Western Slope
Ouray County
26 Porch Notes tied to Ouray County — the local details that change from one part of Colorado to the next.
Money and taxes (1)
Home and property (1)
Water and land (3)
Water and land
Out in the county, 'has a well' is a question worth checking
Rural Ouray County parcels often rely on wells, but a well permit comes with conditions and the state administers water here through Division 4, so the permit details matter.
Read note ->Water and land
Switzerland of America: two big waterfalls within reach of downtown Ouray
Cascade Falls is a short, steep quarter-mile walk from the edge of Ouray, and Bear Creek Falls drops right beside the Million Dollar Highway.
Read note ->Water and land
The river below Ridgway dam has its own catch-and-release rules
The Uncompahgre River tailwater below Ridgway Reservoir, in the Pa-Co-Chu-Puk reach, carries flies-and-lures-only and catch-and-release trout rules that differ from the river downstream.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire (7)
Outdoors and wildfire
A foot trail loops the whole town of Ouray
The Ouray Perimeter Trail is a roughly 6-mile loop that rings the town on foot, passing Cascade Falls, the Ice Park, Box Cañon, and a string of bridges and waterfalls.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
Billy Creek is a wildlife area, not a park, with a seasonal closure
Billy Creek State Wildlife Area along the Uncompahgre corridor is managed for wildlife, so most of it closes part of the year and a license or SWA pass is required to enter.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
Most of the high country here is national forest, with its own camping rules
The mountains around Ouray are largely Uncompahgre National Forest land, managed as part of the combined Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison (GMUG) National Forests, where dispersed camping and motorized travel follow Forest Service rules rather than a camp-anywhere free-for-all.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
Mount Sneffels sits in a wilderness, reached by a rough basin road
Mount Sneffels is a 14er inside the Mount Sneffels Wilderness southwest of Ouray, and the usual approach climbs Camp Bird Road through Yankee Boy Basin on a steep, high-clearance route.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
Ouray made an ice park by spraying spare city water into a gorge
The free Ouray Ice Park grows climbable ice along the Uncompahgre Gorge using the city's leftover spring water, piped through shower heads and run by a nonprofit a short walk from downtown.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
Ridgway State Park is the county's big water-and-trails hub
Ridgway State Park sits along the Uncompahgre River just north of Ridgway with a reservoir, campgrounds, and trails, and like other Colorado state parks it has its own pass and rules.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
The Uncompahgre Wilderness is big, quiet, and closed to motors and bikes
The Uncompahgre Wilderness covers a large stretch of the San Juans east of Ouray, with several trails leading in from the west and the usual wilderness limits on motors and bikes.
Read note ->Cars and driving (4)
Cars and driving
Ouray's high passes turn a Jeep into a way over the mountains
Ouray bills itself as the Jeep Capital of America, and rugged seasonal four-wheel-drive routes like Imogene Pass and Black Bear Pass climb over the San Juans toward Telluride.
Read note ->Cars and driving
Owl Creek Pass is the gentler back road past Chimney Rock
Owl Creek Pass climbs from near Ridgway over a forest road below Courthouse Mountain and Chimney Rock on the Cimarron Ridge, opening to trailheads and the Cimarron drainages.
Read note ->Cars and driving
The Alpine Loop is a scenic byway you mostly drive in four-wheel drive
The Alpine Loop Backcountry Byway links Ouray, Silverton, and Lake City over Engineer and Cinnamon passes, and the high sections need a high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicle.
Read note ->Cars and driving
The Million Dollar Highway is a real mountain road, not a scenic shortcut
US 550 over Red Mountain Pass between Ouray and Silverton is a steep, narrow mountain highway that can close in winter, so it deserves planning rather than a casual drive.
Read note ->Local rules (2)
Local rules
Short-term rental rules in Ouray County depend on the jurisdiction
Short-term rentals are regulated separately by the City of Ouray, the Town of Ridgway, and Ouray County, so the rules for a property depend on which jurisdiction it sits in.
Read note ->Local rules
Who makes the rules depends on whether you're in town or in the county
Ouray County is a statutory county, and land outside the towns of Ouray and Ridgway falls under the county's own land use code rather than town rules.
Read note ->History and culture (8)
History and culture
Otto Mears built the roads and rails that shaped Ouray County
Many of Ouray County's roads and rail lines trace back to Otto Mears, the late-1800s toll-road and railroad builder whose routes through the San Juans still underlie the modern map.
Read note ->History and culture
Ouray is named for a Ute leader, and the county carries the name too
The town and county of Ouray are named for Ouray, a nineteenth-century leader of the Tabeguache (Uncompahgre) band of Ute people, and early accounts say the townsite was first known as Uncompahgre City.
Read note ->History and culture
Ouray's hot springs pool and Box Canyon are run by the city
The Ouray Hot Springs Pool and Box Canyon Falls Park are both owned and operated by the City of Ouray, which is why they have set hours, fees, and rules rather than open access.
Read note ->History and culture
Ouray's Main Street is a listed historic district
Much of downtown Ouray is the Ouray Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with late-1800s buildings like the county courthouse and Wright's Opera House.
Read note ->History and culture
Ridgway grew up around a railroad, and a museum keeps that story
The town of Ridgway began as the northern terminus of the Rio Grande Southern Railroad, and the Ridgway Railroad Museum tells that story, including the line's famous Galloping Goose railcars.
Read note ->History and culture
Ridgway is True Grit country, and you can still walk to the film's traces
Much of the 1969 western True Grit, the film that won John Wayne his only Oscar, was shot in and around Ridgway, and several of its locations are still recognizable in town.
Read note ->History and culture
The Beaumont Hotel is one of Ouray's landmark 1880s buildings
The Beaumont Hotel, built in the 1880s during Ouray's mining boom and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is one of the town's most recognizable historic buildings.
Read note ->History and culture
Why Ouray sits where it does: gold, silver, and the San Juans
Ouray County grew up around late-1800s hardrock mining in the San Juan Mountains, and that history still shapes the towns, roads, and old workings you see today.
Read note ->