Top of the Rockies: Ouray, Colorado: What Goes Around...(2152.9 miles)

Old adage has it that "what goes around comes around." Today, we learned that "what goes around the mountain doesn't necessarily come around the mountain and therefore requires one to take the difficult downhill route back."

It's been a long (albeit extremely fun) day. We hit the trail at about 8:45 and got in at 6...I'll let you do the math. No stops. No food. No shelter from the sun. Large rocks and steep uphill climbs. A large bear across a stream threatened to tear our heads off (okay, maybe not, but we still saw a bear). Somebody call Morgan Freeman and have him narrate the trip today-it would be a blockbuster. Maybe.

I'll spare you the grisly details of our trails today but Mineral Creek was the first and last trail we took, basically getting us halfway up (and down) the mountain from Ouray. Mineral Creek was a hard trail. Mineral Creek was probably of the same or greater difficulty than any of the trails we've ridden. There were long, narrow shelf roads with steep drop-offs. There were huge boulders to climb. It was wet. Traction wasn't as good as it could have been. It was a grueling two hours up the mountain (and even more coming down). However, when we reached Engineer Pass, the trip became much more scenic. We took some pictures on the top of Engineer Pass, drove through the small town of Lake City and eventually reached Cinnamon Pass, which we climbed and descended back onto the Mineral Creek trail. It was a great day and a great drive.

Two issues we've encountered: dust, and the self-titled "Car Commander" singing "The Wreck of the Old '97" as we've gone up and down mountains. I'll let you decide who you think "Car Commander" is (hint: he isn't writing this blog...).

The dust permeates everything. There is dust in my mouth. There is dust in my hair. There is dust in my nose. My arms are covered in dust. There is not a single thing that there isn't dust in. The back of the Jeep looks more like the Dust Bowl than a cargo space. You think I'm kidding, right? I'm not. We can't turn on the air conditioning in the car because it creates a dust storm. Its that bad.

Secondly, I know you've probably never driven down steep, rocky mountain switchbacks with someone singing "Wreck of the Old '97" in your ear the whole time. Let me tell you, it isn't exactly what you want to be thinking about as you descend a steep cliff. I'll paraphrase the song in these few words: a train gets driven off a cliff. When you've been driving all day, concentrating on not driving off of cliffs, and your Car Commander decides he wants to sing the song ANOTHER time, you lose your patience quickly...but then you drive the car closer to the edge of the cliff because you know that frightens the Car Commander back into submission for a few short minutes of wonderful silence.

Enjoy some pictures from today's trip.