Day 18. The Million Dollar Highway.

After a pleasant evening and a solid nights sleep we were up and off early. Today we had our sights on the Million Dollar Highway. The origin of the name is disputed. There are several legends, one of which is that it cost a million dollars a mile to build. Apparently it was built to reach the tiny but lucrative mining towns nestled in the mountains. As we headed out of town we caught up to the Durango-Silverton Steam Train, which Tom captured on the GoPro.

The first part of the road to the town of Silverton was brilliant and in short order we reached the Molas Pass, elevation 10,899 ft.

 Then we began a long descent down into the lovely town of Silverton.

After a great cup of coffee (we love how even the tiniest towns have great coffee shops!) we rolled out of Silverton and turned back onto the Million Dollar Highway towards Ouray, now heading towards the "best" part. Here is the Wikipedia entry:

Though the entire stretch has been called the Million Dollar Highway, it is really the twelve miles (19 km) south of Ouray through the Uncompahgre Gorge to the summit of Red Mountain Pass which gains the highway its name. This stretch through the gorge is challenging and potentially hazardous to drive; it is characterized by steep cliffs, narrow lanes, and a lack of guardrails; the ascent of Red Mountain Pass is marked with a number of hairpin curves used to gain elevation, and again, narrow lanes for traffic—many cut directly into the sides of mountains. During this ascent, the remains of the Idarado Mine are visible. Travel north from Silverton to Ouray allows drivers to hug the inside of curves; travel south from Ouray to Silverton perches drivers on the vertiginous outside edge of the highway.

Our excitement was palpable, we missed out on this ride last year because of the weather. We were so glad to be able to have another chance to do it. As we turned out of Silverton we were met by a Flag Man with a stop sign!! It turns out that we had completely missed the signs advising us that the road was closed from 8:00am to 5:00pm. Rats!! However, he gave us a glimmer of hope by advising us that the road would be open again for 1hour, between noon and 1:00pm. But that was 2 hours away and we had 250 miles to go to get to our next destination. Double rats!! We pulled into a gas station and looked at our choices. One option was to wait two hours and then line up with all the other vehicles wishing to go through. The other option meant doubling back to Durango and taking an alternate route to our hotel for the night. We decided to go back rather than wait, plotted our new route and with big sighs headed back the way we had come earlier this morning. Then as we started climbing back up to the Molas Pass we realized that so much time had passed we could turn around and would probably make it back to the flag man just as he was letting traffic through. So this is what we did!! As we arrived back we saw a massive line of traffic - cars, trucks, RV's and many bikes. As luck would have it, we somehow funneled into the line of traffic he was letting through and we barely had to stop - no waiting!! The ride was incredible. Rather sedate due to the long line of traffic (fine by me!). There was no stopping allowed so the photos are from the GoPro.

 We passed a very long line of traffic waiting to go the other way:

 and finally made it to Ouray.

As we were way behind schedule we didn't stop, which is a shame as it appeared to be a lovely little town with a definite Swiss influence.

Once we completed the Million Dollar Highway we turned West and headed across some incredible countryside until we made it to: