We arrived in Ouray on Friday, August 13th. Ouray Riverside RV Park, & Cabins, & Jeep Rental, & Café & Steakhouse, was quite an amalgamation of businesses. The campground area was all gravel like a parking lot, but we did have an extra wide lot right on the Uncompahgre (pronounced just like it’s spelled) River. The “Unc” as the natives call it, flows down from the tall summits to the south of town off of Red Top Mountains #1, #2 and #3 (12,000 footers) and from many mine tailings. As a result, the river is yellow/gold colored with mineral content and very little aquatic life.
Mt. Abrams 
Ouray CO.
Ouray began as a mining town in 1876 and the mountains surrounding it are full of abandoned and working mines. Just about everywhere you look, right across the “Unc” from the campground are several mine shaft entrances, above the campground on the east canyon wall are mine buildings hanging from the cliffs and up all the canyons spreading out from the town.
Ouray is called Little Switzerland or the Switzerland of America. The mountains soar up from the edge of town, Mt. Abrams to the south, the Amphitheater Cliffs (3000’) to the east, United States Peak to the southwest and the 14’er Mt. Sneffels, also to the southwest. I know that fans of “The Ranch” on Netflix are saying that this picture is of Garrison, Colorado, the home of Beau Bennett’s Iron River Ranch, but it is really Ouray. Ouray was named for Chief Ouray of the Ute Indians (1833- 1880).
Our campground was right on the Uncompahgre Riverloop Walk (one mile down, cross the river, one mile back, cross the river). Our dogs and I walked that at least 8-9 times during our 13 night stay in Ouray. The best time of day was after 5:00 PM as the sun proceeded past the west canyon top and the sunlight first left the canyon floor and then walked up the east canyon wall for the next hour. A beautiful, magical time of day.
Given the strenuous nature of the drive, we opted not to cook, but to go for a great steak dinner at the Ouray Café and Steakhouse, Prime Rib for Martha and Ribeye for Walt, with Shrimp Cocktail, Iceberg wedge salad and desert.
On Saturday, August 14th, Martha said that she was still recovering from the harrowing canyon and peak drive from Moab, so Walt being the badass that he is, though maybe dumbass is more appropriate, decided that he wanted to do the Ouray Perimeter Loop, a 5 mile hike along the edge of the canyon walls that circumnavigates the town. Full of energy and armed with his All Trails app (shows the elevation profile) he set off. Starting with the west canyon wall, he climbed and climbed and climbed up the trail, eventually reaching the upper reaches of Box Canyon Falls. Through the tunnel (100’ or so that used to carry water down to the town) hitting his head only twice, then over the top of Box Canyon Falls, across the Yankee Boy basin forest service road, through the Ouray Ice Park (they coat the walls with ice in the winter for ice climbing) and up to US 550 South. He mistakenly thought that most of the climbing was on the west side and that the east side would be all downhill (oops, he read the altitude profile backward). Anyway, at this point his “uphill muscles” refused to cooperate. Luckily his downhill muscles were fine, so off he strode north on US 550 through the switchbacks, through town and back to the campground. Of course you know that his ego will insist that he complete this hike later……..
US 550 South is known as the million dollar highway – www.colorado.com/scenic-historic-byways/million-dollar-highway, named for the cost of constructing it back in 1881. US 550 South goes from Ouray to Durango, via Silverton and is a highwire act most of the way, tight turns, no guardrails, very steep drop-offs.
On Sunday, August 15th, Walt and Martha further developed their love for a very expensive hobby – 4 Wheeling. We went on a 4×4 tour with Alpine Scenic Tours (www.alpinescenicjeeptours.com/). The website says “Jeep Tour”, but the vehicle was really a beefed up pickup truck that had a steel platform and 9 bucket seats (3 rows of 3) with roll bars instead of a bed. The truck is four-wheel drive and they reduce the tire pressure to 25 PSI for extra traction. Guide Joe drove us out of Ouray and on the forest service road up Canyon Creek, southwest of town. We climbed up the road, past Tin Cup Springs (a small drip from the canyon wall – great tasting water), under the Overhanging Rock, up to the Camp Bird Mine. At that point, he had to shift to four-wheel drive. Camp Bird Mine is not currently active, but is maintained so it can be reopened, depending on the price of gold. In four-wheel drive we labored up to Yankee Boy Basin (where the snakepit scene from the John Wayne True Grit was filmed) at about 11,000 feet with Mt. Sneffels to the west. We then drove up to Governor’s Basin at 12,000’ just below the Santa Sofia Spires, big rock spires on the top of the ridge. There were lots and lots of mining activity in these mountains. Two of the mines were active, the Revenue Mine and the Virginius Mine. They meet underground and there are 18 different underground levels. The mines are so extensive that the tunnel reaches all the way to the other side of the mountain and opens just above Telluride. There are many abandoned mines with tailings and openings dotting the hill. The Atlas mine ore crushing plant remains are all cascading down the hillside from the site. Primarily gold was mined, but some mines were for silver and lead and other metals.
