We recently spent a week in Montrose, Colorado while our RV was being worked on in the shop. We had rented a small cabin at an RV park and were able to explore some of what Southwest Colorado has to offer.
In fact, if you haven’t already, be sure to check out our post and video on Ouray, otherwise known as “America’s Switzerland”. It’s a small mountain town located just 30 minutes from where we were staying in Montrose and is one of our favorite places so far. We highly recommend you add it to your list of places to visit! In fact, we tried to stay there but couldn’t find any availability at the time.
We liked the idea of coming back to Southwest Colorado once our RV was fixed, so we spent a day driving on US Highway 550, often referred to as the “Million Dollar Highway”. It was apparently built in the late 1880’s and gets up to an elevation of 11,000 at Red Mountain Pass. I believe the term “Million Dollar Highway” is technically referring to the stretch of highway between Ouray and Silverton.
Our plan was to drive back through Ouray and then get a taste of Silverton, Durango, and Vallecito in hopes of finding some locations to bring our tiny home on wheels once the repairs were complete. This was the most breathtaking, scenic drive we’ve ever been on, even when it was raining!
In the end, it was well worth the drive, and our photos and video don’t even do it justice!
It was pouring rain during the majority of our drive, but cleared up just a few minutes before we began our hike on Vallecito Creek Trail. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to finish the hike because we had to turn around and drive the 4 hours back to the cabin, but it was nice to stretch our legs and experience a portion of the San Juan National Forest.
I didn’t get many photos of the drive since I was trying to get video footage, which you can watch in the video above, but here are a few more photos from our hike. It turned out to be such a beautiful day!
When we do head back, we would love to spend more time around Silverton. I love that it’s at a higher elevation so there are more of my evergreen trees in that area. We would also love to ride the Durango/Silverton train someday, so if you’re planning a visit near there I would definitely check it out!
Regardless, the “Million Dollar Highway” is an incredible scenic drive we recommend you experience first hand.
And if you have spent some time in Southwest Colorado and have any favorite towns, hikes, or tips you’d love to share, we would love to hear them in the comments below!
Have you visited the Manitou Cliff Dwellings while you have been there? They are pretty neat.
We planned to check it out, especially since it’s dog-friendly, but didn’t get around to it this time around. We’ll definitely have to make another trip out to Colorado, there are so many beautiful towns and things to do there!