Cynz Travel Blog

We slept in a little yesterday morning. After we got up, I talked Curtis into a 3 mile walk, looping around the large KOA campground.  We enjoy checking out other people's rigs and seeing what they use and dreaming about retirement. After brunch, we did some clean up to get the bus ready for travel tomorrow.   I then talked him into going on a short hike (although very steep) to Cascade Falls. Truth be told, the altitude was getting to both of us. I've been suffering from some nausea and headaches. But I've been powering through.  No! It's not Covid. My temperature has been fine. I've been doing twice daily checks since we're heading back to see my parents. We've tried to be really careful and avoid people. That's the great thing about camping. You can still do outdoor activities and avoid people! Cascade Falls is off of 8th Avenue in downtown Ouray. But it's a very steep, short hike. It was really hot yesterday also...which didn't help. So this ...

The Million Dollar Highway is really US 550 that begins in Ouray and continues past Durango. It is a scenic route that takes you along the San Juan Mountain range. It is considered part of the San Juan Skyway.  It climbs up three mountain passes:  Coal Bank Pass (10,640 ft.), Molas Pass (10, 970 ft.) and Red Mountain Pass (~ 11,000 ft.).  We drove from Ouray to Silverton and then all the way to Durango. We got to Silverton and just drove around town.  There were a lot of people walking around not wearing masks (still Covid season, people!).  So we decided we didn't need to get out. Silverton is not very large...just a main street with some shops and bars. The drive over from Ouray is really the main attraction. There were several motorcycle riders on the roads.  It was a gorgeous day! Silverton main street Overlook with Silverton below. We then continued on to Durango.  Durango is larger than Silverton.  We drove around Durango and didn't find any...

Ouray claims to be the Jeeping capital of the world. I don't know if that's true, but there are many fun Jeep trails to try from easy to difficult. We were even told at the Visitor's Center that someone in a BMW had to get airlifted out after getting stuck to the tune of $12k. Ouch! All of the trails cut through many parts of the San Juan Mountains with old and current mines that can be seen and toured along the way. Curtis was pretty excited about trying a moderate trail after the Old Fall River Road in the Rocky Mountains. We started our day off by driving to Box Canyon Falls.  This is a pretty easy hike just south of Ouray.  The High Bridge Trail is part of the Perimeter Trail around Ouray.  It takes you to the top of the Canyon where there is a grated bridge that gives you beautiful views of the valley below that leads to a tunnel. (I thought the views were beautiful...Curtis wasn't as excited as I was.) This tunnel takes you to some stairs that continue...