During the long Memorial Day weekend last year, we made a big trip to these three towns and surrounding sites. The first morning was spent hiking up to the very cool Cascade Falls on the out skirts of the tiny but pleasant town of Ouray. At the end of the street it dead ends into a small parking area. (I forget the name of the street this is on, but ask anyone there, they all know where it is) From here it’s a short, but steep hike to the falls. Not a lot of water comes out of here, but because of its height and black canyon wall, this is a nice bonus to the area. No fees to get in and few people were there at 9 am making it more even enjoyable. From here, we trekked back into town to see the Box Canyon Falls on the south side of town. This is a fee area, but at $3 a person, well worth the price. You hike down into a cavernous canyon to the sound of roaring water. There is a large volume of water pouring out of the bottom of this tight canyon, hence the name, Box Canyon Falls.  After about 45 minutes here, we headed just south of town to the area of Camp Bird and the Mt. Sneffels and Yankee Boy Basin Area. This is considered a 4x4 road once near the end, but it was passable by car as far as we went, which was about ¾ of the way to the basin. The drive was not hard, but was a little white knuckle in a couple of spots due to the long drop off on the driver’s side into the canyon below. This area is very scenic and during the month of July, is a haven for wildflowers and photographers up in Yankee Boy Basin. I plan a return trip here this coming 4^th of July weekend, so check back. From here we made our way west over the Dallas Divide to Telluride. Be sure to stop about half way over the divide at the turn-outs to view the awesome site of the mountains as seen from the back yard of designer Ralph Lauren. He has quite possibly the most amazing land in the state. A few more miles and we were in downtown Telluride. This is kind of an Aspen wanna-be, but not as ritzy and glamorous, but the prices in town are still high. I do recommend this place for skiing as it is first class all the way and worth the $72 lift ticket price. We drove right through the heart of town to where the road turns to dirt and climbs up behind the Pandora mill. Park here if you drove a car, or continue up this road which is actually Black Bear Pass, to a place where you can park. You will see the very high (about 300 feet, tallest in Colorado) Bridal Veil Falls up on the cliff along with the power station. Clouds this day made for hazy skies when I was shooting, but if you get lucky enough to have good weather, this is an awesome site to shoot.  From here we drove back towards Ouray and over Red Mountain Pass to the old mining town of Silverton. After a great lunch in town, we drove north east through town via route 2 to the ghost town of Animas Forks. This is supposed to be a moderate 4x4 road, but we found that it was fairly easy to navigate. In fact, after we arrived there, a guy in a Kia Rio car showed up. So, car’s CAN make up here, but do so at your own risk. This is a nice spot with several old buildings and collapsed mines to see. Great views, rustic old buildings and Cinnamon Pass are also up here.