Nice Drives
Photo by D&RG Railfan, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Million Dollar Highway, Colorado
📍 Colorado, United States
Mountain Passchallengingmountaincliffsmining-historyswitchbacks
- Distance
- 33 mi
- Est. duration
- 1 hr 7 min
- Difficulty
- challenging
About this drive
US-550 between Ouray and Silverton in southwestern Colorado is known as the Million Dollar Highway — a name whose exact origin is disputed, but the stretch is undeniably one of the most dramatic mountain roads in North America. It cuts through the San Juan Mountains on a shelf road with no guardrails in places, threading between sheer cliff faces and vertical drops to the valley floor hundreds of feet below. The 25-mile section crosses Red Mountain Pass at 11,018 feet, with the former mining towns of Ouray and Silverton at either end; carry on south from Silverton toward Durango and US-550 adds Molas and Coal Bank passes. Ouray, nicknamed the "Switzerland of America," sits in a box canyon ringed by 13,000-foot peaks. Silverton is rougher and more remote, its silver-boom-era storefronts still lining a single main street. Driving conditions can turn quickly in any season. Snowfall can arrive in any month above the passes, and even in summer the road sees ice patches in shadowed sections early in the day. The switchbacks above Red Mountain Pass are the most exposed — the road hugs the face of the mountain with sheer drops visible just beyond the lane markings. Approach with appropriate speed and full attention; the road demands both.
Stops along the way
Bear Creek Falls · Scenic Viewpoint
A roadside waterfall overlook right where US-550 hugs the cliff edge above the gorge.