A valley view at 9,000 feet Oct 6, 2021

A valley view at 9,000 feet

This is the Dallas Divide, but we"re hundreds of miles from (and 8,500 feet above) North Texas. This saddle amid the southwestern Colorado Rockies cuts a swath just north of the San Juan Mountains. Nestled in those peaks you"ll find Telluride, Silverton, and other former mining towns that got a boost from the Rio Grande Southern Railroad when it came to the Dallas Divide in 1890. Nowadays the divide hosts State Highway 62, a less-traveled byway for most Colorado travelers—but worth the detour if you"re keen on a sweeping valley vista.

© Ronda Kimbrow/Shutterstock

palette

Today in History

Oct 6, 2018A bite of ancient history
Oct 6, 2019Land ho in New Zealand 250 years ago
Oct 6, 2020Water colors
Oct 6, 2022International Geodiversity Day
Oct 6, 2023Taughannock Falls State Park
Oct 6, 2024Ancient town of Sorano, Tuscany, Italy
Oct 6, 2025Anshun Bridge, Chengdu, China

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Oct 7, 2022Berlin Festival of Lights
Jun 24, 2023Nha Phu Bay, Nha Trang, Vietnam
Apr 8, 2023The Giants Causeway, Northern Ireland
Jun 11, 2019Installation art turns heads
Sep 29, 2023Mid-Autumn Festival
Feb 23, 2021Giants of the avian world
Nov 16, 2018Ancient art in the Amazon
Jun 1, 2019Hiking the High Trestle Trail
Mar 19, 2020Sunburst at Angkor
Feb 18, 2019Presidents Day in America’s front yard
Jun 25, 2019Sutherland Falls in Fiordland National Park
Feb 2, 2018Alpine marmots at Hohe Tauern National Park, Austria
Jun 9, 2021Ring of fire
Jan 7, 2023Yarn for Distaff Day
Apr 30, 2024Cheetah in Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania
Apr 14, 2024Bowling Ball Beach in Mendocino County, California
Sep 23, 2019Stepping into autumn
Oct 31, 2020Twas a night just like tonight
Jun 28, 2025Pride 2025
Jan 10, 2020League of Nations, 100 years later
Aug 28, 2018Class, please take out a No. 2 pencil…
Jun 21, 2019Ode to the sun
Nov 22, 2025Leshan Giant Buddha, Sichuan, China
Aug 25, 2018Happy trails for the 21st century
Apr 23, 2024World Book Day
Jul 7, 2021Back on the rise
May 10, 2022Gifford Pinchot National Forest
Jul 23, 2023Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka
Jul 17, 2025Lavender fields in Plateau de Valensole, France
Apr 12, 2022International Day of Human Space Flight