The trip went like this: Hike and camp out; hike and sleep in a lovely bed in a charming southwest Colorado town; take a rest day and sleep in the bed again; then repeat, four times. The beauty of this trip is that while we hiked eight days, we slept in tents just four nights—and in hotels or other lodgings for eight nights. 

The Tour de San Juan was perfect for people who like to hike, but also like to shower and eat luscious meals.  In truth, it’s perfect even for people who don’t like to hike, too, in that the trip, with slightly varied routes, can be managed by Jeep or mountain bike.

With that introduction, here is our abridged version of the Tour de San Juan: We woke up at the Texan Resort, a set of cabins that provided us a Lake City home base, and got a lift to the trailhead.  On the trail we met forest service workers who were cutting – by hand – trees that had fallen the year before in a “microburst,” or super-localized storm.  This was an opportunity to see direct benefit from our federal tax dollars at work!

We made our way among the pines and past a couple of moose to timberline, where apparently all of God’s creation lay before us. That’s just the kind of place to make camp, so we did. 

The next day we headed up again, and onto the Continental Divide Trail for a short segment. We covered miles on rolling tundra, and then hiked down to a network of jeep roads, past the Buffalo Boy Mine, and eventually hitched a ride into downtown Silverton. 

We tumbled into the Wyman Hotel, feeling mighty proud of ourselves: two days, 14 miles, 4220 ft. of elevation gained and then lost.  And that’s where we met Roger Wrublik, our hotelier.   After our conversation with him, we had to rechristen our trip; now it became “the Soft Rock 70.”   

He humbly told us that he has done something similar to our trip several times.  It seems that Wrublik is a perennial participant in an event called the Hardrock 100. It follows just about the same route as we did, but by running.  With 30 more miles added on. And with 33,000 feet of elevation gain overall. This is a July tradition, one he’d just completed the week before. That made our eight days of hiking look, well, soft.  And then when we fell into the downy beds, it was softness all over again.  Ahhh.  We were enjoying the new name of our trip.

On our day off, we visited the Montanya vodka distillery, where we saw the whole process, including tasting the brew at each stage.  Mostly, though, we rested.

The following day, thanks to Roger’s son, we got a lift to the trailhead for Columbine Lake.  We continued past this turquoise gem, and camped above the ruins of the Lewis Mill, once listed on Colorado Preservation, Inc.’s “Most Endangered Places.”  The timber three-story structure has since been stabilized, but exploring the mill and the cabin nearby gave me yet another reason to appreciate just how soft my life can be.

In the morning we hiked down past Bear Creek Falls and into Telluride. When I say “into Telluride,” I mean directly into town, directly to the Hotel Columbia.  This hotel woos its clientele with fine modern styling, high thread-count sheets, and beignets in the lobby.

On our day off in Telluride, we rode the gondola up and over to the ski area repeatedly – cheap fun – and were entertained by a parade of nude bikers circling downtown at dinner time.  (I can’t promise other visitors that they’ll have such an intimate experience with the locals. Timing is everything.)

Next stop: Ouray, via Imogene Pass.  On the way, we met Jeeps and Jeepers, and I, a snobby hiker, was surprised to experience how pleasant and considerate our mountain brethren could be.  The pass goes just under a modest, but famous, rock pile.  It was here at Fort Peabody that the Colorado National Guard stationed members to ensure that no union miners passed over to Telluride along this route. “Members” of this guard were fed and housed by local mine owners, and the goal was to block union organizing.   We sat amongst the remains of this outpost, and contemplated the “then” and “now” of labor relations.

Once in Ouray, our trail-worn bodies loved the hot springs.  We stayed at the Box Canyon Lodge, with its own hot springs out back.  On our day off we tried the town hot springs and the Weisbaden Hot Springs, too. The Weisbaden offers a misty-moisty interior spa-like environment.

Then it was back to Lake City, along the spectacular Bear Creek trail to American Flats.  In the wide, long and flat stretch above timberline we met Peruvian sheep herders, along with hundreds of sheep, a handful of border collies and a horse for each human. It was then that I had the sweet realization that land doesn’t have to have a “wilderness” designation on it, which excludes sheep and Jeeps, to be awesome.  And I use that last word in the sense of full-of-awe.

When we hit Lake City, we were all in for milk shakes and French fries, and found them in all their caloric glory at the Tic Toc Diner. We hit the hay again at the Texan Resort, and then, sadly, having completed our softer version of the Hardrock 100, retrieved our all-but-forgotten cars and drove away.

In addition to writing The Enlightened Tourist column for Nexus, freelance writer Wendy Underhill has written features and investigative reports on a number of diverse topics.