Million Dollar Highway

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Silverton

   Silverton is a mining town that never quite stopped, and the proof is in the muddy streets. It sits at about 9,300 feet in a high basin in the San Juan Mountains, ringed by peaks of more than 13,000 feet, and the single paved main street, Greene Street, is lined with false-fronted wooden buildings from the 1880s, all in good repair. About six hundred people live here year-round, and in winter the town is cut off by snow and avalanches, while in summer it fills with visitors from the train and the road.

   Read the complete Silverton write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Silverton is where the day begins. Next is Red Mountain Pass.

2. 2. Red Mountain Pass

   Red Mountain Pass crosses the San Juan Mountains at 11,018 feet, and the road over it, US 550 between Ouray and Silverton, is part of the stretch known as the Million Dollar Highway, one of the most famous and most frightening roads in the United States. The old mining district of Red Mountain lay to the south, and the rusty remains of mills and shafts can still be seen on the slopes, where the Yankee Girl and other mines once produced silver.

   Read the complete Red Mountain Pass write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Red Mountain Pass comes up about 17 km into the recorded legs. Nothing on this route is higher. Next is Bear Creek Falls, mostly downhill.

3. 3. Bear Creek Falls

   Between Ouray and Red Mountain Pass, the Million Dollar Highway does something that makes first-time riders slow right down: it clings to a cliff, with no guardrails in places, while a waterfall drops into the gorge beside it. Bear Creek Falls is that moment. The creek tumbles hundreds of feet from the heights above, passes beneath the road on a bridge, and then plunges into the canyon of the Uncompahgre River far below. A small pull-off lets you stop, though you should do it deliberately, because the traffic behind you will not.

   Read the complete Bear Creek Falls write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 40 km into the recorded legs you reach Bear Creek Falls. Next is Ouray.

4. 4. Ouray

   Ouray sits at the bottom of a box. Tall red and grey cliffs rise on three sides of the town, leaving only a narrow gap to the north, and the whole place looks like a Swiss village that took a wrong turn into Colorado, which explains why it calls itself the Switzerland of America. About a thousand people live here, in Victorian wooden houses along a main street lined with shops, hotels and a hot springs pool fed by the same geothermal water that bubbles up around the town. An hour in the pool, with the cliffs above, is the standard remedy for stiff shoulders after a long ride.

   Read the complete Near Ouray write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Ouray closes the day.