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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Ouray Colorado and the Million Dollar Highway

Beautiful Ouray, Colorado (pronounced U-ray) is also known as the "Switzerland of America," as the mountains and canyons surrounding Ouray are filled with some of the West's most unforgettable scenery.  (All photos and photo collages in this post will enlarge for easier viewing if clicked on)

The town is set at the narrow head of a valley, enclosed on three and a half sides by steep mountains.

The town of Ouray was originally established by miners looking for silver and gold in the surrounding mountains. At its height, there were over 30 established mines. The town was incorporated in 1876, and named after Chief Ouray of the Utes Native American tribe. Located at the narrow head of a valley, Ouray is surrounded on three sides by towering peaks, some 13,000 feet high.

The entirety of Main Street is registered as a National Historic District, with most of the buildings dating back to the late nineteenth century. Click to enlarge to read this placard that shows the buildings of Ouray's early times.

The Beaumont Hotel, the Ouray County Courthouse, the Wright Opera House and many other ornate buildings and houses bring charm and history to the town. There is also  Ouray Hot Springs pool open year-round in town--a million-gallon pool of sulfur-free mineral water.  We were tempted to visit the hot springs pool, as we did in Steamboat, but decided to take a scenic drive along the Million Dollar Highway instead

No one is sure how the Million Dollar Highway got its name. It is about a 25-mile portion of US 550 between Ouray and Silverton., and part of the San Juan Scenic Skyway. Some guess it took a million dollars to build, or that the road fill dirt contains about a million dollars of gold ore, and some say it would take a million dollars to make them ride over this narrow two-lane highway.

Originally built in 1883 by Otto Mears as a tollway from Ouray to the now-abandoned town of Ironton. The road was extended to connect Silverton and Ironton over Red Mountain Pass,

The highway offers spectacular views of the San Juan Mountain Range and the Uncompahgre Gorge.  The photo above shows a look back on the road we just traveled., on the right, which shows how the road hugs the mountain peak.

In fact, the road cuts through the mountain at points and through tunnels built at points where there are frequent avalanches.  Even though we took this ride in late November, there was already significant snow and ice in the mountains and along the highway

The views were gorgeous!

High mountain peaks on the right and left--it was easy to see why this area is called the Switzerland of America!

Some of the areas we passed through had large aspen groves, which must be so colorful in early autumn.

Magnificent vistas...

...of high peaks...

...and forests.

Loved this view of Mt. Sneffels, 14154 feet high!

We thought we'd drive on the Million Dollar Highway all the way through to Silverton, but the weather ahead began to look threatening when we were just a few miles away.  Since more snow was predicted that day, we used a turn out to turn around and go back to Ouray. 

There was a lot of ice and icicles hanging off Red Mountain.  It is easy to see why Ouray is the ice climbing capital of the US. The world's first ice climbing park consists of dozens of frozen waterfalls from 80 to 200 feet high, along a mile of the Uncompahgre Gorge. The Ouray Ice Park is free, and attracts climbers from around the world!

 Red Mountain gets its name from the red iron ore in it. 

Back towards the very narrow and curving Red Mountain Pass. The Million Dollar Highway is considered by many to be one of the most dangerous roads to drive,...

...but it handles an average daily traffic count of 2200 cars a day and is a vital roadway for the area. The log hauler truck, seen in the photo above was just a short distance in front of us on our way back.

Before entering Ouray we stopped at a pull out to take photos by the historical markers at the end of the Million Dollar Highway.  As you can see the wind was blowing and the storm was approaching. We looked forward to going back to the house we rented in Ridgway and sit by the fireplace and heat up some warm food. We loved our visit to Ouray and hope to come back someday to visit it in other seasons.  

The next blog post I'll show some sights from Ridgway, Colorado--the town often used for early Western movie backdrops and where John Wayne starred in  the movie"True Grit." Come back soon!