San Juan Skyway: Ouray to Dolores

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Telluride.

2. 2. Telluride

   The road ends here, in the most literal sense. Telluride sits at the head of a box canyon in the San Juan Mountains, at about 2,670 metres, with cliffs on three sides and a waterfall tumbling down the back wall. Bridal Veil Falls drops about 110 metres, and the old hydroelectric plant perched at its top was among the first to deliver alternating current in the country. The town has the look of a mining camp turned into a resort, with Victorian brick fronts, wooden porches and a main street lined with bars and shops.

   Read the complete Telluride write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Telluride comes up about 80 km into the recorded legs. Next is Lizard Head Pass.

3. 3. Lizard Head Pass

   Lizard Head Pass, at 3,116 metres, is the high point of Colorado Highway 145 between Telluride and Dolores, and one of the loveliest crossings on the San Juan Skyway. The pass takes its name from the peak that stands over it, a pinnacle of volcanic rock some thirteen thousand feet high, whose top, shaped like a reptile's head, has long been regarded as among the hardest climbs in the state. The mountain stands in a wilderness of its own, with high meadows full of wildflowers in July and forests of Engelmann spruce and aspen, and the road crosses a quiet, open saddle with views that go on and on.

   Read the complete Lizard Head Pass write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 106 km into the recorded legs you reach Lizard Head Pass. Nothing on this route is higher. Next is Dolores, mostly downhill.

4. 4. Dolores

   Dolores sits on the river of the same name, in a green, tree-lined valley on the western edge of the Colorado Rockies, and for most riders it marks the end of a long and thrilling run. The San Juan Skyway, a loop that links Ouray, Silverton, Telluride and Durango, passes over some of the highest and most dramatic roads in the country, and Dolores is where the mountains finally let go and the high desert begins. The name is Spanish for sorrows, and comes from a Spanish expedition that camped here in 1776, led by two Franciscan friars searching for a route to California, who named the river for Our Lady of Sorrows.

   Read the complete Dolores write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Dolores closes the day.