Montrose, Colorado & The Black Canyon of The Gunnison National Park

Visited May 16 - 20, 2021 

By Janell

After spending six nights in Dolores, Colorado it's time to move on. Next destination: Montrose, CO.

 

 

 

Apparently 6'7" wasn't tall enough

 

On our way from Dolores to Montrose we stopped in Telluride to look around and have some lunch at the same brewery Marty dined in on his bike trip in 2019 (Smuggler Union Restaurant and Brewery).

Somebody's got a sense of humor

  

 

 

What's wrong with this picture?

The golden arch? Where’s the other one? We were surprised when we drove into Montrose, CO and saw this McDonald’s. So, of course, I did some research. According to eatthis.com, apparently McDonald's started out this way, and 12 of the original McDonald’s still sport their single arch. By the way, there are now 38,000 locations in 119 countries! I found it very odd that there’s quite a variety in the single arch. Some are a tall, skinny arch that start at ground level; some are quite fat; and others like the one in Montrose is elevated on top of a sign.

The first single arch eatthis.com lists is Downey, California; and the second one is Montrose, Colorado.

If you’d like to see pictures and know more:

https://www.eatthis.com/states-rare-mcdonalds-sign/

 

 

 

 

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is a very dramatic park, and it’s only about a half hour from Montrose, CO. We’d never even heard of the park before Marty’s bike trip in 2019 when Garrett told him about it.

The Gunnison River runs through the bottom of the canyon. It’s called The Black Canyon because it’s steep and narrow which makes it difficult for sunlight to penetrate into its depths, thus shrouding the canyon in shadow and causing the walls to appear black. There are some parts of the canyon that only get as little as 33 minutes of sunshine per day.

You can see the Gunnison River in this shot

 

The "wall" on the right is called "Painted Wall"

At 2,300 feet Painted Wall is the tallest cliff in Colorado. If the Empire State Building stood on the canyon floor, it would reach slightly more than halfway to the top of the cliff. Kind of mind-boggling, isn't it?

 

In case you were wondering whether we hiked into the Black Canyon: we did not. We were content to just see it from the overlooks. In fact, if you do want to hike into it, you’ll need to apply for a permit.

 

 

 

From Montrose we made a day trip to Ouray (pronounced "your-ray", like "Eur-ope"). Ouray is known as the "Switzerland of America". Although we've never been to Switzerland, we've now been to Ouray. Ouray is a beautiful little mountain town surrounded by rugged canyons and the beautiful San Juan Mountains. Ouray is also famous for it's hot springs, but we didn't get a chance to experience them.

While in Ouray, we hiked two or three miles of the Perimeter Trail, which takes you up above the town (1,600' of elevation gain) for some nice views (like the one above). Although the day started out cold, gray and windy, it turned into a lovely day for a hike.

The whole Perimeter Trail is a loop about six miles long

 

 

Caution: Watch Your Head

 

 

The trail takes you to Box Canyon Falls

 

After the hike we ventured around the town of Ouray a bit.

Uh-oh ...

The fashions in Ouray were imaginative

We drove the Million Dollar Highway (more on that in a second) from Ouray to Silverton, and here are some scenes along the way:

While stopped at this viewpoint along the highway this biker dude's pup waited not-so-patiently for his owner to come back to the bike. The intensity of his/her yapping was in direct correlation to how far the dude ventured from the bike. It was comical -- they were the most unlikely pair!

The Uncompahgre River runs next to the Million Dollar Highway

The Million Dollar Highway was completed in 1924. It stretches for about 25 miles on U.S. 550 in western Colorado between Ouray and Silverton, Colorado. There are several legends as to how it came to be named "The Million Dollar Highway", including that it cost a million dollars per mile to build or that its fill dirt contains a million dollars in gold ore.

Though the entire stretch is called the Million Dollar Highway, it's really the twelve miles south of Ouray, through the Uncompahgre Gorge to the summit of Red Mountain Pass, that everyone talks about. This stretch through the gorge is challenging and potentially hazardous to drive: it has steep cliffs, hairpin curves, narrow lanes, and a lack of guardrails! It's also very picturesque, but if you're the driver please keep your eyes on the road!

Yikes!

 

Good thing we were just driving our Honda CRV! Garrett had warned us not to try it in the Beast.

 

Want to drive it yourself? Or maybe you'd rather just check out our video and call it good.

 

 

At the other end of the Million Dollar Highway: Silverton was a sleepy little town

"If only I had a fake ID ... "