, by the way). If she says a trail is short and a little steep in spots, that equates to at least a 2 or 3 mile one way hike to the destination, climbing the entire way. When she says the top is just around the next bend, count on at least another 30 minutes of uphill. And when Mark says a trail is wide, he has a little different idea of wide than I do. Out of sheer laziness, and fatigue from this morning's hike, take a look at Box Canyon Blog to check out our hike on the Bear Creek Trail. Although I lost one of my hiking poles over the edge, and the hike was a bit challenging, it was still quite enjoyable.

This was actually the trail. You can barely see Jim coming down.

Ripples from an ancient ocean look like stair steps across the canyon wall.

Today's shorter (4 mile round trip) and a bit less difficult, although steep in spots, hike was at Ironton about 8 miles south of Ouray off 550 on the Gray Copper Trail. The trail climbed through an Aspen forest, crossing a few streams to another interesting old mine, and offering views of waterfalls and Red Mountain along the way.

We do pretty good for a bunch of senior citizens.

At the old mining site.

Shortly after we arrived at the mine, these guys showed up. I think they were surprised we had hiked up.

We had an even bigger group today. Besides Mark and Bobbie, Jim and I, and Debbie, Boonie, and Lenard, we were also joined by Eric and Maureen, former full time RVers who recently returned from world travels. A good group to hike with, and all the banter made the slog uphill seem a lot more fun. That and the fact that Jim and Debbie and I decided to stop for lunch on the way home at the Ouray Brewery.

Check back for more and better pictures one of these days on Box Canyon Blog.