Colorado Rockies
Wanderlust Travel Magazine|January 2022 / Issue 218
Linked by the San Juan Skyway, the key stops of this remarkable, mountainous region are as steeped in scenery, culture and adventure as they are little-visited by international visitors
By Aaron Millar. Photographs by Alamy and Shutterstock
Colorado Rockies

The Colorado Rockies are what mountain dreams are made of. They stretch 611km across the entire length of the state and filled with jagged peaks (58 of them over 14,000 feet (4,267m) - or ‘fourteeners’ as the locals call them), ice blue alpine lakes and wildflower meadows roamed by elk, coyote and black bears. There is perhaps nowhere in the country where the USA’s rugged wilderness, that raw untampered spirit of the once-wild west, is more keenly felt than the San Juan Mountains. Considered by many to be the most beautiful and varied of the entire range, this south-western portion of the Rockies nonetheless only receives a fraction of the visitors that better-known, and easier-accessed, regions to the north get.

Better still, one single road will take you to all the key parts: the San Juan Skyway. Topping out at over 3,000 metres, it truly is a drive in the sky. Although it’s only 380km long and technically possible to cover in a day, if you spread it out over a week, the Skyway is one of the best, yet-rarely travelled, road trips in America, passing through frontier history, remote mountain towns, natural hot springs and some of the most dazzling scenery in the state. This is what mountain dreams are made of.

HIGHLIGHTS

TELLURIDE

Nestled deep into a box canyon in the heart of the San Juans, Telluride is arguably the most beautiful mountain town in Colorado, with snow-dusted summits – including several fourteeners – framing the village. The options for outdoor adventure in its outskirts are vast, as you’d expect.

Esta historia es de la edición January 2022 / Issue 218 de Wanderlust Travel Magazine.

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Esta historia es de la edición January 2022 / Issue 218 de Wanderlust Travel Magazine.

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