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San Juan Skyway

Photo: Tobias (paraflyer) / CC BY 2.0

⛰️ Mountains

San Juan Skyway

Durango, CO · San Juan Mountains

About

This 236-mile loop out of Durango stitches together the most dramatic corner of the San Juans, climbing over Red Mountain Pass on the white-knuckle Million Dollar Highway between Silverton and Ouray before swinging through Telluride and the old mining towns of Rico and Dolores. Come the third week of September the aspens turn the whole drive gold, and the valleys go so saturated you half doubt your own eyes. Give it a full day at least, longer if you want to stop for the hot springs in Ouray and the cliff dwellings near Mancos.

Highlights

236-mile All-American Road loop through the San Juan MountainsMillion Dollar Highway over 11,018-ft Red Mountain Pass (Silverton to Ouray)Among the best aspen fall-color drives in the country, peaking in late SeptemberLinks Durango, Silverton, Ouray, Telluride, Mancos, Cortez and DoloresDrive it in a full day or stretch it over three with hot springs and cliff dwellings

Getting there

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The Rocky Mountains21 places

The Rocky Mountains

Alpine lakes, fourteeners, and golden aspen along the spine of the West. The Rockies at their most iconic: the Maroon Bells mirrored in their lake, the Tetons rising straight off the valley floor, Glacier's Going-to-the-Sun Road, the red spires of the Garden of the Gods, and Idaho's serrated Sawtooths over Redfish Lake. From Colorado's San Juans to the Wyoming Tetons, Montana's Glacier, and the Idaho high country, with high passes and old mining towns in between.