550 between Ouray, Silverton, and Durango
My inlaws just returned from a trip through this area in a car. This area is on my short list of vacations in the next few years. The pictures look as if this would be a very tough trip in a fifth whe...
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Just drove it in March in a blizzard in the dark. :E Only other vehicles we saw were snow plows. They closed the road for three days just after we got started out of Ouray and were closing them behind us. Good news about the road in the dark and a blizzard is one can't see how bad the drop offs are. Heck, one just can't see!
One year, I followed a fully loaded school bus north out of Silverton one February. I'm sure it was around 40' long but it did have the automatic chains that deployed when the road got icy. That's how we thin the herds here in Colorado. ;)
Seriously, though, if you aren't used to mountain driving, this is no road to learn on. On the other hand, thousands of trucks and RV's use it every year. The section between Silverton and Ouray is worse than the part between Silverton and Durango IMHO. What seems to scare many people is the lack of guard rails. I guess the question is how often do you use a guard rail to keep you on the road?? The road surface is actually wider in the canyon above Ouray than it is down in the flats between Ouray and Ridgway. (Yes, I was curious and have measured it in different places. Boring life, eh?)
One year, I followed a fully loaded school bus north out of Silverton one February. I'm sure it was around 40' long but it did have the automatic chains that deployed when the road got icy. That's how we thin the herds here in Colorado. ;)
Seriously, though, if you aren't used to mountain driving, this is no road to learn on. On the other hand, thousands of trucks and RV's use it every year. The section between Silverton and Ouray is worse than the part between Silverton and Durango IMHO. What seems to scare many people is the lack of guard rails. I guess the question is how often do you use a guard rail to keep you on the road?? The road surface is actually wider in the canyon above Ouray than it is down in the flats between Ouray and Ridgway. (Yes, I was curious and have measured it in different places. Boring life, eh?)