Monday, August 16th, was a lazy day doing wash and relaxing. Sometimes we get too involved in activities at a new destination and forget that the main purpose of this life is to relax. Today was a good reminder of that.
The town of Ouray runs a Hot Springs pool complex on the south end of town. The hot water is piped down from the springs on the north side of town. The pool complex has a lap pool (80 degrees) and activity pool with a blowup obstacle course (80 degrees) a wading pool (90 degrees) and hot pool (102 degrees) and two adult only pools with waterfalls (102 degrees). There are also two large water slides for the kids. A great complex. We spent a very relaxing afternoon there on Tuesday, August 17th, went back to the motorhome to do somethings, then Walt returned to the pool in the evening. There was a lite rain, but he was wet anyway.
On Wednesday, August 18th, we decided to drive to Telluride. Walt’s brother, Roger, had biked through Telluride on his cross-country bike trek of 2014 and he raved about what a beautiful town it was. We drove up US 550 North to Ridgway, filled up with gas and climbed the Dallas Creek Divide west of Ridgway on Colorado highway 62 west. Near the top of the hill, the Equinox seemed to lose power, then gained it back, and the check engine light came on. We descended toward highway 145 to Telluride, but the check engine light was still on, so we called On-Star. They ran a remote diagnostic and said the codes indicated that we may have an emissions issue that should be fixed soon. We didn’t want to get stranded in the mountains, so we returned to Ouray. That afternoon, the issue with the car got worse, it had no power and On-Star diagnosed additional codes, so we had the car towed to Hellman Chevrolet in Delta, Colorado (57 miles north). We could have pulled the car to Delta with the motorhome, but that would have entailed packing everything up and we just didn’t want to do it
It rained most of Thursday, August 19th, so we hunkered down in the motorhome and awaited a call from the dealer with news of the Equinox. We were thinking bad gas, but it turned out to be an oxygen sensor, warrantied (Hurrah!). In order to pick up the Equinox in Delta, we decided to rent a Jeep Rubicon. Fabulous vehicle that we picked up that afternoon.
We got up at the crack of dawn on Friday, August 20th, and were in Delta, Colorado, by 7:30 AM when Hellman Chevrolet opened. We drove both vehicles back to Ouray and took the Jeep back up the road toward Yankee Boy Basin to the Camp Bird Mine site. The road turned south and climbed higher and higher. We moved about the tree line at about 11,500’ and switch-backed our way up, finally reading the crest of Imogene pass (13,118’). The previous day’s rain in Ouray was snow at 13,000 feet, though just a dusting. We drove down the south side of Imogene and arrived in Telluride. Comparing Telluride and Ouray, Telluride is far more active, especially so in winter due its renowned ski area. The clientele is different, more upscale, and all is more expensive. It is also a fairly liberal place, with this quite isolated town feeling it is a kingdom unto itself in some respects. Ouray is more intimate, not as upscale and doesn’t have the winter activities as there is too much prevalence of avalanches. We ate lunch at Steamie’s Burger Bar (www.steamiesburgers.com/). Bison burger and loaded potato fries – French fries with sour cream, bacon bits & chives – really good. We returned to Ouray via the highway, hosed down and returned the jeep and returned to the motorhome to relax.
During the summer of 2021, we have been traveling, celebrating retirement and “having fun”. However, next year, 2022, we intend to find jobs camp hosting, working in visitor services or doing interpretation programs. These types of jobs are available in National Parks, National Forests, State Parks, private campgrounds and with many other organizations. Our criteria are the park must be “UP” – higher latitude (north) or altitude. We want daytime highs in the 70’s. We want scenery – mountains, canyons, rivers, lakes; activities – hiking, biking, swimming; good internet service; shaded sites and full hook ups (electric, water, sewer). We would trade the volunteer work in exchange for a camp site. We want standardized expectations with little “scope creep”, and we want to be viewed as a “Volunteer” and not an “Employee” – no surprise of a W-2 or a 1099 at the end of the summer. We decided that the first summer, a state park would best meet these criteria. We filled out the on-line application with Colorado Parks & Wildlife (https://cpw.state.co.us/), created a resume, and a cover letter and sent it to Ridgway State Park, 15 miles north of Ouray. On Saturday, August 21st, we drove to Ridgeway and met with Park Superintendent Kristen Copeland and Volunteer Coordinator Becky Mares. We had a great discussion, understanding the process and timelines for becoming Colorado State Park volunteers. They were interested in us and would be in contact when they make their volunteer decisions in November. They gave us the names of the parks that might best suit our talents also said that they would help promote us to other Colorado State parks. We submitted applications for the additional parks, Mueller (near Colorado Springs), Steamboat Lake (near the Wyoming border in the Medicine Bow Mountains), Golden Arch (near Ft. Collins) and State Forest (near Boulder). We have since been contacted by Steamboat Lake and are scheduling a phone interview.
