San Juan Mountains: Durango to Ouray

Why Colorado:

Last Thanksgiving, I took a road trip through Cochise County, Arizona with my dad. We had so much fun that we wanted to go on another road trip the next year. I threw out the Four Corners Region. It turns out my Dad always wanted to go there, so I started planning the trip in late August. I had been to the region once before on a road trip so I made sure to go to a lot of places that were new for me in addition to the highlights.

In about a week’s time I designed a 4-day road trip that worked with the Thanksgiving holiday and winter hours of parks. We booked the flight in late September.

On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, we flew to Durango, Colorado via Denver. The doors of the plane opened at 11pm and we walked down the ladder onto the tarmac. It was 30 degrees- a 40 degree drop from LA. We rented our truck (the only style of rental car available) and drove 15 minutes into town before settling into our motel, the Durango Lodge.

November 24, 2016: Thanksgiving in the San Juans

We woke up and walked around downtown Durango. The main street was full of businesses with no vacancies. However, because it was Thanksgiving, it was a ghost town. The only places that were open were Starbucks and a marijuana dispensary.

In the town, we met another tourist who said Durango is more full of itself than any city in America except New York. It seemed to be a negative way of saying that there is a lot of local pride, which I think is a good thing.

He also mentioned that there are 7 breweries and 10 dispensaries for a town of just 16,000 people. I’m assuming that there a wide draw from the surrounding states and Native American reservations with stricter weed and liquor laws.

The town had a college-town vibe with lots of cute smaller houses. Durango seemed to be one of the most livable small towns I’ve been to.

Durango’s most famous tourist attraction is a train to the town of Silverton about 45 miles away. With nothing open (including the train) and little left to see in town, we decided to drive to Silverton through the steep San Juan Mountains.

Despite the cold, Durango was still underneath the snow line, but very soon after leaving down, we hit snow. The road climbed and climbed. Eventually, we hit our first mountain pass, Coal Bank Pass at 10,640 ft above sea level. From beyond the pass, we could see a seemingly endless vista of snowy mountains. We continued down the pass and up Molas Pass 10,970 ft above sea level! This time we got out of the car and looked around- more snowy mountains.

A sign post said that the cleanest air in the US was recorded here in the San Juan Mountains.I breathed in deeply.

Past Molas Pass, the road dropped into Silverton. A one-street no-stoplight town. The one street had some beautifully preserved buildings from its mining days. I would think that in the summer with the railroad running, the town probably gets a good deal of visitors. However on Thanksgiving, it was also a ghost town.

It was nearing lunchtime, and my dad and I were searching for a place to eat. Unfortunately, in a town of 300 people the options are slim to begin with and even slimmer on Thanksgiving day. One place appeared to be open, so we walked in. It was packed.

We soon found out that this was a Thanksgiving potluck for everyone in the town and we were invited. My dad and I both got two huge plates of turkey, all the fixins, and pumpkin pie. We then sat down and talked to some of the locals.

Life is hard in Silverton. The town is quite popular with over 1,000 residents in the summer because of the train. However, the population drops to 300 in the winter. Nobody can hold a full-time job other than teachers here because there isn’t enough to do. The single school has about 50 students. To play sports, the students drive 45 minutes over the mountains to Ouray to join their teams. They do have a famous ski mountain- Colorado’s highest that is known for its steep terrain and lack of grooming.

We offered to contribute to the restaurant owner for the meal, but the he refused. He wanted us to enjoy our Thanksgiving and remember the generosity of the people of Silverton- which we certainly will.

Pressing onward, we drove north along a road called the Million Dollar Highway. In today’s money, a million dollars probably couldn’t pave a half-mile of this road, but it has a nice ring to it. The road climbed and climbed and climbed until we reached Red Mountain Pass at 11,018 ft above sea level. From here, the road changed drastically as we dropped into the steep Uncompahgre Gorge. The guardrails disappeared and the curves sharpened. The road now cut into a cliff. The gorge was so steep that it was snow free.

30-minutes of downhill driving led us to the town of Ouray below the snowline. Known as the Switzerland of America for its stunning location, Ouray is also the Ice Climbing Capital of North America.

Just up-canyon from the town is the world-famous Ouray Ice Park. Here, the town installed sprinklers above the gorge to create ice waterfalls for climbing.

We met the caretaker of the park. He had a massive beard and was wearing shorts and flip flops despite the 28-degree weather. Our new friend explained that people come from all over the world to climb in Ouray. The park is free to the public, but the park encourages climbers to purchase a membership to support its maintenance. The water used to create the waterfalls is actually redirected water from the river below. I would think that this park would be quite a sight to see in mid-winter. However in November, it was still too warm for the ice falls to form.

The town of Ouray was quite charming. Three things surprised me about the town. First, Ouray is actually the county seat of its own county. Can’t imagine much more than a few thousand people live there. Second, the main road is the only paved road in town. Everything else is improved dirt. Third, there is a huge public hot spring in town. Unfortunately, it was undergoing a renovation while we were. Guess I will have to go back.

It was now 3pm and we were worried about driving the mountain passes in the dark, so we hurried back to Durango. Since we knew the road, we were able to move quicker and returned in just 90 minutes.

Back in Durango, we napped and then headed over to the historic Strater Hotel for our second Thanksgiving dinner. The meal was just as delicious as lunch. The buffet stretched into 3 rooms!! Needless to say, my dad and I passed out from food comas immediately after returning to our hotel. The next day, we drove west towards Mesa Verde.