Colorado, Ouray: Switzerland of America

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The San Juan Skyway was a beautiful drive through the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado. We had a goal to drive the entire loop, which started in Durango (also in Colorado), in one day, even though many of the tourist brochures we had read, as well as our Lonely Planet guide, said it would be best to take a couple of days to complete the journey. It wasn't until we arrived at towns like Silverton (Colorado) and the subject of this journal entry, Ouray, that we agreed it would have been better to allocate more time to that part of our trip.

After ascending the steep and curvy roads on the way from Durango to Silverton, we descended to Silverton, where we spent over an hour walking around the quaint mountain mining town. We made up our mind to return to Silverton the next day, so we could continue our drive through the mountains to reach the towns of Ouray and Telluride before dark. When we left Silverton, we started to climb up in the mountains again and were able to take in some extraordinary Colorado rugged mountain scenery.

We should step back a little bit and tell you about the drive into Ouray. After we had passed another small mining ghost town, we were getting antsy to arrive in Ouray because the mountain road from Silverton seemed to wind and stretch on and on; we had also stopped several times to take photos, which didn't help us speed very quickly along the route. However, as we turned one sharp corner after circling a peak of one of the many mountains we drove around, we saw a layby off the side of the road with a few people standing outside their cars, taking pictures of something down below.

Excitement hit us as we pulled over in our rental SUV and immediately saw a sign that said "Welcome to the Switzerland of America". We knew that we had arrived at the first viewpoint over Ouray and couldn't have been happier! Ouray was nestled in a mountain valley in the same way that Silverton was, but the scene in front of us was much different than the one we had seen a few hours earlier. The mountains around Ouray seemed to be steeper and more rugged, with less foliage on the peaks. The town of Ouray was smaller, too, and it seemed as though the buildings were placed closer together, as opposed to Silverton's more spread-out appearance.

A couple of bikers, clad in full leather attire, were about to get back on their Harley-Davidson cycles when we asked if they would take a photo of us. We had seen so many bikers on our road trip that it seemed fitting we should finally talk to a couple of them; the man and woman that we ended up having a brief chat with were a couple and had been travelling the San Juan Skyway, just as we had been. After taking the photo, they zoomed off on their Harleys and were gone before we even had a chance to look down the mountainside at the small town below.

Unlike other mining towns, Ouray (founded in 1876) never experienced a large fire that consumed a major portion of the town. As a result, a significant number of 19th century commercial buildings remained there, including the Ouray County Historical Society (which was originally the St. Joseph's Hospital), The Beaumont Hotel, Wright's Opera House, County Courthouse, The Western Hotel, St. Elmo Hotel and City Hall. All of these buildings and a large number of private homes that also survived from the 19th century have been preserved and/or restored to their former beauty, contributing to Ouray's overall pleasantness to the eye.

In 1882, the railroad ran to Ouray from Denver (Colorado) and a connection to Salt Lake City (Utah) was established by 1883. Unlike Silverton, all of Ouray's railroad structures were gone, but there was a well maintained caboose (train car) on display at the Hot Springs Pool. Also unlike Silverton, the population of Ouray was not dominated by rough and tough unmarried miners, mainly because Ouray had already become a successful tourist destination with its spectacular setting and natural hot springs.

By 1880, over 2,600 people had settled in Ouray, which had become the shipping point and logistics centre of the region, a role that it ended up serving for over 90 years. Once mining died out in the region, the town successfully continued its focus on tourism; today, the vibrant small town remains a top tourist destination and a great place to live for the few residents who have chosen to make it their home.

From the Switzerland sign viewpoint, it only took us about ten minutes to get down the mountain and into Ouray. Besides a couple more photo stops, we were on a mission to get to the main street in town so that we could find a cafe selling iced coffees. We parked our car when we arrived in the historic area and walked along the cosy downtown main street. Mouse's Chocolates and Coffee was not too far down the road and we decided to check the place out, as it appeared to have a lot of charm and character. A woman working inside greeted us when we walked in the door and, since she was genuinely friendly, we decided to order an iced white mocha from her, plus a large chocolate chip scone. They were both really tasty and gave us the energy needed to press onwards along the San Juan Skyway.

After we finished the coffee and cake, we walked back to our car, taking photographs along the way of many of Ouray's houses and buildings, each with a unique architecture style. As we drove out of Ouray, we saw its famous Hot Springs Pool & Fitness Centre, which ironically had almost the exact same name as the gym where we played racquetball with Kyle's mum (Judy) and his stepdad (Marc) during our time in in Arkansas earlier in the summer.

There was an outdoor swimming pool there, which sourced its water from an underground hot spring, and if we would have had the time, we would have gone for a dip in the pool to see what the fuss was about. Sadly, there was not any extra time for us that day so we continued our drive after snapping a couple more quick photos. The weather during our drive along the San Juan Skyway was really mild, mostly in the mid-70's (Fahrenheit), perfect weather for a dip in a warm pool. There's always next time!

The next stop on our drive that day was Telluride. We made several stops along the way to take pictures, especially when the mountains opened up into large valleys, with more steep and rugged mountains off in the distance. The weather cleared up pretty well after we left Ouray, causing a stunning landscape under the blue sky, despite there still being several clouds. We had a brush with nature that shocked us, so be sure to click on to the next journal entry to find out about that incident.