Ron Bexel
Best Dog Friendly Towns In Colorado – Colorado is known for its mountains and forests. The peaks reach 14,000 feet and many of the smaller towns exceed 7,000 feet. We are fortunate to live near many of these cities, just across the New Mexico state line. We took our “van full of dogs” to explore Ouray and Silverton and take in the beautiful nature and cool mountain air.
It was a great trip for us. We are not new to altitude as our house is at 6,000 feet, but we live in a semi-arid climate but the mountains of Colorado get a lot of rain and snow; The weather at home is usually dry and further north in Colorado we can see clouds and rain.
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On this trip, we took a short drive from the high desert to a mountain pine forest in the afternoon.
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Our first stop was Silverton, a colorful town of less than 700 residents at an elevation of 9,318 feet and many historic mining buildings. There are many bars and restaurants for tourists, but there may not be enough tourists to stay open all the time (especially during the COVID), so pay close attention to the opening hours if you plan to eat here.
Silverton’s main attraction may be the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. This steam railroad has been in continuous operation since 1881. For better or worse, our family motto is “If I can’t take my dogs, I won’t”; So we cannot say that we are in this situation. train, but we’ve heard it’s great! It’s definitely something to consider if you don’t have pets or want to put them in day care.
Beyond the train station, local businesses mostly include hotels, guesthouses, souvenir shops, and gas stations. Don’t forget to check out Silverton City Park (aka Harmony Park), which has live music in the middle of town (we didn’t get a picture – I guess we were too busy playing!)
After walking through town we found a campsite marked as a scattered campsite by a creek a few miles outside of Silverton.
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Outside of a small number of selected areas, mountain roads are not particularly suitable for vehicles; If you have a camper or a short 4×4 van with good ground clearance, you may be able to find some surprises in the forest roads, but most others are meant for neighbors, and judging by the number of fire rings, they are amazing. busy time to make the following sections. Make sure you know where you’re going even if you have a car out there, and it’s best to travel with two cars: some of these mountains are some of the toughest roads in the US and may not be general. longer. Allow the vehicle to turn safely.
In these mountains, the quality of the phone signal seems to depend a lot on luck, even if your campsite has a direct line to a cell tower. In fact, you’re better off getting a good signal no more than a mile or two from the highway. We were surprised at how well we got a good signal on average, able to work far from beautiful campsites and often suffer on weekend evenings when cell towers are overloaded.
From Silverton, take the Million Dollar Highway north toward Ouray. Some areas are carved directly into the mountain, and due to the heavy snowfall, there are few crosswalks. This means falling close to over a thousand feet down, sometimes outside the white line on the road. In the spring, you may find that parts of the road fall away due to water erosion before you repair the road. There is no room for error here.
Cars use this road to serve the mountain villages, but I would never want to drive an A car or a big car on this road. It can be done, but it’s not fun. Stick to the recommended 25 mph in the corners and test your engine stopping skills elsewhere; You don’t want to keep using the brake pedal on those long descents.
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Also, expect the mountain weather to change and be prepared to postpone your ride if it rains. Even in light rains, there is sweat on the road and sometimes stones are washed away by the water. It’s a very nice ride for a microbus that stays below the recommended speed for good angles of the weather and is worth it for the view alone, so be careful and let the passengers see. And park that caravan or larger caravan at the campsite.
At the north end of the Million Dollar Highway is the small town of Ouray, a mining town known as the “Switzerland of America.” Ouray is a beautiful town surrounded by a loop of hiking trails that provide easy access to waterfalls and beautiful mountain views. It’s more touristic, but not “so many souvenir shops” and there are many restaurants (we like Thai chili). Ouray sits at an elevation of 7,792 feet, lower than most of its surroundings, and it was warmer than we expected.
We wanted to find some water to cool off because of the heat. The dogs loved to walk with the “babies”; shallow ponds perfect for cool foot fry.
We visited in June and the tubs were still full – although this can vary depending on the time of year.
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Then we went to Cascade Falls, just outside the city. It’s a short walk to the waterfall and the best part is that you can walk through the switchbacks and stand behind the waterfall!
It was so refreshing! But it is not for the faint of heart. It’s a narrow path, slippery and wet, and you have to duck under the rafters.
We would like to return to the Silverton and Ouray area one day and take long walks. At the time of this visit, our dog Lily had been recovering from a rattlesnake bite for about a month, so we cut our walks short. If you and your dog are up for a long hike, we hear the Ice Lake Basin Trail outside of Silverton is the best—and it’s definitely on our list for next time. Other Ouray attractions you may want to try if you don’t have pets are the hot springs and Box Canyon Falls.
We didn’t have much luck finding a site near Ouray, so after a day or two of hiking we headed south to camp near Silverton.
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The dogs spent the evening searching for “chips”; Mushy loved being on the ground and Lily loved the view from above provided by the van.
Being over 12,000 feet above the clouds wasn’t much of a problem for us, even if we lived on the ocean. None of us have hypertension. We haven’t seen any dogs affected either, but you should know the warning signs! Make no mistake, these are serious mountains, and even the “lowest” parts are 6,000 feet. If you’re driving in this area of ​​Colorado near the ocean, be sure to recognize the signs of altitude sickness and prepare to return to a state where you feel the warmth. If you have time, you can camp somewhere in the middle of the mountains for a week or two to get used to it.
If you have more time, you can head north past the Sneffels Mountains to visit the third mountain town, Telluride. It is the largest and probably the most touristic of the three, because it has a famous ski resort. Next time we go this way, we will go this way too, so stay tuned for our trips to the area. Until then, it’s time for bed!
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