Ophir Pass & Last Dollar Road, CO - July 2 & 3, 2005 (Re-run)

 Ophir Pass provides a route from Silverton to Telluride via the old mining town of Ophir (where do they get these names?).  The road reaches an elevation of nearly 12,000 feet and is known as one of the easier mountain roads, but it is quite rough and not to be taken lightly.  It was one of the first mountain trails I drove and I was taken by its awesome views.  On this day, however, the trail was still closed by snow.  Since the road lies within two counties, both must complete snow plowing to open it each year.  In this case, San Juan County had plowed to the top, but San Miguel County had not yet plowed its side of the trail.  Driving the one side was still worth it, I thought.  Note the depth of the snow where the plow had cut through.

The next day, we drove to Telluride via another easy pass, this one called Last Dollar Road.  This route passes the Double RL Ranch, owned by Ralph and Rickie Laurens, and the Last Dollar Ranch, where many TV commercials have been filmed.  Some of the original True Grit movie scenes were filmed in this area.