Million Dollar Highway Colorado

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The Million Dollar Highway is the 25-mile run of US 550 between Ouray and Silverton, Colorado. It climbs out of Ouray through Uncompahgre Gorge with no guardrail on the drop side. It tops out on Red Mountain Pass at 11,018 feet, then rolls down to Silverton. Plan on an hour of driving with no stops. Make it a half day if you pull off for the falls, the mine ruins and the hot springs.

I have driven this road in both directions more times than I can count. It is usually one leg of a San Juan loop that also takes in Glenwood Springs and a day of whitewater near Browns Canyon. The stretch everyone remembers is the same one every time. It is the first few miles south of Ouray, where the road is cut into the gorge wall and the shoulder is a low rock curb. Sunny and dry, it is a slow, beautiful drive. Wet or icy, it is a different road.

How Long Is the Million Dollar Highway?

The full drive between Ouray and Silverton is about 25 miles. That is the number to plan the day around. The part that earned the name is shorter: the 12 miles from Ouray up through Uncompahgre Gorge to the summit of Red Mountain Pass. That is where the cliffs, the switchbacks and the missing guardrails are.

The road started as an 1883 toll road that Otto Mears blasted into the gorge for the mines. The state took it over around 1920 and paved it in the 1950s. It has never been much wider than a truck and a car passing. CDOT’s own fact sheet on the pass says guardrails go in only where there is room for them. On the narrow stretches the plows need an open edge to push 300 inches of winter snow off the road.

South of the pass the road relaxes. The valley opens up along Mineral Creek and the drop-offs go away. The last miles into Silverton are an easy mountain highway. If the gorge rattles you, remind yourself that it is over in 20 minutes.

Is It Better to Drive the Million Dollar Highway North or South?

Northbound, from Silverton to Ouray, keeps your car in the inside lane against the rock wall through the gorge. Southbound, from Ouray to Silverton, puts you in the outside lane with the drop on the passenger side. For a first pass or a nervous driver, go north.

I still drive it southbound most of the time. The pullouts on the gorge side line up with the views. I would rather stop on my own side than cross traffic on a blind curve to reach one. Either way, the rule is simple. Drive the speed the curve asks for, and never stop for a photo anywhere but a signed pullout.

Million Dollar Highway Stops

Here is the drive laid out from south to north, the calmer direction. Mileages are rounded and measured from Silverton. None of these stops needs more than 30 minutes.

Stop	Miles from Silverton	Cost	What it is
Silverton	0	Free to walk	Mining town at 9,300 feet, end of the Durango train line
Red Mountain Pass summit	12	Free	11,018-foot high point, signed pullout
Red Mountain mining district	14	Free	Roadside pullouts above old mine headframes and tailings
Ironton townsite	17	Free	Ghost town remnants in the meadow below the pass
Bear Creek Falls pullout	22	Free	Waterfall dropping under the highway bridge, no rail at the edge
Box Cañon Falls Park	24	$8 adults	Walkway into a slot canyon at the edge of Ouray
Ouray Hot Springs Pool	25	$30 adults	City-run geothermal pool complex on Main Street

Fill the tank before you leave either town. There is no gas on the pass. The mine-district pullouts are the kind of place where an hour disappears while you look at headframes and rust-red hillsides.

Durango and Silverton Railroad

The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad runs coal-fired steam trains up the Animas River canyon on track laid in 1882. The canyon has no road at all. Silverton is the top of the line, so the train pairs naturally with the highway. Ride up from Durango, or just be in Silverton around 12:30 when the train rolls in and the town fills up.

The railroad’s fare page lists the standard coach round trip at $118 for adults and $108 for kids 4 to 11. The 9 a.m. train gets back to Durango at 6:15 p.m. with close to two hours in Silverton. That is a full day. If you only have half of one, the Silverton Express pairs a bus up with the train back. It adds a $10 bus fare to the train ticket.

Box Canyon Falls Ouray

Box Cañon Falls sits at the southwest edge of Ouray, a two-minute drive off the highway. Canyon Creek drops 285 feet through a slot so narrow that the walls close in nearly 100 feet overhead. A steel walkway takes you 500 feet back into the crack to the base of the falls. You get wet. You also get a roar through solid rock that you feel in your chest.

