San Juan Skyway All American Road

It’s a stunning drive! And one with every kind of terrain you’ll find in Colorado from the famous 14’ers, to farmlands, along the route. Yet, there’s more to this spectacular drive than gorgeous and amazingly varied landscapes. It’s also a panorama of Colorado history, from the Ancestral Puebloans to the frontier miners and ranchers, and the movie locations and arts districts thriving today.  The “road to the sky” encompasses the Million Dollar Highway between Silverton and Ouray, the San Juan Mountains with 14 of Colorado’s 53 mountain peaks over 14,000 feet, two National Forests, the Animas and San Miguel Rivers, natural hot springs, and Cherry Creek. As the road climbs into the mountains, the terrain changes from dusty southwestern desert to blazing foliage just below snowy peaks in just the turn of a head. Then, as you come back down, ranches begin reappearing.  The All American Road is punctuated with Telluride, Silverton, Ouray, Mancos, and Ridgway; towns that grew from muddy streets and wooden boardwalks to the beautifully preserved places laden with historic architecture you see today.  Working to include as much of the Colorado historical mosaic into this trip as possible, we’ve thrown in a few ghost towns, historic walking tours, classic historic hotels, a gold mine or two, and the famous cliff dwellings of the earliest residents of the region. There is no better way to grasp the complexity and variety of this state that bridges between the Midwestern plains and the far West, all the while surrounded with magnificent beauty.

Video Tour Overview: Spectacular Mountainside

San Juan Skyway map (1)
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