AAA Colorado ~ EnCompass Magazine

September | October 2006
Volume 80 Issue 5

Mini Tour The San Juan Skyway
Fall that glitters … is really gold
By Jeff Miller

Photo: Lora Slawitschka

Chances are, this is the Colorado of your wildest imagination.

It's the coffee table book you saw as a child — blazing aspens and a distant snowy peak seen through the warped walls of a ruined cabin. It's that picture on your coworker's calendar — the old mine headframe perched on its crag amid fall colors that shout more thunderously than the rushing river below. It's a blast of steam and a train's whistle, ghost towns, gold under the ground and on the hills and whispering in the breeze. Recognized or not, iconic images from the San Juan Skyway have insinuated themselves into our culture as the distilled essence of a dream: Colorado! Mountains!

Photo: Lora Slawitschka

Located in the southwestern corner of Colorado, the San Juan Skyway is actually four roads — highways 160, 550, 62 and 145. These roads form a rough triangle with Durango as its southeast corner, Ridgway at the northern tip, and Cortez in the southwest corner.

Meandering through 236 miles, two national forests, one national park, five mountain passes and the greatest concentration of 14,000-foot peaks in the USA, the San Juan Skyway is one of the most spectacular scenic drives in the world. It is a Colorado Scenic and Historic Byway, a National Forest Scenic Byway and one of only a handful of "All-American Roads" designated by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Superlatives aside, what's the road really like?

Nothing short of spectacular. It's a beefy, two-hands-on-the-wheel kind of road that rolls through canyons and valleys, hangs from cliffs and straddles ridge tops. All around, lush green valleys are ringed by sharp-toothed peaks as thick pine forests give way to meadows ablaze with wildflowers.

In autumn, giant stands of aspen turn into rivers of gold cascading down mountain sides. Standing among them when a breeze is up, you can hear their spoon-sized leaves softly rattling together and understand why the Ute Indians called the aspen the tree that whispers to itself.

Although the route can be driven in one long day, it's better to take two, three or even four days so you can experience some of its attractions in depth. Two major all-day stops are Mesa Verde National Park, near Cortez, and the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway.

Listed as one of the top 10 train journeys in the world by the Society of American Travel Writers, and featured in no less than 19 movies, this historic steam train has carried passengers for 125 years on its all-day trip from Durango to Silverton and back. Promoted as a world-class scenic trip since 1882, the train also hauled more than $300 million of precious metals before becoming a passenger-only route in 1951. Open and closed carriages rattle across high-country meadows, climb steep mountain passes, and hang precariously from sheer granite cliffs before pulling into the old mining outpost of Silverton for a two-hour layover. After exploring the town, the new perspectives and vistas on the return train ride are as fresh and new as the ride up.

As the largest town along the route, Durango, with 16,000 people, is a good starting point. A picturesque town with a friendly feel, it has an outdoor spirit that's fed by two million acres of surrounding public land. The town's heart is the dynamic main street, lined with restored 1800s buildings filled with 70 restaurants, 17 art galleries and numerous shops.

When drivers finally head north out of Durango, on U.S. Highway 550, they find the Skyway meandering through a wide, cultivated valley before beginning its climb into the rugged San Juan Mountains. Huge gravel slopes-streaked with reds and yellows, oranges and browns — are topped by bald gray crests against a backdrop of deep blue sky.

After climbing over Coal Bank and Molas Divide passes (both more than 10,000 feet), the road drops into the broad high valley where Silverton resides. Dirt streets and old wooden buildings conjure up a frontier feel, while history buffs get their fill at the excellent San Juan County Museum. North of Silverton, the Skyway continues on its intrepid way, rising to Red Mountain Pass (11,118 feet) and the Million Dollar Highway, six miles of white-knuckle mountain road just outside the town of Ouray. Some say the road's moniker came from the 1800s price it cost to carve the road from the cliffs; others say it's because of the million-dollar views. Either way, it's a stretch not to be missed (except in winter).

In Ouray, an historic main street and large public hot springs pool are nearly boxed in by high canyon walls streaked with reds, browns and grays. At nearby Box Canyon City Park, a waterfall thunders through pockets of rock face.

Running out of Ouray, the Skyway turns the corner at Ridgway, onto Colorado Highway 62, and suddenly the other side of the San Juan mountains is revealed. Here, they're solid granite slabs with peaks like the sharp edges of ancient arrowheads. The road is dwarfed by these massive mountains.

So too is Telluride, the old mining town turned luxury ski resort. Gourmet French restaurants cozy up next to Old West barrooms, while western wear shops sit beside chic boutiques. A growing group of Hollywood stars — who think Aspen is too crowded — now make Telluride their mountain home. Great views of the town and its box canyon can be had by taking the free gondola ride, or by bouncing along a tough 4WD track to nearby Bridal Veil Falls (at 365 vertical feet, the longest free-falling falls in the state).

Continuing south past Telluride, on Colorado Highway 145, the Skyway weaves through mountains now transformed into multilayered red and ocher buttes and bluffs, separated by sagebrush and pinon forests.

Within such dry, sparse country are two must-see sites, the Anasazi Heritage Center in Dolores and the world-famous Mesa Verde National Park.

The cultural center houses artifacts and interactive displays that provide a good foundation for understanding the mysterious Ancestral Puebloans (formerly called Anasazi).

That understanding is heightened by one of the nation's major archeological preserves, magnificent Mesa Verde National Park, 15 miles southeast of Cortez, back on U.S. Highway 160. Spread out over the tops and sides of huge mesas, the park offers visitors everything from museum displays and video presentations to simple overlooks and guided or self-guided walking tours through actual cliff dwellings more than 700 years old — an awe-inspiring place worthy of at least a day's exploration (maybe two).

The last leg of the Skyway, from Cortez back to Durango, is rolling prairie marked by occasional flat-topped mesas. Like hitting a smooth patch of river after a wild ride in the rapids, it lets you down easy, and gives you time to reflect on the dramatic scenery and amazing history you've just experienced.

Jeff Miller is editor of EnCompass.