Ouray

Ouray was born in the mining boom of the 1870s, when prospectors found rich silver and gold veins in the surrounding San Juans and a town grew up fast in the only flat ground for miles, the head of the canyon. It was named for Chief Ouray, a respected leader of the Ute people, whose homeland this region is and who worked to protect his people through a difficult era of treaties and displacement.

The town's fortunes rose and fell with the metals markets, and the nearby Camp Bird Mine became one of the great gold producers of the West. When mining faded, Ouray reinvented itself around its scenery and its waters, and much of its Victorian architecture survives, giving the compact downtown a genuine sense of its 1880s heyday.

Ouray is soaked in geothermal water, and the town's hot springs have drawn visitors for well over a century. A large soaking complex sits right in town, and other pools and springs lie nearby, all of them a fine way to ease sore muscles after a day in the mountains, with peaks rising all around the water.

Water shapes the landscape here in dramatic ways. Box Canyon Falls thunders through a narrow slot in the rock at the edge of town, reached by walkways that lead you into the misty gorge. The Uncompahgre River and its tributaries tumble off the surrounding cliffs in a scatter of waterfalls, and the popular Perimeter Trail loops the town for views of them from above.

Ouray calls itself the Jeep Capital, and for good reason. A network of rugged historic mining roads climbs into the high San Juans from town, over passes like Imogene and Engineer that link Ouray with Telluride, Silverton, and the ghost towns of the backcountry. These routes, open in the warmer months, thread past waterfalls, wildflower basins, and old mine works into some of the most spectacular alpine terrain in the state.

Even without a rugged vehicle, the high country is close. The Million Dollar Highway climbs dramatically south toward Silverton, hugging cliff edges with big drop-offs and bigger views, and hiking trails from town reach alpine lakes and summits. This is a place where the wild mountains begin the moment you step outside.

In winter Ouray becomes a global capital of ice climbing. In the Uncompahgre Gorge just outside town, the community feeds water over the canyon walls to grow a spectacular field of ice, creating the Ouray Ice Park, a free public climbing area that draws climbers from around the world and hosts a celebrated festival each winter.

Summer is the high season, warm and bright, perfect for hot springs, waterfalls, jeeping, and hiking, with wildflowers peaking in July. Fall lights the aspens gold across the range in a short, brilliant show. Winter is cold and snowy, quiet in town but alive with ice climbers in the gorge, and there is a special pleasure in soaking in a hot spring while snow falls on the peaks above.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.