Haviland Lake

Haviland Lake, about 18 miles north of Durango, Colorado, near an altitude of 8200 feet, has a Forest Service campground with 45 sites. Fifteen of those sites have 30/50 amp electrical hookups. It’s a pretty little lake with, I am told, good fishing.

One Saturday morning, we took a drive from the lake to Ouray, stopping in Silverton, and driving down Forest Service road 585 to the South Mineral campground. The picture below was taken between Coal Bank Pass and Molas Pass.

The picture below was taken between Molas Pass and Silverton.

The next three pictures were taken along Mineral Creek, which runs eastward into Silverton before joining the Animas River.

The picture below was taken at Molas Pass, on September 9, 2006. The mountains got a dusting of snow down to around the 12,500 foot level overnight, which can happen any day of the year at those altitudes. As one can see from the pictures, though, the trees were starting to assume their fall colors.

Ouray is known as “the Switzerland of America”, and looking at the peaks, one can understand why. The drive up highway 550 from Durango to Ouray is well worth doing. At the right time of the year, one can extend that drive to Ridgeway, then along highway 62 to where it intersects to Colorado 145. From there, one can return to Durango by going south past Telluride to the intersection with U.S. 160 at Cortez, then east back to Durango. That’s a loop of about 250 miles through lovely scenery, and in the fall has great views of golden aspens.

Pictures of that drive are forthcoming. Stay tuned!

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