Exploring the Million Dollar Highway from Ouray to Silverton, Colorado.
I don’t like heights, but I am a huge fan of discovering new places and experiencing the beauty of the world around us! In preparation for our Colorado Road Trip, I spent countless hours reading articles and watching videos to glean as much info as I could about the Million Dollar Highway. To be honest, there are a LOT of sensationalized blogs out there claiming this drive is the ‘most terrifying’, ‘most dangerous’, ‘most beautiful’, drive in all of America. I won’t lie, I was a bit worried to navigate the narrow, winding lanes - but with a professional driver at the wheel, my confidence for a successful trip was secure. In fact, with Aaron focused on driving, I had the luxury of taking in all of the sites.
We started our trek from the charming mountain town of Ouray after spending some time shopping and exploring. While this blog isn’t about Ouray per se - make sure you check out Visit Ouray for all the details on where to shop, eat, and experience as you visit. We ate at the Ouray Brewery and enjoyed our birds-eye view of the main drag as we dined on the rooftop patio. The food was excellent! After exploring shops, we stopped briefly at Box Canyon Falls on our way out of town. We didn’t mind the entrance fees knowing the proceeds were going back into Ouray.
Having sampled potentially our last meal, (cue sensationalized blog moment), we began to navigate the curvy drive. To be honest we didn’t make it very far, very fast as we stopped at every nook and cranny to take photos and video! Make sure you stop at Look Out Point as you leave town and enjoy the view of the town below.
Okay time to push on! What did we find? An easy to navigate, beautiful drive, with lovely wildlife encounters, gorgeous views, and the ability to immerse ourselves in the history of an ever-changing region. Was I scared? Nope, not one bit. Okay, perhaps at the beginning I reminded Aaron to “stay to the left” a few times, but eventually you begin to relax on the drive. There are plenty of pullouts to take in the beauty and allow others to safely pass and we found the road in great shape.
We stopped at the first abandoned buildings we saw to fly the drone and photograph wildlife. Aaron spotted a marmot wandering across the roadway and turned so I could grab a shot.
You can walk up to the abandoned structures, but not enter the historic sites. Be sure to stop at the site with the large train trestle to read about the history of the region and the work underway with the major mining environmental restoration project. It’s mind boggling to realize there are over 100 miles of tunnels beneath these gorgeous mountains!
At the top of the pass we stopped for a quick photo and to document our science experiment - check out our video below! If you want more of an immersive experience to learn about mining - book a jeep tour. Lastly, have patience with drivers you encounter, as some we passed were truly terrified of the drive.
