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Standard room types and rates by season
(L/M/H):
- $55/$65/$100 for queen or king bed, one person;
- $65/$75/$100 for two people with two queen-sized beds,
or one queen, or one king.
 For more space, you'll enjoy the spacious double queen suite
including bedroom with TV, living room with sofa bed, fireplace and TV and a
breakfast bar/kitchen (refrigerator, microwave and coffee maker); this runs $125 to $165
depending on season. There are also a honeymoon/anniversary suite and two other suites
running from $85 to $135.'
 f you favor B & Bs
over motels, you'll be quite comfortable at the Main Street Bed and Breakfast,
just around the corner at 334 Main. And if you've not tried this style of lodging the
hundred-year old main house may be just the place to start for you.There are four units,
with peak season rates ranging from $85/night to $110. Off-season rates are available from
October through mid-May.
Three of the units have private
decks. Two boast full kitchens stocked with breakfast supplies, and in the other two you
may join your hosts for breakfast. All include private baths, satellite TV, breakfast or
breakfast supplies and other expected and unexpected amenities. Accommodations sleep
from two to six comfortably.
The layout is such that if you crave
privacy you can have it in spades. Many, though, seek out B & Bs for the
opportunity to meet people, and you'll enjoy hosts Becky and Paul.
PH: (970) 325-4871 or (970) 325-4317
E-mail: mainstreet@gwe.net
 here is not an excess of quality
lodging in the area, and the best choices between early July and the end of September fill
up well ahead of time. Two major annual events in September tax the area's
facilities. There's special need for early booking if your visit will coincide with these
dates:
- The Imogene Pass Run (partial-marathon) is usually the
second Saturday in September (actually September 7 in '02);
- The Jeep Jamboree fills rooms the second or third
weekend of September (from the 13th to 15th in '02).
Other accommodation choices range
from other motels in several price ranges, other B & Bs, nicely restored old hotels,
to campgrounds. You'll find a complete
listing of lodgings on the web. If you crave high-end luxury accommodations you'll
want to wait for the opening of the Beaumont in 2002.
Resources
- Ouray
Visitors' Guide - Activities, lodging, real-estate, services, dining, shopping.
- Mile by Mile on the Million Dollar Highway - US 550 - Trace points of interest and history, by milepost, as you travel
along one of America's most scenic roads.
- Welcome to Silverton - We prefer Ouray to Silverton, but this
site is very useful.
- Telluride
Visitors' Guide - Thin, but useful.
- Ridgway, CO - The 'gateway to the San Juans'.
- Rec.Travel
Library - An extensive listing of Colorado web resources.
- Switzerland
of America Tours
- San
Juan National Forest
- Uncompahgre
National Forest
Books
( You
can order online through these links.)
- Mountain
Mysteries - The Ouray Odyssey by Gregory and Smith. You'll
wish you had a copy when you drive by natural and man-made sights and wonder what they
are. The book is arranged roughly in the sequence of four-wheeling trips. Easily available
in the area.
- Mountains
of Silver - The Story of Colorado's Red Mountain Mining District by Smith. An excellent, and fascinating, history of one of the
richest mining districts of Colorado -- perhaps the US. Found throughout the area.
- 4WD Adventures: Colorado - Unquestionably the most
comprehensive guide to four-wheel adventures in Colorado. Sections cover getting
you and your car ready for 4WD adventures, extensive background on towns, ghost towns,
people and events that have shaped the state; animals, plants. 16 detailed routes in or
near the San Juans. All routes include detailed maps, driving directions and GPS
waypoints. Other books contain a bit more of this or of that, but this book is the single
most comprehensive coverage of all topics. A trifle pricey, if you only want to buy a
single book, this is it.
- Guide
to Colorado Backroads & 4-Wheel Drive Trails - Excellent
trail guides to over 60 Colorado routes, including 18 in the San Juans; detailed route
maps. The most detailed guide available.
- Southern
Colorado 4-Wheeling - The San Juans - Descriptions and maps
of 25 routes in the area, the most extensive route coverage.
- Colorado Byways - Backcountry drives for the whole family - 80 of Colorado's best adventure roads. Maps and descriptions sometimes
limited, but the coverage of Colorado routes is the most extensive.
In addition to the four
previous books, Mountain Mysteries and Mountains of Silver contain excellent and extended
background on many of the areas you'll visit while traveling off-road.
- Ouray Hiking Guide - Favorite Hiking Trails of Ouray, Colorado
by Kent, Wayfinder Press, 1993 (ISBN 0943727154.)
An easy-to-follow guide, 20 trails are covered ranging from easy to difficult, with
full directions to the trailhead and complete trail directions including length, elevation
gain and precautions.
- The
Colorado Guide - by Caughey & Winstanley, Fulcrum publishing, 1997.
Without question the best reference available for visitors to Colorado. It covers the
entire state well and includes all information a Vacationer could possibly want to know.
