Tues, Sept 1, U.S. BASIN & Trail to CUTLER CREEK TRAILHEAD

It was 37 degrees at seven this morning.  One degree colder than yesterday.  Jim left his jacket at the Buen Tiemp yesterday, so we had to drive to Ouray today and have Mexican for lunch again.  Darn!

We left early and took U.S. Basin which runs thru Brown's Gulch & the Brooklyn Mine.  We parked the Jeep at the top and hiked along the trail for a little while.

That's our Jeep in the distance:

 Looking across to the Chattanooga area:

Can't drive Hwy 550 and not include one of these shots of the "Million Dollar Highway."

Some say it is named this because in the 1920s when it was built, it cost a million dollars a mile.  Some say because there is a million dollars worth of gold ore in the roadbed material.  Some say it is because of the million dollar views.

It is a state highway, traveled by semis & RVs  as well as vehicles. 

 Lots of construction/repairs going on this year:

Some of the Aspens starting to show color:

After lunch, we were just exploring some of the real estate on the mountain roads around Ouray and found the trail to the Cutler Creek Trailhead by accident.

We saw LOTS of bear scat and tracks on the trail, but no bear sighting! 

 Some incredible views looking at Ridgeway

and view towards Ouray: 

 Trail meandered thru Lake Louise Co and some pricey homes:

At home in time for some thunderstorms & pouring rain.