The city’s park page lists admission at $8 for adults, $6 for ages 4 to 17 and $7 for seniors. Kids 3 and under are free. The park is open May through early November and closed for the winter. Add the High Bridge trail if you have 20 minutes to spare. It is a half-mile round trip that climbs 200 feet to a footbridge over the top of the canyon. No dogs, which matters if you are road-tripping with one.

Ouray Hot Springs Pool

The pool at the north end of Main Street is how the day should end. The City of Ouray runs it on the town’s own geothermal water, split into sections. There is an overlook pool at 102 to 106 degrees, a hot pool at 95 to 103, and a lap pool in the 70s. A shallow kids’ pool and the slides open in summer. After a morning of switchbacks, an hour in the hot section is the reset.

Ouray’s tourism office puts a day pass at $30 for adults 18 to 64, $18 for ages 3 to 17 and $24 for seniors 65 to 74. Bring your own suit and towel. Sunday afternoons in July and fall-color weekends are the crowded windows. A weekday at opening is the quiet one.

Ouray to Telluride

Telluride is not on US 550 at all, but it is the obvious add-on. From Ouray, drive 10 miles north to Ridgway. Then take CO 62 west over Dallas Divide and CO 145 south into town. It is roughly 50 miles and a little over an hour. The Dallas Divide view of the Sneffels Range is worth the detour on its own in late September.

I give Telluride its own day rather than stacking it onto the pass. Between the gorge, the falls and the pool, most people are done driving by the time they roll into Ouray. The hot springs win.

Does the Million Dollar Highway Close in Winter?

It closes, but not for the season. US 550 over Red Mountain Pass is plowed all winter. CDOT shuts it whenever avalanche danger is high, so crews can trigger slides on purpose and clear them before traffic goes through. CDOT’s closure notices for the pass run from a few hours to several days after a big storm.

Check cotrip.org before you commit to the pass between October and May. That is where the state posts live closures, chain-law status and the pass cameras. Snow tires or chains, a full tank and a blanket in the car are the winter kit. The gorge in the dark on ice is a drive I skip.

Summer brings roadwork instead. CDOT began installing remote avalanche-control exploders above the pass in 2023. Its work zones on the corridor run as single-lane alternating traffic with holds of up to 20 minutes. Build slack into the day and you will not notice.

Million Dollar Highway Fall Colors

Late September is the window. The aspen groves on the Ouray side and around Ironton turn gold from the middle of the month, and the run usually holds about three weeks. The color sits against the red iron-stained slopes of Red Mountain. That contrast is what the photos never quite capture.

Fall is also the busy season on this road. Expect a line of cars at the Bear Creek Falls pullout on a sunny Saturday. Expect the pool and the Ouray motels to be full. A weekday in the last week of September gets you the color without the line at every turnout.

Is the Million Dollar Highway Worth It?

I think it is the best paved mountain drive in Colorado, and I have driven most of them. Nothing else in the state puts you on a cliff ledge above a gorge, past mine ruins and over an 11,000-foot pass in one hour. Ouray on one end and Silverton on the other are two of the better small towns in the San Juans. Neither needs more than a night.

The people who should skip it are the ones who cannot stand a drop-off. There is no version of this road without one. For everyone else: drive it northbound the first time, go in the last week of September if you can, and give the day to it instead of racing through to Durango.

Prices are approximate, current as of publication, and change frequently — confirm the latest price with the retailer before buying.

Million Dollar Highway Facts

How Dangerous Is the Million Dollar Highway?

It is a real mountain road with drop-offs and no guardrail, not a thrill ride. Driven at the posted speed on a dry day it is no harder than any other Colorado pass. The risk shows up in snow, ice and fog, and when a driver stops mid-lane for a photo instead of using a pullout.

Why Is It Called the Million Dollar Highway?

Nobody has settled it. The three stories that stick are that the 1920s rebuild cost a million dollars a mile, that the roadbed fill held a million dollars in low-grade gold ore, and that the views are worth a million dollars. Pick the one you like; Ouray locals will argue for all three.

How Many Miles From Ouray to Silverton?

About 25 miles on US 550, with Red Mountain Pass 12 miles south of Ouray as the high point. Allow an hour of driving without stops, because the switchbacks keep speeds low the whole way.

Can You Drive an RV on the Million Dollar Highway?

Yes. US 550 is the only paved road between Ouray and Silverton, so trucks, tour buses and RVs use it all summer. Go northbound so you stay against the wall in the gorge, take the curves slowly, and skip it if there is snow or ice in the forecast.

Published October 7, 2026.