Ouray was established by gold and silver miners around 1875. Gold and silver was extracted from these rugged and colorful mountains. The mountain sides show remnants of the miners tailings and dilapidated buildings. Now the area is all about tourism. Ice climbing, hiking, mountain biking, and miles of Jeep trails in the San Juan Mountains offer stunning views and remoteness. Ouray is about an hour drive south of Montrose.
Ouray, Colorado
Only about one thousand people live here. The city has all the bars, restaurants, and other tourist attractions one would expect, but doesn’t look much different than it did 35 years ago. This part of Colorado is absolutely stunning. The pictures don’t do the area justice.
Summer wildflowers and fall aspen colors are spectacular. Even though Ouray has over 300 sunny days a year, at over 7,000 feet in elevation the winters are cold and snowy. Because of its isolation, the rapid Colorado population growth isn’t as noticeable here. The San Juan Mountains are where in the winter of 1874, Alferd Packer (the Colorado Cannibal), consumed five of his fellow prospectors because of the harsh conditions near Lake City, Colorado. During college, Michael spent many hours studying in the Alferd Packer Grill at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
We stayed at the Ouray KOA. They had full service and typical almost nonexistent wifi, but it was quiet and a stream ran past the front of the coach. Surprisingly, they had a restaurant, but the hours were limited this late in the season and because of COVID.
Yankee Boy Basin, Ouray, Colorado
The drive to Yankee Boy was scenic. Eventually, we had to switch to 4 wheel drive, but the remoteness and lack of people was refreshing.
Yankee Boy is an alpine basin filled with wildflowers in the spring. It’s also where the trailhead is to Mount Sneffels in the San Juan Mountains. Michael climbed this fourteener (over 14,000 feet elevation) in his twenties, a long time ago. It was nice just to take in the views this visit.
Jake enjoyed his brief time off leash.
Gray jays also known as campground robbers 
We didn’t come across much wildlife; should have left a little earlier in the day for that. We were surprised to still see a few flowers blooming this late in the year. Gray Jays are always present, but rarely sit still for a photo.
We encountered a couple of small waterfalls.
Red Mountain Pass
The drive over the 11,000 foot Red Mountain pass along the Million Dollar Highway to Silverton is breathtaking.
The river along the road was orange creating an unusual look. The color comes from the multitude of abandoned mines upriver. Over the years, acidic leaching of lead, copper, zinc and iron discolor the water of the Uncompahgre River (means “red water” in Ute). It was absolutely stunning.
Silverton, Colorado was a mining town and is now dependent on tourism and the Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. We had lunch and then enjoyed the drive back to Ouray.
