Telluride, CO - Vacation Rentals

Looking up in wonder at the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, Telluride distinguishes itself as a town with a living past and a complement to the ultra-modern, sister town, Mountain Village. Once living in these rugged, snow-laden mountains, the Ute native tribe hunted elk, deer, and mountain sheep. Spanish explorers later discovered the area for themselves in the 1700s. They established a town for those who sought an overland route to the Pacific. The Spaniards named the mountains San Juan. Rough terrain and dangerous climate drove out the explorers. Next to settle were fur traders of Anglo descent. They traded until the beaver population dwindled because of over-trapping. They too left the San Juan Mountains. 1878 saw Telluride boom as a silver mining town. Originally called Columbia, the US Postal Office wouldn't allow a post office. There would be confusion, was the reasoning, because California had the same name for a mining town. Forced to change it, they used Telluride, a name in which the origin is speculated. Some say, it is derived from the non-metallic element, tellurium. That origin is strange, considering there is no said element in Telluride. Others say, it comes from "To-Hell-You-Ride!". That colloquialism was used for those parting each other. By the 1890s, a railroad brought in a wide array of workers - Swedish, Irish, French, Italian, Chinese and others of different ethnicity - , amounting to a population of 5,000.

Wealth constructed Telluride. There were an opera house, theater, saloons, dance halls, and a flourishing red light district. Around World War I, the price of silver crashed and the price of gold fixed. This was the beginning of the end of Telluride. Well on the way to being a ghost town by the 1960s, a local group of entrepreneurs, spearheaded by Bill Mahoney Sr., along with Joe Zoline, revived Telluride by creating a ski area. By 1978, Telluride became a world-class ski resort, under the direction of Ron Alled and Jim Wells.

Population of Telluride is approximately 2,000 residents. USA Today once remarked Telluride as "the most beautiful ski town in the country". Blended Victorian homes with boutiques, one-of-a-kind stores, restaurants, and the giant San Juan Mountains, a few look-rounds will stop you, as you take a deep, awe-inspired breath. There are more stops around and outside of town to gather Telluride in full: Telluride Historical Museum, Bridal Veil Falls, Tomboy Ghost Town, Cornet Creek Falls, Alta Lake and Ghost Town, Trout Lake, and Sheridan Opera House. Hike the Bear Creek Trail, San Miguel River Trail, or walk a historical tour of Telluride. To experience all of Telluride, Mountain Village, and the San Juan Mountains, the award winning gondola is penultimate. At once, transportation for workers, skiers, and those riding only for the hair-raising scenery, the gondola has multiple uses and free to the public. Bicycles and pets are allowed. Town Park is a year-round favorite for locals and visitors. People camp, cross country ski, play basketball, soccer, tennis, hockey, swim, skate; kids hang out at the Voodoo Lounge, where they play pool and ping pong, watch TV and movies, and get into whatever they can get into.

Events are always happening in Telluride: bluegrass festivals; film festivals; balloon rallies; wine and cuisine tastings; blues and jazz festivals; operas at the Sheridan Opera House; every kind of race imaginable: skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, running and more. Check out the calendar, the list can't be exhausted and knows no end in the seasons. If shopping and dining out are your pastimes when not on the slopes, Telluride has enough novelty to keep your vacation on the move. No franchises, no strip malls, no outlet stores suppress the spirit of Telluride. Art galleries, boutiques, antiques stores, book and music stores, home furnishing stores, glass and pottery stores, and what else you find are, most likely, privately owned.

The essentials for skiing and snowboarding are for sale and rent. Their qualities are top-notch. Massages and facials can work away the work of your leisure. The exertion of your body, mind, and spirit will melt in the hands of your masseuse and in the mud bathes. You'll rejuvenate, so you can overcome those steeps, moguls, and slopes again. Having a wedding in the San Juan Mountains not only sets the scene and mood on your special day, but, considering the thrill of your wedding and altitude, you and your loved ones will feel positively high. Telluride assures the odds and ends are care for. Some of the stress will be relieved on this most stressful of stressful day. Known for its skiing, what is little known is how many other types of skiing there are in Telluride, and the broad spectrum of sports in which to embrace: backcountry and crosscountry skiing, heli-skiing (only one in Colorado and one of six in the country), Nordic skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, ice climbing, ice skating, snowmobiling, mountain biking, skateboarding, camping, fishing, fly-fishing, golfing, tennis, hiking, rafting, kayaking, rock climbing, and swimming. Come snow, come sun, come winter, come summer, what to do is without doubt.

Telluride is a small town in a valley. Though small, visitors bring big dreams of steep slopes beyond the field of vision, of gondola rides in the seemingly endless breadth of the San Juan Mountains, of hot chocolate and war stories by the crackling fire, and of an embrace with life and challenges of the outdoors. Whatever dream you bring, Telluride may just make it a reality.