San Juan stays and eats

[73TAWM]

We are headed to the San Juans for summer fun at the end of July and looking for recommendations on places to stay, places to dine, watering holes, and things to do.
Traveling out from Missouri with another couple who just joined the Jeep life and have never been in the mountains. They've been watching videos of trails and are both excited, but a third couple (man is from Colorado) who's wife says "no way José" to the mountain passes, are flying in and renting a jeep for the first two days then leaving us to do our own thing. I have most trails figured out from my Colorado Back Roads guide and OnX app, but would also take some advice on "not so scary" roads to Ouray from Colorado Springs.

The girls want to see Garden of the Gods (we've been there done that, planning on an hour or so) then we're taking the train up Pikes Peak (3 hour round trip, I think). Because we're planning on coming back home through Canyon City and hitting Royal Gorge and Skyline drive, I'm planning on getting to Gunnison via the northern route through Buena Vista, with a trip around Monarch Pass before sleeping in Gunnison. The reason for that is the scared girl and us killing time until the third couple leaves out on the third morning of being in the state. I'm not sure that's the best route to take and would love the locals input on back roads from Colorado Springs to Gunnison.

Leaving Gunnison to Ouray, I found a route called owl Creek Pass via a cut through road off of 50 called Cimarron Rd just east of Cimarron. Again, just trying to find a nice route to Ouray without getting there too quickly, this should put us in Ouray for lunch. I'm afraid the scaredy cat won't do most of the trails in the area but I'm planning on taking them through Corkscrew to California Gulch and Picayune Gulch (6 hours) or Corkscrew to county road 10 into Silverton (3 hours), hoping for forgiveness afterward unless yall think that would be too much. As a third option I thought about taking them north to south on the Red Mountain Mine trail road (1 hour) and then goofing off in Ouray or Silverton the rest of the afternoon.

The next morning the third couple will be leaving and the rest of us plan to hit the Alpine loop from Silverton, doing Cinnamon to Lake City, checking out Lake City then heading back via engineer. Engineer is the only trail we've done in the area as last time we were passing through the area headed to Moab and planned on a few more trails but my mother freaked out and we had to "get off the mountain". Not much time for anything else that day, but the next day we plan on wheeling around the area and maybe doing something in Ouray. The next day we'll probably head into Telluride via Black bear and come out via Imogene and Yankee Boy.

We can hang around Telluride or Ouray at this point. Looking for suggestions. Like I said previously, we will be stopping at the RG in route through Canyon City which will be where we end up staying for the night before we hit the 12 hour trip back home.

Ideas welcome please.

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[Ratbert]

Consider checking out Black Canyon of the Gunnison if you're going to be that close to it. It's gorgeous, especially camping on the North Rim.

On the day you're thinking about doing lunch in Ouray (try to forget it has an 'O' when pronouncing it) stop at Gnar Tacos in Ridgway instead.

 

[bd100]

Type-A vacations are tiring. Trying to do a bunch of big trails every single day, and no down time, leaves you exhausted. And consider altitude sickness without time to acclimate.

I'd recommend taking it easy-ish, lingering places to enjoy, and not spending day after day bouncing around. It's kind of miserable for the passengers. Stop and get out and set up some camp chairs or something. To fight altitude sickness drink tons of water and zero caffeine. Buy some of those air bottles in town even if you don't think you'll ever use them. Several times I saw people bouncing down the trails where the guy driving is all gung-ho and the lady looks ready to vomit.

Get and use sway bar disconnects for all vehicles if possible. Much smoother ride for everyone. Maybe the rental will have them too.

Try to have at least one person with some kind of satellite comms.

Bring trail food, water, and lots of layers. Expect every kind of weather and temperature. Rain, snow, sun, heat, cold, etc. All in one 24-hr period, sometimes. Sometimes you see the side-by-side people with little protection freezing on the way back to town.

 

[bd100]

Ouray has an opera house theater place, check the listings to see what's going on when you are there. Probably similar places in the other towns nearby.

Lots of great hiking trails in the area. Even a one hour out-n-back can be nice. Check out the waterfall in Ouray, and the trail which rings around the town. Hayden trail S. of Ouray is pretty cool. Steep up hill but fun.

It's harder to get "fast food" in the tourist areas. Most are (expensive) little restaurants. Groceries likewise. May have to go to a bigger town nearby to get stuff.

Telluride has turned into a major tourist trap and yuppie playground. Air port, parking meters everywhere, swarms of people in stop and go traffic and piling up on the sidewalks. We couldn't even find a place to park so we gave up and left. Ouray and Silverton are much more easy-going.

 

[jadmt]

lots of great eating places in both Ouray and Silverton. Twin Peaks resort in Ouray is an excellent place to stay. if camping Molas pass campground is as good as it gets.

 

[Zandcwhite]

We don't like crowds and prefer primitive camping so we camped off last dollar trail. As far as food, Tacos del Gnar was amazing. We went to the Ridgeway location, again avoiding crowds. I believe they have one in Telluride as well.

 

[grimmjeeper]

Some people have serious issues with the road going south out of Ouray towards Silverton. That stretch of US550 has a lot of narrow shelf road with no guard rail. Very scenic but if you're not comfortable with heights and ledges, avoid it.

You can go the long way around through Telluride. That road is easier to tolerate.

 

[jadmt]

Some people have serious issues with the road going south out of Ouray towards Silverton. That stretch of US550 has a lot of narrow shelf road with no guard rail. Very scenic but if you're not comfortable with heights and ledges, avoid it.

You can go the long way around through Telluride. That road is easier to tolerate.

yup you get the tourists who are coming at you in your lane because they are afraid of the edge lol. When people ask about Blackbear pass I tell them if they can handle Ouray to Silverton 550 they can handle Blackbear lol.

