Alternative things to do around Ouray

Bullett

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Silverton is a short and beautiful drive over Red Mountain Pass. The town is set up to entertain the folks who come up from Durango on the train for a few hours. It's a cute mining town with a few restaurants, ice cream shops and, my favorite, funnel cakes.

From Silverton it is easy driving to Animas Forks, a ghost town. If the jeep roads are open, folks should be able to take a jeep tour or rent a jeep (there are several places in Ouray that rent jeeps). You can drive over Cinnamon Pass to Lake City, or Engineer from Silverton which is also fairly tame driving (or used to be about 25 years ago).

There are a few art galleries and jewelry stores in Ouray. Durango has better art galleries, and is a much bigger town. It is a fairly easy day drive over US 550 to Durango, 160 to Mancos, Colo 184 to Dolores, Colo 145 to Telluride and then pick up Colo 62 back over to Ridgeway, and US 550.
 
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SupA-T

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If there are any John Wayne fans out there, The film "True Grit" was filmed in neighboring Ridgway. There is a cafe in the same town also called True Grit. Several other John Wayne movies were filmed here or in the near area along with other great movies and celebrities.
 

hANNAbONE

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...If I can go, I'll be tasting the local brews from the area @ the pubs.

Prolly will hoon it up on the hardtop during the day and then ease into a pub for some tasting bits then back to the camp area for more "tasting"
 

snakebitten

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snakebitten said:
Same here. Getting some pushback from the sister about riding ALL THE WAY to Colorado. "I thought we were riding IN Colorado". :)

So the ladies might end up with a truck to use if they do let us boys have a solo day.

My wife can last though. She did a 10 hours run in almost constant rain in Australia. After 30 years, she still surprises me.

Came home after playing golf one day, 15 years ago, and she wasn't anywhere to be found. When she finally got home, all she had was a grin on her face and a VHS tape in her hand.

She loaded it and hit play.

That lady jumped out of an airplane while I was shooting a round. Never said one word about skydiving to me in her life.
Update...........

So it looks like no truck!

I think I'm going to Colorado twice. (hehe)
First time solo for the Tenere event.
Then riding down to Albuquerque and leaving the bike(s) at the Yami dealer.
Fly home. Work a week.
Fly back up with the wife(s) and ride for a couple of more weeks.

Wonder what the sister has to say now? :)
 

Combo

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Snake, all I can say is wow and Logistics.

Looks like you both have it covered. 2013 will be a good camera and Tenere year for you. ::008::
 

snakebitten

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Combo said:
Snake, all I can say is wow and Logistics.

Looks like you both have it covered. 2013 will be a good camera and Tenere year for you. ::008::
Hope so.

Need good weather.
And now I guess I need a good camera? :)
 

Ishirock

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I posted this on the main Rally thread, but no replies. Thought I would try here.

For the guys riding 2 up would anyone be interested in riding the million dollar highway down to Silverton, loading the women on the narrow guage train and picking them up in Durango? Maybe do some adventure riding in between?

http://www.durangotrain.com/ride-us

Standard fee is $85 (not sure if they have a one way fee) and goes up from there. Train leaves Silverton around 1pm and gets into Durango around 6PM. We could stay in Durango or ride it out. or if we went the other way we would need to be in Durango by 9:30 am. Not sure that is doable.
::022::
 

eemsreno

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Ishirock said:
I posted this on the main Rally thread, but no replies. Thought I would try here.

For the guys riding 2 up would anyone be interested in riding the million dollar highway down to Silverton, loading the women on the narrow guage train and picking them up in Durango? Maybe do some adventure riding in between?

http://www.durangotrain.com/ride-us

Standard fee is $85 (not sure if they have a one way fee) and goes up from there. Train leaves Silverton around 1pm and gets into Durango around 6PM. We could stay in Durango or ride it out. or if we went the other way we would need to be in Durango by 9:30 am. Not sure that is doable.
::022::
It's a good idea but my wife will want to stay with me on the bike.
 

Boondocker

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I think my wife would be interested in the train ride. Probably Wednesday is the day. Would need to return to Ouray that night, maybe after dinner in Durango. I'm not familiar with the area but it looks like you would want to allow an hour from Ouray to Silverton and 2 hours from Durango to Ouray. I haven't committed to any rides or extracurricular activities yet, except the BBQ on Thursday night.

Thanks for making the suggestion.
 

Karson

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I've given into the fact that not being familiar with the area, the wife and I are just going to have to play it by ear. This will be on the list of alternative things available to do though, looks pretty cool.
 

eemsreno

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We have taken this train ride and it was very good!
Near Durango it's just along the highway then it heads off into its own canyon and has just awesome vistas.
It is narrow gauge so there is quite a bit of rocking back and forth.
It's coal fired steam and is a little on the dirty side in the open cars.
Steve
 

Boondocker

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My wife is a definite go for the train ride from Silverton to Durango. Note, you have to call if you want the straight poop, their website is not too helpful for reservations.

http://www.durangotrain.com/ride-us

The deal is, you can't book a half-trip. The fare is from Durango to Silverton and back. Apparently, a lot of people only do the first half, so there are usually seats available, on a cash-only, first come first served, take what you can get arrangement. There are no half fares either, but you can bargain. After all, they've theoretically already sold the seat once, so they get to sell half of it again. Capiche?

We're up for either a Wednesday trip where she gets the downhill train ride and I motor around until the rendezvous in Durango. Then back to Ouray for the night. Our other option is to do it on Friday because we're outbound to Mesa Verde via Durango that day. So either way is a possibility. Kind of depends what other folks want to do, and there's no guarantee you can get on the train one way from Silverton. Either way, I can't lose 8)

Cheers,
Boondocker & Mrs. Boondocker
 
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