Nickel Features
Road trip. Put the top down and take a drive. There’s no shortage of beautiful – and fun – drives in our backyard.

Most can be made in a day, but campers may want to slow down and enjoy the journey.
Colorado boasts a total of 24 highways officially designated as Scenic and Historic Byways. Of those, 11 are in Western Colorado. Another three are within easy striking distance in eastern Utah. For a complete listing, try www.coloradobyways.org.

The Unaweep-Tabeguache drive starts just minutes from Grand Junction and offers a wonderful tour through some remote canyons of Western Colorado.
Some 133 miles of this trip are designated as an official scenic byway, but a loop route is available that totals 283 miles.

Start by taking U.S. 50 south out of Grand Junction. At Whitewater, turn west onto Colo. 141. Thus begins the Unaweep-Tabeguache Trail.

The first 44 miles of this drive winds through Unaweep Canyon, a deep cleft carved into the Uncompahgre Plateau. The road steadily gains elevation until reaching Unaweep Divide at roughly 7,000 feet.

This stretch is dotted by pastoral ranches and a few vacation homes.
The canyon opens a bit past Unaweep Divide opening more ranch land, but rock outcroppings on either side of the road become more stunning.

You will know you are nearing the Dolores River Valley and the town of Gateway when the La Sal Mountains become visible on the western horizon. The La Sals make only a brief appearance, however, as the route quickly descends in to the Dolores River Canyon and Gateway.

Gateway features Gateway Canyon Resort. This is a good spot to stretch the legs, get a bite to eat or tour the new automobile museum at the resort.

From Gateway, Colo. 141 proceeds generally south up the Dolores River. This sparsely populated stretch is gem among canyon country drives.

Just before the confluence of the San Miguel River and the Dolores is the highlight of the trip. The pull-out is not well-marked, but look for a “point of interest” sign that will mark the Hanging Flume.

The flume is visible from the roadside pull-out and is a remarkable remnant from Colorado’s gold mining history. The flume is a 13-mile aquaduct that at points clings to the sandstone walls high above the river. The flume transported nearly eight million gallons of water a day for the Montrose Placer Mining Company for use in it’s hydraulic mining operation.

Construction started in 1887 and required various engineering techniques to traverse a variety of terrain. Trestles were built over drainages. Sections suspended over the river were attached to the sheer rock faces with cantilevered iron placements.

Now in decay, the flume in 2006 was added to the World Monument Watch list of 100 most endangered sites.

Beyond the flume, Colo. 141 begins traveling along the San Miguel River for a short stretch before gaining elevation to Wrights Mesa and the towns of Redvale and Norwood. Watch for road signs in this section, as the primary route will continue on Colo. 145. Colo. 141 exits west to the town of Slick Rock.

Up on Wrights Mesa, the terrain changes character from canyonland to open mountain meadows. Mountain views include the San Juans, the Wilsons, El Diente, Lone Cone and the La Sals.

Past Norwood, the road dives steeply back down to the San Miguel River on what is known as Norwood Hill. Once back down at river level, the character of the scenery is that of a tight mountain canyon.

Continue upstream to Placerville where the officially designated Scenic Byway section ends, but not the good scenery.
Colo. 145 continues from Placerville to Telluride. Turning east on Colo. 62 toward Ridgeway is the loop route back to Grand Junction. This stretch offers one of the great views in Colorado as it traverses along the San Juan Mountains and 14,150-foot Mt. Sneffels.

At Ridgeway, turn right for a nine-mile drive to scenic Ouray, or turn left to complete the loop on U.S. Highway 50 back to Grand Juntion through Montrose and Delta.