Telluride

I got stuck flying a 4 day trip at work this week. I usually avoid 4 day trips like the plague, but that was the only option for October. The only good part about the trip was a long overnight in Montrose, CO on the last night. I couldn't take another afternoon rotting away in a hotel room. Terri, the station manager at Montrose came to the rescue by letting us borrow her truck. Rafael, my first officer, and I headed up to Telluride.

Telluride from Marshall Basin

Last Aspens Turning


It had been snowing all afternoon and we got there with a few hours of daylight to spare. We drove through town and headed East into Marshall Basin enjoying stunning views of the cloud topped San Juan Mountains. The lighting was flat and dim so I decided to shoot in Black and White. It was cold and the shots I was getting weren't worth hypothermia, so we decided to head back into town.

Base of Ajax Peak

Just as I was pulling out of the trail head parking lot in Marshal Basin I saw something amazing in the rear view mirror. It was a massive waterfall seemingly spilling out of the clouds.

Bridal Veil Falls through the Clouds

Bridal Veil Falls is the highest waterfall in Colorado at over 350 feet and I had no idea it was there. Sitting on top of the falls is the Smuggler-Union hydroelectric power plant built in 1904. Now we were faced with a choice - ignore the highest waterfall in Colorado and head back to town for a warm dinner or hike an unknown distance up to the falls in the snow and cold. I pushed for the latter, but Rafael was sans coat. After we found a blanket in the back seat of the truck it didn't take much convincing.

Cold Hike Up

We made good time up the snow covered trail and reached the bottom of the falls in under an hour. The trail was steep, but the high level of exertion kept us warm. As we got close to the falls my windproof softshell did little to stop the icy mist blasting down on us. Rafael was fairing even worse in his blanket. We got soaked stumbling up the snow covered rocks and shale to the base of the falls.

Bridal Veil Falls and Smugler-Union Hydroelectric Plant

The Falls from Below

Not satisfied, I climbed up to a crack in the cliff about 20 feet up from the base. The rock was cold, wet, slippery, and covered in moss. The crack was only 3 feet tall so I had to crawl out to the falls.

Crack Leading Behind the Falls

Crack Crawling

The view from behind the falls was pretty cool, but I was expecting a cave with a pot of gold or at least a doorway to another dimension. No joy, just wet rock and moss!

Marshall Basin from the Falls

It was getting dark and super cold. Not wanting to get sick before the 24hrs of Moab race this weekend we didn't waist anytime getting back to the truck and cranking the heat the on the way back to Montrose.