 

[cheapjeepJL]

My wife and I will be staying in Ridgeway, CO and playing in the San Juans 7/24 through 8/01 timeframe. it'll be our first time out in the San Juans.

 

[73TAWM]

Some people have serious issues with the road going south out of Ouray towards Silverton. That stretch of US550 has a lot of narrow shelf road with no guard rail. Very scenic but if you're not comfortable with heights and ledges, avoid it.

You can go the long way around through Telluride. That road is easier to tolerate.

we been there, done that, love it.

 

[73TAWM]

My wife and I will be staying in Ridgeway, CO and playing in the San Juans 7/24 through 8/01 timeframe. it'll be our first time out in the San Juans.

We will be there the 18th thru the 24th

 

[73TAWM]

To clarify a few things.
We are not camping.
The wife and I are not big fans of Telluride as it was very touristy and reminded me of Gatlinburg, but we are with people who have never been in the area. I know the gondola lift is free but crap up top is pricey. I thought they had zip lines around there but they don't answer phones or email, so...
When it comes to over night stays we are not afraid to spend money. When I start looking at hotels my head starts spinning. I try not to focus on all the negative reviews because some people you'll never make happy, but not knowing anything about any of them I am looking for what yall enjoyed or thought was worth the money. The last trip we stayed in Silverton at the Historic Alma House.

My friends enjoy lively bars. The wife and I both prefer a more quiet setting with a good bourbon.

We are no strangers to the elevations, water, oxygen cans, etc but keep the advice coming please.

 

[Zandcwhite]

yup you get the tourists who are coming at you in your lane because they are afraid of the edge lol. When people ask about Blackbear pass I tell them if they can handle Ouray to Silverton 550 they can handle Blackbear lol.

Every time someone tries to justify the difficulty rating of black bear "because it's scary and the consequences are high if you drive off the trail", I point out that 550 is the same. Are we rating highways as 6-7 trails now too? We didn't even use 4wd on black bear.

 

[jadmt]

Every time someone tries to justify the difficulty rating of black bear "because it's scary and the consequences are high if you drive off the trail", I point out that 550 is the same. Are we rating highways as 6-7 trails now too? We didn't even use 4wd on black bear.

ditto.. I made this on my first time (done it 3x) and my brother was following and had never been offroad before in his jeep. the only scary part was at 14 minutes the gal squatting in the middle of the road

 

[LSJKU]

You are headed to my all-time favorite part of Colorado, and I'm jealous! I lived in Montrose for a few years and kept my gear packed in the Jeep. I headed out to different trails every chance I got.

Warning, may be TLDR.... just delete.

First, a few words of wisdom/caution:

• There are so many trails in the area that just about anything you choose will be awesome in its own experience. Don't worry too much that you "missed something," because you will. Plan a second/third trip to the region and don't try to do everything in one trip. Heed bd100's advice.
• Be warned that the back roads/trails in Colorado take a lot more time to traverse than you're probably planning for. Example: taking the backroads from Colorado Springs to Ouray will add many more hours to your trip than estimated from distances measured on the map. And it's a given at some point you will get "turned around" and have to double back, or continue on a route you didn't plan for.
• As Grimm says, a lot of people have SERIOUS issues driving Hwy 550 from Ouray to Durango. I was one of them, especially in the late spring and fall when there were still patches of ice on the road. I now only "tolerate" it and drive a major part of it at like 25mph to 35mph. I constantly look for places to pull off the road and let the locals (who drive 40 to 50mph on the same road) behind me pass.

Other than that, all the tips given by others above are solid. Leaving Colorado Springs, I would just take the interstate to Pueblo and get on Hwy 50 to Montrose. Beautiful drive. It will take you through Monarch Pass and then through the canyons in and around Blue Mesa Reservoir on the Gunnison River. A stunning drive on the way to Ouray w/o the back road hassles.

And, as Ratbert points out, don't skip over Black Canyon on the Gunnison. That is a spectacular area to explore. Camping and hiking are both awesome. And there are a ton of trails if hiking isn't in the cards. You could easily spend several days in the breathtaking beauty of this area.

I would seriously consider making a base in Montrose. Lodging is much cheaper, good food more plentiful and there are ample places to restock for day trips. Try the Camp Robber restaurant in Montrose for a sit-down meal. Awesome "healthy" food and not too expensive. Plenty of "fast food" in Montrose as well.

As you already know, the area is chock full of trails. One "fairly easy" trail I would recommend while your "no passes" buddies are with you is to take the Rimrocker trail out of Montrose to Nucla. The trail itself goes 145 miles or so to Moab, and is much more challenging on the Utah side. But at least on the Colorado side, its an easy trail mostly on forest roads, but the altitude and scenery are worth it. Takes you thru Colombine Pass (not bad at all) and then down to Nucla, where you can double back to Ridgeway or even Montrose after gassing up and maybe visiting the Rimrocker Historical Society in Nucla. Or go on to Ouray or Telluride for the rest of the day.

You have to at least drive thru Telluride to see how the "others" live. It's a nice drive, but don't plan to do anything in Telluride but sight see. It is very crowded year-round now. Even finding a place to park can be troublesome.

And if you are planning to do Engineer Pass from the trailhead south of Ouray to Silverton, be sure to stop in Ridgeway and get a couple dozen tacos at Tacos Del Gnar for food on the trail. And don't miss the waterfall just off Hwy 550 on the way to the trailhead. Pretty spectacular in its own way.

There is just too much to do for one trip to the region. Just don't overdo it or you will be miserable by the end of the trip. And beware of those backroads, they take a lot longer than you are probably planning for.

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