Million Dollar Road Trip - Plus A Great Planning Tool

 Montrose, Colorado (95 degrees, hot, bright blue skies)

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take,

but by the moments which take our breath away"

Anonymous

Let's go on a road trip...how about one with  million dollar views which includes waterfalls. box canon, ghost town, historic town, and John Wayne. Sounds like fun? 

First a little planning is required.

Our friend Barry told us about a cool website (my scenic road trips) which is a great tool for planning one.  Click here for the link. We really like it. There are detailed scenic road trips for each state with lots of options and information about what to see along the way. You can even send the route to your phone, Garmin, or Streets and Trips. We used two routes while we were in the Montrose Colorado area. Although we didn't do the complete trip, it gave us some great ideas and pointed out for example a ghost town we would have missed altogether.

Here is a screen print of the options in Colorado. 

We clicked on one of the routes and this screen print shows detailed information about the route

Check it out. We found it to be very helpful. So lets go!

As we left Montrose and headed towards Ouray we saw lots and lots of bicycles peddling up the same steep mountain highway too. They were all participating in  a six day Bicycle Tour of Colorado. We talked to one participant and he stated they had to pedal over two mountain  passes which were over 10,000 feet. Dang!

Along the way we checked out Colorado's #1 State Park called Ridgeway. It's a lovely park with several campgrounds. The view of the mountains were breathtaking and there was a huge pretty lakes for kayaking and boating. This campground was added to our "to do" list for next time. 

Ridgeway State Park

John with his hero

Our destination for this trip was the town of Ouray. It was a perfect day. We stopped for lunch in Ridgeway at a restaurant called True Grit. This is where the movie was filmed and the restaurant had lots of memorabilia. My husband loves watching John Wayne movies and has probably seen most of them...many times. It was the perfect place to have lunch on Father's Day. 

As we arrived in Ouray at the hot springs we found out where the bicyclist were spending the night. Great location after a long ride!

Bicylists staying at hot spring park 

The town of Ouray is very scenic and touristy. Our road trip plan suggested stopping at Box Canon. It is a very dramatic waterfall which spills into a narrow canyon. A metal walk way takes you along side where the water is squeezing itself through the very narrow area. It was a thrill to see the water thunder through the canon. Look for the dirt road leading to the park. Admission is $4.

Box Canon

We were very happy to see a rare bird which nests among all this chaos every spring called a Black Swift. We met Sue, a volunteer here who has been studying this bird for 21 years. She quietly pointed out several nests to us. She was such a delightful and enthusiastic person. 

Nesting Black Swift - she only lays one egg

Volunteer Sue

Nearby is another waterfall called Cascade Falls. John got some great views by taking the Box Canon Trail.

Later we drove over to it and hiked up a very steep parking lot to see it. It was worth the effort.

Cascade Falls

Driving back to Montrose John said it was a great Father's Day.  The next day we returned to this area and began the drive past Ouray up the mountain along the Million Dollar Highway. My guide book says it may have got this name from the cost of building it or maybe because of the spectacular views. It certainly is an engineering feat. Not sure why they didn't include a few guard rails. Perhaps they ran out of money. It's the most spectacular road we have traveled on to date but not for the faint of heart. Soon we were up with the clouds.

Spectacular falls from an overlook

After many switch backs and jaw dropping views we arrived in Silverton. The road trip website suggested heading out to a ghost town following the Animas River. It was a dirt road but very doable in the jeep if you take your time. It passes by  many active and abandoned gold and silver mines along the way. 

There still was snow viable in some areas

Active mine

It must have been very lonely to live in this now abandoned town. At one time over 450 people worked at a nearby mine  in the summer and a few folks lived here year round. Some of the houses still exist. One of the information signs said the snow would be higher then the top of the door ways in the winter.

Ghost Town

Gustavon's Home with "indoor plumbing" They lived here from 1905-1907. 

We turned around and went back to the historic town Silverton and  had a great lunch at Handlebars. Then it was back on the road taking the Million Dollar Highway back to our campground. This was a long day but a great road trip. Don't you think?

Silverton

Best photo of what the Million Dollar Highway is like to drive

Rock tunnel

Town of Ouray

Thanks for stopping by today. What was your favorite road trip?