2008 4th of July weekend

Link to all photos from 4th of July weekend in Montrose and Ridgway, CO
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=s7o79k5.cfew5yot&x=0&y=dvj3xw&localeid=en_US

I had a great trip to Montrose, CO for the 4th of July weekend to see MJ and to take in the beautiful views of the San Juan Mountains.

I got in to Ouray about 9:30pm and luckily drove over Red Mountain Pass in the dark. I could tell this pass was pretty intense even in the dark but I made it. I stayed on the Silverton side the first night, the stars were amazing. I drove back over the pass early the next day so that I wouldn't meet any vehicles on the pass. I spent the next day driving up County Road 7 & 9 and Last Dollar Road off of Dallas Divide. Toward the end of County Road 7 is an awesome valley with the mountains in the back. At the end is the trailhead to Blue Lakes. I walked out to the trail mileage sign to see how far the hikes were and as I turned around to head the 30 yards back to my vehicle, I saw a big black bear to my left about 30-40 feet away. I started to slowly move toward my vehicle, he looked up and saw me and disappeared into the thick woods. That night I met MJ in Ouray for fireworks. I drove back to the end of County Road 7 and camped there for the night.

The next day MJ and I drove to Telluride and back up County Road 7, we went to church and then I took him to the Montrose Skate Park.

On Sunday MJ and I drove back to Silver Jack Res. an area where they filmed a lot of the John Wayne movie, True Grit. It was great but started raining real hard when we got there. Sunday night I went to the South Rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison Nat'l Park. I hiked out on the Warner Point Nature Trail at the end of the South Rim road and enjoyed some awesome views of Farmland, Sand Dunes and the San Juan Mountain Range. Slept through the rain that night and was on the road back to Broomfield by 6am.