Hi there! Depends on what you’re driving, what you want to see…do you want above timberline drives like Engineer Pass and Cinnamon Pass and Imogene Pass? Ir do you prefer streams and woods and views from a lower altitude? I plan on soon publishing a post about day trips to take in the area, maybe there will be some ideas in that post for you! You’ll love it there and never want to leave 🙂
Hi ,Jeepster Gal! We are heading to Colorado this summer (thanks in part to your videos!) and were wondering if you could tell us what trails in the Durango / Silverton area would be good for a bunch of Flatlanders with a Chevy Silverado ( no 4 wheel drive). We plan to rent a Jeep at least one day, and maybe ATV’s another, but we want to also take my Mom on some easy, lower altitude trips that won’t have her holding on for dear life. Any suggestions?
Thanks for your great videos and website! We love it!
Glad you’re going to come to Colorado! Try to visit after June, or some of the roads will still be snowed over and closed.
Regarding roads…easy roads around Durango would be the road headed to Vallecito Lake, which is passenger car friendly, but very scenic. Between Durango and Silverton on the Million Dollar Highway, you can take Lime Creek Road. You take the first turnoff for it, and then it loops around and comes back out on the highway, much farrher away. It’s a beautiful drive…I don’t *think* you need 4×4 but you might ask..it seemed pretty easy to me…In Silverton, the best passenger car friendly road is the road out of town to Animas Forks ghost town. It’s fantastic scenery and the ghost town is awesome. It’s the jumping off point for tons of 4×4 roads, such as Cinnamon and Engineer. Another passenger car road is just outside of Silverton as you head toward Ouray..it’s the South Mineral Campground…pretty scenery and super easy road…you could even make it to Kite Lake in a passenger car, I think…that cutoff is right at the campground. The Silverton Visitor’s Bureau is super friendly and right there on the right as you come into town from Durango. Other easy roads around Silverton are all along the road you would take to get to Animas Forks. There are tons of roads that drop down away from that road, and cross the Animas River, on your right, as you’re heading to Animas Forks, JUST outside of town. If you go on any of those, they are mostly easy and lead to some great old buildings. If you start taking right turns off the road when you are closer to Animas Forks, you would need 4×4, just FYI. But the ones right out of town are easy. There’s also a fun spot to get to if you pay attention to the train schedule. In Silverton, as you come into town from Durango, before you get to town, there’s an immediate right you can take, a dirt road that leads to a mine..the highway is directly overhead, so this is immediately after you wind down off the highway and come into town…take that road to the end, where the mine is…and there’s a fantastic spot if you keep going, that is right next to the Animas River and right next to the train tracks…so if you know the train schedule, you can set up and be there when the steam train goes by…fantastic photo opps with the train and the river and the Durango mountains behind it…
Don’t forget Ouray, either…if you go to Silverton, you need to go 23 miles further and see Ouray. Owl Creek Pass is up the road, and it’s passenger car friendly…it’s right outside of Ridgway and the scenery is spectacular, that’s there they filmed True Grit.
Cinnamon Pass is awesome! The scenery is magnificent and the trails are just challenging enough for a novice driver. If traveling in a group, walkie talkies are recommended for communication between vehicles. A must do!
Such beauty! I plan on giving it a shot in September. Any suggestions would be welcome! Awesome photography!
Hi there! Depends on what you’re driving, what you want to see…do you want above timberline drives like Engineer Pass and Cinnamon Pass and Imogene Pass? Ir do you prefer streams and woods and views from a lower altitude? I plan on soon publishing a post about day trips to take in the area, maybe there will be some ideas in that post for you! You’ll love it there and never want to leave 🙂
Hi ,Jeepster Gal! We are heading to Colorado this summer (thanks in part to your videos!) and were wondering if you could tell us what trails in the Durango / Silverton area would be good for a bunch of Flatlanders with a Chevy Silverado ( no 4 wheel drive). We plan to rent a Jeep at least one day, and maybe ATV’s another, but we want to also take my Mom on some easy, lower altitude trips that won’t have her holding on for dear life. Any suggestions?
Thanks for your great videos and website! We love it!
Glad you’re going to come to Colorado! Try to visit after June, or some of the roads will still be snowed over and closed.
Regarding roads…easy roads around Durango would be the road headed to Vallecito Lake, which is passenger car friendly, but very scenic. Between Durango and Silverton on the Million Dollar Highway, you can take Lime Creek Road. You take the first turnoff for it, and then it loops around and comes back out on the highway, much farrher away. It’s a beautiful drive…I don’t *think* you need 4×4 but you might ask..it seemed pretty easy to me…In Silverton, the best passenger car friendly road is the road out of town to Animas Forks ghost town. It’s fantastic scenery and the ghost town is awesome. It’s the jumping off point for tons of 4×4 roads, such as Cinnamon and Engineer. Another passenger car road is just outside of Silverton as you head toward Ouray..it’s the South Mineral Campground…pretty scenery and super easy road…you could even make it to Kite Lake in a passenger car, I think…that cutoff is right at the campground. The Silverton Visitor’s Bureau is super friendly and right there on the right as you come into town from Durango. Other easy roads around Silverton are all along the road you would take to get to Animas Forks. There are tons of roads that drop down away from that road, and cross the Animas River, on your right, as you’re heading to Animas Forks, JUST outside of town. If you go on any of those, they are mostly easy and lead to some great old buildings. If you start taking right turns off the road when you are closer to Animas Forks, you would need 4×4, just FYI. But the ones right out of town are easy. There’s also a fun spot to get to if you pay attention to the train schedule. In Silverton, as you come into town from Durango, before you get to town, there’s an immediate right you can take, a dirt road that leads to a mine..the highway is directly overhead, so this is immediately after you wind down off the highway and come into town…take that road to the end, where the mine is…and there’s a fantastic spot if you keep going, that is right next to the Animas River and right next to the train tracks…so if you know the train schedule, you can set up and be there when the steam train goes by…fantastic photo opps with the train and the river and the Durango mountains behind it…
Don’t forget Ouray, either…if you go to Silverton, you need to go 23 miles further and see Ouray. Owl Creek Pass is up the road, and it’s passenger car friendly…it’s right outside of Ridgway and the scenery is spectacular, that’s there they filmed True Grit.
Have fun!
Cinnamon Pass is awesome! The scenery is magnificent and the trails are just challenging enough for a novice driver. If traveling in a group, walkie talkies are recommended for communication between vehicles. A must do!