Why this ride
A dense sequence of passes, valleys and viewpoint roads. It also links naturally to San Juan Mountains.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
San Juan Skyway
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 306 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 49
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Access context
Check seasonal gates, park access and state 511 notices before publication. Specific flag: seasonal.
Seasonal context
Jun-Sep
Scenic road chapters
Million Dollar Highway
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 19 km this is Million Dollar Highway, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Rider note
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 19 km
- Named road
- Million Dollar Highway
- Pass
- Red Mountain Pass
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Durango
Durango owes its existence to a railway, and the railway still runs. In 1881 the Denver and Rio Grande built a narrow-gauge line up the Animas river canyon to the silver mines at Silverton, and the town was laid out to serve it. Today the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad still operates a coal-fired steam train over the same route, with black smoke, cinders and a long whistle echoing between the cliffs, and the depot on the edge of the old town is a major attraction. The main street, Main Avenue, with its brick Victorian buildings, saloons and the Strater Hotel, has changed little since the town's early years.
Read the complete Durango write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Durango sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Silverton.
2. 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 comes up 46 km in. Next is Telluride.
3. 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
91 km in you reach Telluride. Next is Ouray.
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, late in the day. Next is Durango.
5. Durango
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Durango write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Durango sits at 306 km, late in the day.
Recorded source links
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Million Dollar Highway (86 km) · 116 km
- San Juan Skyway · 374 km
- San Juan Skyway: Durango to Ouray · 115 km
- San Juan Skyway: Durango to Lizard Head Pass · 221 km