Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
Doe” Tabor (mininghalloffame.org/ page/surface-tours-matchless-mine).
Eat and drink: The menu at the Tennessee Pass Cafe emphasizes locally sourced fare, such as the grass-fed buffalo meatloaf (tennesseepasscafe.com/).
• Periodic Brewing, a familyowned business, has beers to suit all palates. If you’re hungry, try the barbecue pulled-pork sandwich (periodicbrewing.com/).
The 18-mile Galloping Goose Trail is a mixed gravel-and-dirt track, with stretches of unpaved forest roads. No worries: This off-road cycling is mostly mellow and nontechnical. Plus, if you drive about 20 minutes from Telluride, park your car and start cycling at Lizard Head Pass, where the elevation tops 10,000 feet, you’ll be coasting gently downhill (with two short but steep uphill exceptions) to the parking area at the Ilium Trailhead, where many cyclists stop. (If you’re energized, pedal uphill to the trail’s terminus at Lawson Hill, a development a few miles outside Telluride.)
The trail follows the grade of the Rio Grande Southern Railroad, a narrow-gauge line that, beginning in the late 19th century, snaked its way through the rugged San Juan Mountains, stopping in Telluride and other remote silver-mining towns. This rail line was considered an engineering feat, most famously its Ophir Loop, a tight, hairpin curve that the trains followed as they climbed up the valley via numerous wooden trestles, according to the Galloping Goose Historical Society.
In the early 1930s, the line downsized, replacing the too-expensiveto-power steam-engine locomotives with less-costly gas-powered engine rail cars (a.k.a. motors) — and the Galloping Goose was born. This nickname referred to the seven custom-built “geese,” each of which combined the body front of an automobile (or, later, a bus) and the rear of a freight box. With horns emitting a “honking” sound, and the waddling motion as they ran on the narrow gauge, it’s no wonder the goose symbolism took hold. (The “geese” traveled this rugged route until the early 1950s, according to the historical society.)
Cruising downhill from Lizard Head Pass, where clouds scuttle across the seemingly endless vistas of high mountains, you’ll have numerous opportunities to gape at Vermilion Peak, Yellow Mountain or other craggy summits. But don’t miss the relics from the railroad (and mining) era scattered about, including, near Trout Lake, the one remaining trestle (of about 140); and a massive water tank once used to refill the steam engines. Much farther along are wooden railroad ties; and platforms built of old rails displaying photos of the old Galloping Goose and the Ames Hydroelectric Generating Plant, the first Ac-generating plant in the world.
The route is a dramatic one, whether you’re coursing through dense forests of Rocky Mountain blue spruce and Douglas fir, or gazing at open valley expanses as you navigate beside sheer granite walls. Early summer brings out a multicolored palette as columbines, bluebells, yellow phlox and other wildflowers paint your path. You might spy various jays and robins flitting about or marmots sunning themselves on rocky talus.
Bike rental: Bootdoctors (bootdoctors.com/).
Things to do: Join the Telluride Art Walk the first Thursday of each month from June through September and December through March, when numerous galleries stay open late and offer refreshments (telluridearts.org/art-walk).
• Ashley Bowling’s Historical Tours of Telluride brims with discoveries, including a visit to the site of Butch Cassidy’s first successful bank robbery (970-728-6639).
Eat and drink: Hang out in the small taproom at the Telluride Brewing Co. with a glass of Whacked Out Wheat, an award-winning brew that’s light enough to quench your thirst (telluridebrewingco.com/).