Travel Dates: September 11 & 12, 2025
Our train rides were finished but we still had a bit of adventure left before heading back to our airport hotel. We spent two nights in the lovely little town of Ouray
The morning greeted us with clouds and cold rain; but that didn’t deter us from riding in the back of large open jeep-like trucks to explore the old silver mining sites in the mountains outside Ouray. Our trucks had 3 or 4 rows of seats in the back where we made ourselves comfortable. A cover over the top would restrict our view so we opted for heavy duty ponchos. I think I got a junior-size because I just could not get my head through the opening. I did the best I could to stay tented beneath the rubberized plastic and peak through the opening as best I could. When we made our first stop and I could stand I managed to get situated correctly. The rain had stopped by the time I got this picture.
We drove southwest from Ouray the mountain on a well-maintained dirt road to the Yankee Boy Basin in the Uncompahgre National Forest. The rain soon dissipated and we were able to really enjoy the views.
On part of the trail we paralleled Sniffle’s Creek. It was a nice vantage point with the Stony Mountain behind. Warning: you take a photo hobbyist to some running water and you will get some pictures.
Let’s get closer
(Photo credit: Carla Thompson)
If you are regular reader of the blog you may remember I’ve pretty given up carrying my Sony mirrorless DSLR when traveling; opting instead for my iPhone. One of the nice things about the fancy cameras is the ability to set the shutter speed so you can get a nice smooth water effect on waterfalls. There are, I imagine, a few ways to accomplish this on the iPhone. To get the most detail, I normally use “Raw” mode. To get the flowing water effect, I switch to “Live” (where you see about a second of video when looking at the picture.) Then when editing the picture you’ll see an option in the upper left corner of the picture. Pick “Long Exposure” and get this.
(iPhone .heic Live image with Long Exposure option)
I don’t know what it is about flowing water; but don’t we just take picture after picture?
Turn around and take a few steps across Yankee Boy Basin Road and you get this view down a valley. This is currently (October 2025) my screen background on my computer.
This area is popular with ice climbers in the winter. Outside of Ouray we saw these two climbers (in pink and blue shirts) practicing. Nope!
After spending a second night in Ouray it was time for our ˜350 mile ride back to the Denver airport hotel where we started. Along the way we stopped at the fascinating Ute Indian Museum. It has a memorial to Chief Ouray who guided multiple bands of Utes through the painful process of moving off their native lands to reservations. He slowed the process as much as he could; but eventually American would get its way,.
We took Colorado State Highway 133 over McClure pass and stopped to stretch our legs and gape at the view.
Later we stopped for lunch at the picturesque town of Redstone.
I’m a sucker for old cars and trucks.
We made it back to the hotel for dinner. We got to rest but PJ and Victor went to meet the next tour group who would depart on the same trip the next morning. Al Dunton was not the tour leader for that one.
We had a great time and would definitely recommend Road Scholar tours in general and this tour specifically (well if you like trains and beautiful scenery).
The tour was over but Jim, Terri, Carla and I added on a tour ourselves. More on that in the next post.
