Planning to spend 4 days in Ouray in September. We're walkers rather than avid hikers. browsers rather than shoppers and we love scenery and history. We don't want "high-life", just good fare and peace and quiet at night.
Would Ouray fit our requirements?

Durango - maybe.
Durango/ Ouray area - definitely.
Ouray by itself for 4 days? I don't think so.

Be sure to spend a day at Mesa Verde NP outside of Durango.

You may enjoy a trip on the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.

Personally, I really like Ouray and could easily spend four days there. It definitely offers scenery and peace and quiet.

Having said that, Ouray is a very small town, and you might find yourself wanting to venture a bit further as mentioned above.

We really enjoyed our stay at the Box Canyon Lodge and had a good meal at Buen Tiempo.

Ouray is pretty small.
Maybe consider breaking your trip up and staying in Ouray and another location (Durango, Silverton, Telluride).
Personally I would spend 2 days in Durango - then spend 1/2 day and do the Million-Dollar Highway drive up to Telluride. Telluride is gorgeous! The walk up to TomBoy (the old mine above the town) is beautiful.

Janice -- sounding familiar?
Debi

The next time I'm in the area, I want to go to Lake City. A sibling says I just have to see it.

I've also considered renting a 4x4.

I googled, and sure enough there's a 4x4 road from Ouray to Lake City. If that appeals to you, here's a link -

http://www.ouraycolorado.com/Jeeping

starrville - Lake City was a really neat stop on our last Colorado visit! We did the Cinnamon Pass Trail from Lake City to Telluride in a rented Jeep (large enough for our family of 4).

It is my understanding that the road from Ouray to Lake City is rougher than the road by Silverton. And if you go the Silverton route, you can see the ghost town of Animas Forks.

I love Ouray and recommend: Yankee Boy jeep tour (but may be too late for wildflowers in Sept); hot springs pool; Ouray Historical Museum (small but interesting) and one side trip to either Telluride or Mesa Verde. (Ideally, both, but you do only have 4 days).

A sibling and family happened upon Lake City and spent a 4th of July there. They said it was magical - Americana at its best. Small town 4th of July parade in the midst of some of the most spectacular scenery they'd ever seen. I've "done" that corner of CO so many times - but never ventured to Lake City. It's definitely on my to-do list.

I DID buy a map of the 4x4 roads in the area for planning my next trip back. All this talk may move that trip closer to to the top of the list!

Sounds like you had a blast, karens! Thanks. I'll look into that route.

One of the most amazing (although scary) memories was driving to Ouray from Durango during a Valentine's weekend trip. Everything was iced over and absolutely gorgeous. It took us forever to do the drive but it was just spectacular - and we were much relieved that we didn't slide over an edge on the ice! Very few folks out that day

Lake city is great, and Cinn. Pass is beautiful; however, unless you are very experienced 4-wheelers, do not attempt to drive any unfamiliar passes or jeep roads without checking the difficulty first (just ask a local).

I agree. I would not drive it in anything other than the 4x4 rental and use the information they refer to on their website. (Link to one option above)

I have a book called Best 4x4 Trails in Colorado (may not be exact title) that was a great resource (trail ratings, etc.)

I agree: do not take driving on these roads lightly! My husband did all the driving and he's driven off-road before, so I was comfortable with this arrangement.

I just read my last post: I meant to say we did the Cinnamon Pass Trail from Lake City to SILVERTON. (We then drove to Ouray via the Million Dollar Hwy.)

Lake City does sound like fun for the 4th!

Cinnamon pass from Lake City to Silverton is not a difficult trip. With any decent four wheel drive you will not have trouble on it. Engineer Pass to Lake City will be much more difficult and uncomfortable and will require some offroad skill.

BeanMan

Ron Janice,

When I saw your post, I had to reply with my personal experience. I actually drove Engineer Pass in my Jeep Cherokee 4 x4 quite a few years ago. We started at Lake City and drove up from there. Lake City to the summit is the EASY part!

Coming down the other side to Ouray will curl your hair! The jeep was in 4 wheel drive low gear the whole way and the foot on the brake nearly nonstop. You are actually crawling along on nothing but rocks, rocks, rocks. I would not recommend this drive to anyone without considerable off road experience. It's extremely SLOW going and bumps, bumps, bumps.

Oh, did I mention that it's one lane wide? With some pretty intense drop offs?

The scenery is amazing, but take a tour if you don't have your own 4 x4 at home.

My hubby and I really liked Ouray. We stayed here years ago when we went skiing with friends.

We stayed at the Weisbaden Lodge and Spa. Ouray is beautiful and quite, but it's a very small town. Dining choices were very limited if I remember correctly.

http://www.ouraycolorado.com/

Totally agree with previous posters! Engineer Pass and Black Bear Pass are NOT for inexperienced 4x4 drivers. People have died trying to do Black Bear Pass to Telluride. To do Cinnamon Pass, avoid the Engineer Pass route by going to Silverton and then up to Animas Forks. Take Ophir Pass or Imogene Pass if 4-wheeling to Telluride.

Hi,

We will stay in Ouray next june.
We will be driving in from Durango (Million $ Highway) with a visit to Silverton.
The next day we're heading for Moab.

According mapquest;
Durango-Ouray is 70 miles and about 1h50m.
Ouray-Moab is 150 miles and about 3h15m.

I'm quite sure the distances are accurate, but what about the driving times?


Anyone driven those routes lately?

To get back to the recent question --

bertorelli -- the drive from Durango to Ouray will take that long or longer depending on traffic. It is a very narrow, winding road and in most parts only 1 lane in each direction with pullout once in a while. Heading north, you will be on the "cliff"side and sometime folks get a bit panicked and drive reallllly slow.

The drive from Ouray to Moab sounds about right too. Single lane in most places, not as steep or curvy as Million Dollar Highway.

Trouble is, there are often big trucks on these roads, and if you get stuck behind one...

If I can recommend hotels, B&B's, restaurants, activities along the way, please ask. I live in area and love to help visitors and our local business out.

Debi

Those times sound about right to me too. One of the things I really had to get used to out here in Colorado was the drive times. A 120 mile trip will not take 2 hours on a mountain road - it will take more like 3 just because of the slower speeds and occasional slow truck or car in front of you.
If you're going to Moab from Ouray via the Hwys 62, 145, 90, 46, 191 route you'll want to enjoy the ride as it is very pretty.

We really loved Ouray - it was an unexpected highlight on a CO/NM trip in Fall '05. My husband & I stayed at the Wiesbaden Inn (it has a cool vapor cave) and walked all over the beautiful little town - to Box Canyon, the town hot springs pool, to dinner. We also had a great meal at Buen Tiempo (as Melnq8 mentioned).
For walking, browsing, incredible scenery and history, I think you guys would really enjoy Ouray. Here's a post to some pictures -
http://www.pbase.com/peterb/image/49900198
http://www.pbase.com/peterb/image/49876619
http://www.pbase.com/peterb/image/49926589

Beautiful pictures! My favorite corner of the world - well, at least away from home

Thanks for sharing!