A Drive on the Million Dollar Highway in Colorado

After spending a day in Durango, Colorado, to take a ride on the scenic Durango to Silverton Narrow Gage Railroad--see the blog post about that on--this link--my husband and I decided to take a scenic drive on US Route 550, which in Colorado has the nickname "The Million Dollar Highway," and it is also a portion of the San Juan Skyway, on a loop that takes one through old mining towns, spectacular scenery, and exhilarating twists & turns. This loop of state-maintained highway goes through the San Juan Mountains.

Otto Mears built a portion of the highway connecting Ouray to Silverton in the late 1880s as a toll road, and it is now one of the most spectacular drives in the USA. There are a few different stories surrounding the road’s colorful name. One legend states that the road was built using a million dollars worth of gold and silver tailings. At the same time, another claims the nickname originates from an exhausted traveler who proclaimed: “I would not travel that road again for a million dollars!"

We were taking our drive during the last week in September, and we were worried that the aspen trees would not have changed into their glorious autumn yellows and golds as yet, but for the most part, the autumn colors along the ride were beautiful!

We even saw some bright orange color along the way which is the last color that many of the aspen leaves change to before falling.

The drive soon took us over two high mountain passes, Molas Pass and Coal Bank Pass, that had scenic panoramic views!

The autumn colors became more plentiful and brighter the higher elevations that we traveled.

Looking closely towards the bottom of this photo you can see US Route 550 cutting across a ridge in one of the mountains.

Many of the San Juan Mountain tops can be viewed here.

The lush thick San Juan Forest went on for many miles.

A view of the historic gold mining town of Silverton in the distance--you can see the road swinging around a mountain that is going towards the town on the left side of this photo.

I liked this photo as it shows how I took many of the 500-plus photos I took during our drive. Thank goodness for fast camera shutters!

Colorful mountain views along the way.

Please click on the photo to enlarge it to read the signs.

We passed by Silverton, as we had visited it when we took the Durango to Silverton Railroad the day before. It is an active town and open year round.

More beautiful autumn color on a cloudless bright blue sky day.

A bit of old mining presence still stands among the gorgeous scenery.

A view looking back at the road as we rise up in higher elevation again.

The Million Dollar Highway earns its reputation as being full of twists and turns with few to no side rails and full of scary cliffside drop-offs. Thank goodness my husband has nerves of steel!

But despite being a bit scary at times the drive is well worth taking to see the views!

We "oohed and ahhed" at the aspen colors along the entire drive! 

So much autumn color surrounded us!

As we approached Ouray the road got especially curvy and mountainous. The Million Dollar Highway climbs up and over Red Mountain Pass, with a summit of 11,075 feet (3.358m), before clinging to the stunning, steep canyon walls of Uncompahgre Gorge as it makes its descent into Ouray.

In the short video above, you can catch a glimpse of a stretch of road that we were fortunate to be driving on the mountainside, rather than in the opposite direction where the road's edge is perilously close to a deep gorge.

Ouray, known as the "Switzerland of America," offers up picturesque mountain views. We visited Ouray in 2016, in late November, and drove a portion of The Million Dollar Highway then--click here-- to see that post and what the road looked like with winter snow and ice on it.

Ouray is a charming high alpine community sitting at 7,800 feet (2377 meters) in elevation. Set in a geographic bowl formed by rugged and steep mountainsides that lead up to jagged 12,000 to 13,000-foot-high (3962 meters) peaks with several creeks cascading down through valleys and canyons into the city. It is also known for its hot springs and ice climbing at the Ice Park!

"Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn." 

~ Elizabeth Lawrence 

I am going to take this advice and I will be taking a short blog break. Enjoy autumn if you are in this hemisphere or spring if you are in the southern hemisphere. 

Please pray for world peace during these sad and trying times. 

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