The San Juan Mountains are a high and rugged mountain range in the Rocky Mountains extending across the state line between southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico. The area is highly mineralized, known as the Colorado Mineral Belt, and was part of the gold and silver mining industry of early Colorado. Major towns, all old mining camps, include Creede, Lake City, Silverton, Ouray, and Telluride.

Large scale mining has ended in the region, although independent prospectors still work claims throughout the range. The last large scale mines were the Sunnyside Mine near Silverton, which operated until late in the 20th century and the Idarado Mine on Red Mountain Pass that closed down in the 1970s. Famous old San Juan mines include the Camp Bird and Smuggler Union mines, both located between Telluride and Ouray.

Rocky Mountains Region

Southern Rockies Ecoregion

At about noon, I take down all of my window shades, start the jammer and drive out of Pagosa Springs east on US 160 following the San Juan river up into the San Juan Mountains toward Wolf Creek Pass. Immediately, the elevation begins to increase and as I continue towards the pass, more and more snow begins to show itself.

Along this journey on, I look to see a couple of sights that I have been wanting to photograph. These sights are, Treasure Falls and Wolf Creek Pass. After crossing the pass, I will then drive down into San Luis Valley and find a nice small town to hold up in for a few days so that I can sort through my photos and then add this to this page.

After crossing Wolf Creek pass, drive down along South Fork Rio Grande, I begin crossing the San Luis Valley plateau towards the Sangre De Christo Mountains.