Sunday, August 22nd, was another of those relaxation days. Didn’t do much but Walt reading and Martha crocheting.
Well, Walt’s ego raised its head on Monday, August 23rd, and he took off to finish the Perimeter Loop. Starting with the east side of the canyon, he again climbed and climbed to the bottom of Cascade Falls. This falls is the drainage from Castle Mountain and the water goes through a series of seven waterfalls to finish in a concrete drainage ditch on the way to the “Unc”. There have been problems with flash flooding with this water source in the past, and the concrete drainage system prevents damage to property on the fall to the river. At Cascade Falls, he again had to climb, then traverse across the bottom of the Amphitheater Cliffs to the road to the forest service’s Amphitheater Campground. The trail then climbed (AGAIN!) up Portland Creek through the Baby Bathtubs (limestone pools in the creek) and finally to the Portland Mine Road. Through the Miner’s Potato Field (they did grow potatoes there in the 1870’s) and one last climb to the top of the ridge overlooking Ouray. At 8,500’, there is a cairn of rocks to mark the highest point of the trail. Walt’s uphill muscles protested mightily and the air was thin above 8,000 feet, but he did finish. Again, he strode down US 550 North (downhill muscles were fine) and through Ouray to the campground. Looking back, the dumbass probably overruled the badass, as he ended up hiking uphill on both sides of the canyon. At least he got in a lot of steps on those days.
4 Wheeling Again! On Tuesday, August 24th, we rented a Polaris Razar from Ride’N Adventure in Ouray to explore the “Alpine Loop” (www.colorado.com/articles/colorado-scenic-byway-alpine-loop) in the mountains southeast of Ouray. The rental company met us at Ironton parking lot 8 miles up the Million Dollar Highway (US550 South) from Ouray, with the side-by-side Razar. We drove east up the Corkscrew Gulch on the side of Redtop Mountain #1. We crossed over Hurricane Pass (12,200’) and descended to Lake Como. This is a snow runoff lake in a couloir, a gully blocked by a glacial moraine. The water was very clear but cold. The water only runs out of the lake when the lake fills up over the height of the blocking moraine. We climbed California Pass (12,900’) and descended down California Gulch. It was a very pretty meadow with springs and water seeps. At the bottom of the gulch is the old mining own of Animas Forks. There are mine building remains and several standing houses. This was a town of several thousand people in the 1880’s. We descended again onto a gravel road into Silverton, Colorado. We ate lunch (great Reuben sandwiches) at the Kendall Mountain Café (www.menupix.com/colorado/restaurants/5604329/Kendall-Mountain-Cafe-Silverton-CO). To celebrate such a great lunch, we drove the road up Mt. Kendall, just south of Silverton. We then drove up into the mountains north of Silverton, over Hurricane Pass and down Corkscrew Gulch. A great trip at 10,000 to 13,000 feet of altitude.
We spent Wednesday, August 25th, relaxing, going to the Ouray Hot Springs Pool again and breaking down our campsite.
We left Ouray on Thursday, August 26th, traveling to our next stop of Angel Fire, New Mexico, in the Moreno Valley of the Sangre de Christo mountains east of Taos, New Mexico. We consulted multiple sources on the best route to take. Of course, Google Maps said go ahead and take the Million Dollar Highway (US550 South) to Durango, but all the other sources said NO, NO. Having driven this highway to Silverton, we definitely decided NOT to drive the motorhome on that route. So, we drove North on US550 to Montrose, then east on US50 to Gunnison, Colorado. It was a very scenic drive through canyons, over two summits (Cerro Summit 8,000’ and Blue Mesa Summit 8,700’) and along the Gunnison River. Just past Gunnison, we turned south on Colorado 114 (rather than continue on US 50 over Monarch Pass (11,000”+). Colorado 114 winds through canyons, past small farms, climbs to a summit and then descends into the San Luis Valley. The road was narrow, with no shoulders. We rarely exceeded 40 MPH on the first half of the drive. We followed the San Luis valley south through Alamosa and Antonito, Colorado, across the New Mexico state line and into Taos. We bought groceries in Taos then climbed the Taos Canyon on US 64, to the Moreno Valley. This valley, at 8,000’ runs north south between the eastern and western mountains of the Sangre de Christos. The Angel Fire RV Resort (https://angelfirervresort.com/) is probably the nicest RV park that we have ever stayed in. All paved pull-thru sites with great landscaping and so many colorful wildflowers. We are going to enjoy our stay here.