Dolores sits on the river of the same name, in a green, tree-lined valley on the western edge of the Colorado Rockies, and for most riders it marks the end of a long and thrilling run. The San Juan Skyway, a loop that links Ouray, Silverton, Telluride and Durango, passes over some of the highest and most dramatic roads in the country, and Dolores is where the mountains finally let go and the high desert begins. The name is Spanish for sorrows, and comes from a Spanish expedition that camped here in 1776, led by two Franciscan friars searching for a route to California, who named the river for Our Lady of Sorrows.
The town is small but has a bit of history. In the early twentieth century it was a station on the Rio Grande Southern railroad, a narrow-gauge line that wound its way through the mountains to the mining towns, and the line's strange, motorised railcars, known as Galloping Geese, were a lifeline for remote communities. One of these curious vehicles is preserved in a small park in town. A few kilometres north, the river was dammed in the 1980s to make McPhee Reservoir, and there is a museum at the Anasazi Heritage Center, which explains the Ancestral Puebloan people who once farmed this country.
The riding that leads here is superb. Over Lizard Head Pass, at more than ten thousand feet, the road runs through high meadows of wildflowers and under a distinctive spire of volcanic rock, then drops steadily through aspen and spruce toward the desert. The curves are long and open, the surface is good and the views are enormous. In September the aspens turn gold, and the whole valley glows. Snow can fall on the pass any month, so watch the forecast.
Dolores has fuel, a few cafes and a brewery or two, and the larger town of Cortez, about sixteen kilometres away, offers more services and is the gateway to Mesa Verde, where the cliff dwellings of the Ancestral Puebloans are worth a day. Take water, because the air is dry and the sun is strong. In the evening, with the river murmuring and the cottonwoods whispering, Dolores is a gentle place to end a ride.