Dangerous Curves – Road through the Rockies.

Colorado has always been a destination for me. Having been born in the Canadian Rockies, the Rockies were calling me home.  Our first summer on the road my goal was to go to the Pacific Northwest, but I was called to Colorado first. It was the opposite direction but I had to follow my own path. 

After a short stay in Fruita, CO, our next stop was Ridgway, CO. We had a weekend stay planned at Orvis Hot Springs which turned out to be our favorite hot springs location thus far. Orvis is a combination of beauty, nature, friendly people, stillness and hot mineral water. It was our first time at this oasis and all we had heard about it had not begun to demonstrate its beauty.  I don’t have any pictures of the resort as it is clothing optional so privacy is required.  Putting our phones away is an added bonus and increased the serenity.   

Behind the resort they have a parking lot that allows RVs to dry camp while using the resort. This would be our first experience in dry camping, which is basically camping without any hookups. It was a great first experience being off grid and still close to all our needs plus the beautiful hot springs resort. And to make us feel even more ‘at home’, our view included horses and long horn steers in front of a beautiful mountain landscape. 

Can’t skip over the town of Ridgway, CO! It is nestled in the valley with a beautiful river, meadows and forest. As soon as I drove into the area and came upon the river I felt like it was ‘home’. It is near a tourist town called Ouray at the base of the San Juan Mountains. The Ridgway State Park is a must visit and on our list to stay at the next chance we get.

After a short weekend in Ridgway it was regretfully time to move on. Back then I was planning in detail a month or more in advance and I’d mapped out and booked our stays throughout Colorado while I was still back in Vegas and with no experience.  Of course google maps was my main source of information and it had us taking an almost direct route from Ridgway, CO to our next destination in Bayfield, CO.  We were heading to Blue Spruce RV Park at Vallecito Lake not too far from Durango, CO. 

All hitched up we carefully maneuvered through the tourist traffic of Ouray and were heading toward Hwy 550.  As we rounded a corner on a steep hill we spotted a sign that said “Tunnel ahead 13ft”.  A fear instantly passed through both of us and we pulled over into a parking lot just in time before the narrow 2 lane road that was in front of us. Mike had done an estimated measurement of the trailer height and it was a bit over 13ft before we took off on our travels. We needed to discuss what to do?!  The map definitely had not indicated tunnels!

Mike wanted to see another RV going through the tunnel so I started googling and I found a YouTube video of a big Class A RV going through which was somewhat comforting. I should have kept googling (actually should have done it days before!) to see what the rest of this highway was going to present. 

With this bit of comfort about the tunnel, Mike looked at me and asked “What’s your gut say?”. I replied “We can make it”.  Perhaps his question should have been more specific, like will we enjoy the drive and is it safe?!

Well we did make it! 

The tunnel was actually probably the easiest part of the drive. The 24 miles between Ouray and Silverton took us more than hour, much of that time neither of us were breathing. 

Yes it was breath-taking, but it was so narrow, windy, and with no guardrails on death dropping cliffs. Needless to say there were no pictures taken. 

For your benefit, there are many pictures available online of this highway we later came to know as the Million Dollar Highway.  It is famously known as one of the most dangerous and beautiful highways in the US… for cars and motorcycles!  For RVs and trailers it is avoided by most, except us newbies not realizing 2D google maps do not take our size into account!  

The Million Dollar Highway was built in the 1850s and not for rigs our size for sure. It is really the twelve miles just south of Ouray through the Umcompahgre Gorge to the Red Mountain Pass that gains its reputation. This stretch is white knuckling, challenging and potentially hazardous with its narrow lanes, steep drop offs, hair pin curves and lack of guardrails especially going south which of course was our direction. Not to mention the risk of rockslides and avalanches.  

We had our angels with us that day. Although it was scary and challenged our fortitude and trust, we had no incidents like bad weather, rocks or animals interfering with the already dangerous drive. 

I wish I had video, but I will never forget the feeling in the pit of my stomach during that drive! Here is a video of the entire drive through the Million Dollar Highway sped up into 10 mins. About 1:30 gives a good idea of what we went through if so inclined to check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idXrlV3aWgo

Obviously we made it safely to our destination or I may not be here writing this right now. We had no idea how dangerous that road was when we set out on it, and once on it there was literally no turning back so we just supported each other through to the end.  I supported us by thinking positively and remaining quiet as Mike focused and drove cautiously and calmly as he always does. 

The next evening at a restaurant bar in Vallecito Lake while chatting with locals we became even more aware of how naive we had been and the risk we took.  These locals of decades barely take that road in their cars, and looked at us in shock and fear when we told them of our journey through the Red Mountain pass with our long truck and 5th wheel trailer the day before. I think I saw one of them make the sign of a cross on our behalf!

So much learning of travel and life happens on this journey. When we are lucky to get through the tricky parts, we are even luckier to have the opportunity to learn from it. 

We learned on this day that we can remain calm and supportive in moments of stress. 

We also learned to check and double check highways we are going to take and always zoom in really close before following google maps!

Please share in the comments below what beautiful roads you have survived to tell about! We would love to hear all about them.