Telluride by car

3days
3days Posts: 1,200
in Other Music
I honestly don't know if I'm in the right board for this, but I thought fellow music festival goers might be able to help me out. I also know that some fans caught PJ in Telluride a few years back, and they might have insight.

I have tickets to a music festival in Telluride. Originally we were going to fly, but my party refuses to fly due to the surging Delta Variant, and the other pandemic of people actin' a fool on planes. You may wonder why we'd be willing to tolerate a crowded festival... It's a long story.

I'm wondering how bad the drive from Denver to Telluride is? I know there are multiple routes, and some are recommended more than others... We are looking for the easiest, most boring route. My concern is driving at an altitude that we're not used to, possibly at night, with switchbacks, and with the occasional no guardrail curve around the edge of a cliff. I realize that most of these things are unavoidable due to the fact that I'm driving to a box canyon. I'm hoping to guage the best route, and anticipate the thrill level. 

How steep are the routes? Are any of the routes crazy steep, I know the altitude change is big, but are any routes have crazy inclines? I went up to the highest incorporated city near Denver, and coming back down freaked me out.

How long do the scarier parts of the drive last for (open cliff side... etc)? Is it only a small part of the 6+ hour drive, or is it precarious most of the way?

Any info is greatly appreciated.


Comments

  • helplessdancer
    helplessdancer Posts: 5,293
    pm me and i will try to help further
    i have driven from denver twice into telluride for the bluegrass fest and pj/ride, and driven once into aspen
    not sure if you have ever driven a coastal highway b4...hana/maui? 101 coastal highway in CA ?
    anyways i dont recall any crazy steep roads or any big concerns...but we also drove during the daytime

    now if u want to do independence pass then that is where the thrill is    ;)    and it's highly recommended!!


  • Brotherjohnno9
    Brotherjohnno9 Posts: 463
    I'm from the UK but i did that drive on a vacation trip several years ago. We didn't do it in 1 go and we only drove during daylight but there were no sections I'd call scary. We drove from Denver to Colorado Springs staying for a couple of nights then on to Gunnison for a night before moving on to Telluride. It was all fairly flat, even if at altitude, until we got to a place called Montrose where the climb began but the road was was fine. It's a beautiful drive and Telluride is spectacular.
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  • helplessdancer
    helplessdancer Posts: 5,293
    indeed. once you hit montrose the climb begins.
    from denver to montrose there is a meandering gradual incline and not big/steep, close-to-cliff inclines.
    except...driving west out of denver there's that big hill....
  • JeBurkhardt
    JeBurkhardt Posts: 5,335
    Brotherjohnno9 said:
    I'm from the UK but i did that drive on a vacation trip several years ago. We didn't do it in 1 go and we only drove during daylight but there were no sections I'd call scary. We drove from Denver to Colorado Springs staying for a couple of nights then on to Gunnison for a night before moving on to Telluride. It was all fairly flat, even if at altitude, until we got to a place called Montrose where the climb began but the road was was fine. It's a beautiful drive and Telluride is spectacular.
    I just got back from Gunnison, visiting my daughter who lives there. We went through the Springs, so the only mountain pass we had to go over was Monarch. Beautiful area!

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