Two Road Expeditions To Ophir Pass, Colorado (May 30 & June 14, 2007)

Second Drive (This Time Successful) To Ophir Pass, Colorado - June 14, 2007

	We finally made a complete trip over OPHIR PASS yesterday. :) I'm not real excited about the quality of any of my photos this time, but when my relatives in Oklahoma see pictures like this, they go nuts, so I thought I'd go ahead and post some of the trip. This is close to the beginning of the trail, driving through the thick aspens.
	Looking at the shelf road ahead.
	There was less snow on this part of the road compared to a couple of weeks ago.
	The other side of the pass, lots of snow.
	Heading down.
	Back in the woods here on our way to highway 550.
	We ate lunch at the Brown Bear Cafe in Silverton. They had quite a few tourists buzzing around town. Then we drove down to Durango to get Jay's new Suzuki motorcycle. It was 85 degrees when we left Durango and 50 degrees on top of Lizard Head Pass. It was a fun motorcycle ride for Jay, but he got really cold with that transition of weather. It was dusk as we drove over Lizard Head and we must have seen over 100 elk scattered about, one even running across the street not too far in front of Jay. It was too dark to take picture of any of them, though.

Road Still Closed Because Of Snow - May 30, 2007

	May 30, 2007 - The Daily Planet misinformed us last week that Ophir Pass was open. They are still working on it and it could be another week, we were told by a guy standing by his work truck at the spot we turned around. Ophir Pass originally was a wagon trail to get from Ophir to Silverton and the pass reaches an elevation of 11,789 feet. I think we got up around 10,500 feet before we turned around. The adjacent photo has the view of the shelf road ahead of us where you see the line of snow.
	Yikes! It's hard to capture the true feeling of the road here in a photo. I've read this is the scariest and most difficult part of this pass.
	I can't imagine being the one to plow this road. It's just amazing that people are willing to do that.
	This is our turnaround point. No shortcut to Silverton today. :( I was disappointed because we haven't been to Silverton in 10 years. I think I also see a bit of yellow snow in the bottom of the picture! Ew!
	On the way down.
	I saved the best view for last. Along with including the town of Ophir, you can see little Lizard Head sticking up there on the far left, then the peaks of El Diente, Mt. Wilson and Wilson Peak.
	Two more photos of the valley that include the small town of Ophir, Colorado.