It's a must.
- The
Mining Camps Speak - A New Way to Explore the Ghost Towns or the American West -
This is a sightseeing book for visiting ghost towns, with special focus on those of
mining origin. Have you, or will you, ever visited a mining camp or abandoned townsite and
thought there was nothing there? With the help of this book you'll be able to 'read'
the history of the area ... identifying pieces of machinery, the age of the town by means
of the tin cans laying about, even get some idea of whether the town quickly died out or
was reasonably successful for an extended period. A 'must' if you're going to go looking
for 'ghosts'.
- Latitude 40° - Telluride
Silverton Ouray - Recreation Topo Map covering these towns and the
surrounding areas including Lizard Head and Mt. Sneffels Wildernesses. By far the most
useful map of the area. Available in many area stores.
- Silverton, Ouray, Telluride,
Lake City Colorado from Trails Illustrated, 1992/95. "Hiking"
map at 1:66,667 scale with 80 foot contour intervals; waterproof and tearproof; based on
USGS info and other US agencies. The most generally useful for four-wheeling in the area;
more up to date Jeep trails than any other source. Other maps in the series cover adjacent
areas and other areas of interest to four-wheelers. Available from Adventurous Traveler Bookstore.
(They also usually carry the Hiking Guide if Amazon is out of stock.)
- Colorado
Atlas and Gazetteer - Complete road maps of the state at a scale of
1:160,000. Not as useful for four-wheeling as a more-detailed map (as above) but the only
resource available for some areas.
- Maptech Terrain Navigator: Colorado/Telluride - 300 USGS topographic maps on CD-ROM in both
1:24,000 and 1:100,000 scale. This volume covers the entire San Juans Available from Adventurous Traveler Bookstore.
- A Quick History of Ouray by Smith, First
Light Publishing, 1996. Less than 100 pages, you'll find it enjoyable as well as quick.
- Time
Trial by R.E. Derouin, fiction, 1999. Miners of a century ago
found gold and silver in the San Juan Mountains. If you're a mystery fan you'll find gold
in "Time Trial". For those who've visited the San Juans the theme and events
will bring back fond memories of these majestic mountains and the mines and miners that
brought riches to so many. Whether you've roamed these mountains or not, though, you'll
strike it rich when you read this novel.
- San
Juan Solution by R.E. Derouin, fiction, 2000. Derouin's second
mystery is already out and equally absorbing. This delightful Ouray toy shop owner is hard
at work on the third book, "Mountain Ice", due out in the summer of 2001.
- Three Little Lines by Crum, Durango Herald-News, 1960. Mining was dependent on roads and
rails.This booklet traces the origins and history of three of the littlest lines in the
area, the Silverton, the Silverton, Gladstone & Northerly and the Silverton Northern.
- Otto Mears - "Pathfinder of the San
Juan", Williamson, B & B Printers,
Gunnison, CO, 1986. The most difficult roads and many of the rails were built by Otto
Mears, a pathfinder and master builder if ever one lived. This book is more a collection
of contemporaneous anecdotes about Mears (including, however, a short autobiographical
sketch.) The history of the San Juans is incomplete without some knowledge of Mears, and
this is the only extensive source of which we know. It is out of print. Used copies are
difficult to find and snapped up quickly when they become available. You may find a copy
in a library or find someone in the area to lend you their copy.
- Images of the San Juans, Smith, Western
Reflections, 1997. This is an affectionately assembled collection of rare photographs from
the collections of Ruth and Marvin Gregory. The photos bring to life the beauty of the
area, and the difficulties of mining and the rigors of the winter weather.
- Tomboy Bride, Backus, Pruett Publishing,
1979. The autobiographical recollection of a wife of a mining engineer in the early
1900s.Well-written, the book makes history come alive. The first half describes life at
the Tomboy Mine, perched, at 11,000 feet, above Telluride. The second an equally
interesting look at mining life in Leadville, CO and British Columbia.
- Father Struck It Rich, Evelyn Walsh McLean, FirstLight
Publishing, 1996. Autobiography by the daughter of the discoverer of the fabulously
productive Camp Bird Mine. The early chapters provide insight into life in Ouray and the
mining region at the turn of the century. The bulk of the book is about her somewhat
misspent, but nonetheless interesting, life. Ed found the book enjoyable, but it's not
completely on-topic.
Continue
for Ouray and Area Restaurant Recommendations
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any to choose from, and you may find
Ouray a relative bargain in lodging compared to other desirable vacation spots. 
e've settled in at the 
find it an excellent choice. It's an AAA 3-diamond property with its own hot
springs-fed hot-tubs.
town.
Traveling south (from Ridgway) on US 550, make a right off Main Street at 3rd Avenue and
go to the end. Coming from the south, 3rd Avenue is the first (immediate) left after you
descend the hill into town.
10% discount for AAA & AARP
members.