Day 12-Leaving the High Rockies...

I drove South to the area around Telluride, in the heart of ski country. I could hear the prayers for snow rising all around, but I ignored them and raced for the peaks.

The Ophir Pass is high (12,000 feet and more), and the road up to it is single-lane, winding and hair-raising. I met a few other cars, and getting around them on the narrow track with a sheer dropoff on one side was nightmarish.

The lower sections of the long road had a variety of spectacular scenes:

Did I mention that it's Fall? The lower elevations were ablaze with aspencolor!

Looming behind the colorful hills are the brooding mountaintops.

This time of year is beautiful here, and I'm trying to capture as much of it as I can!

I'll end with serene Alta Lake, which lies at the end of another rough, winding and boulder-strewn road.

Tomorrow it's off to Grand Junction for the final chapter of this adventure. Colorado National Monument and Grand Mesa, and then--HOME!!