The Million Dollar Highway

Beautiful views abound on this curvaceous stretch of sexy Colorado Highway.

The entire loop runs from Durango through Silverton and Euray, up to Ridgway and back down to Placerville to Telluride, Cortez and then back to Durango. This 232 mile loop offers many stops along the way and can take all day or even several days if you'd like to experence each town.

The actual "Million Dollar Highway" that offers our favorite mountain views are from Durango to Ouray. We visited in late April, right after a snow storm and were rewarded with beautiful, snow capped mountain ranges.

We stopped to fish in multiple locations along the way. The Dolores river as well as San Miguel outside of Telluride has some great spots to try your angling skills. The best fishing spots are on the Ridgway to Placerville to Telluride to Durango stretch of highway.

As an added bonus, we got to see a herd of elk on the way into Telluride. Telluride is beautiful but I can imagine it would be difficult to navigate in a motor vehicle during the season as we were there when most things were still closed between seasons and the tiny multimillion dollar houses were packed together tighter than sardines, and there were cars parked everywhere. If you’re looking for quaint mountain towns, we prefer Ouray, or Crested Butte.

If you're looking for camping, we loved the look of Golden Horn Campground- part of Kendall Campground right outside of Silverton. This is first come dispersed camping along Mineral Creek. There are no hookups here but is a beutiful opportunity for off the grid camping. We made reservations and stayed at Ridgway State Park. This is a beautiful park situated perfectly between the Million Dollar Highway to the south and The Black Canyon of the Gunnison to the north.

While in Ouray, be sure to check out the https://www.coloradoboyouray.com/ and ask for Caleb! Everything was delicious and affordable. We chose the Detroit style pizza with our own mix of veggies and couldn’t be happier with the parmesan crusted deliciousness.

This stretch of American Scenic Byway should not be missed!