Location: San Juan Mountains
Difficulty: Moderate
Directions: Outside Ouray, turnoff just out of town on Hwy. 550
Time: 2-5 hours, depending on how often you stop! About 10 miles.
Trail Description
Camp Bird Road begins immediately as you leave Ouray on Highway 550 heading toward Silverton. The sign is easy to see, and it’s the same turnoff as the Ouray Ice Park. Follow the road approximately 3 miles to one of the the coolest places on the road: “Drinking Cup.” There is a natural spring here and the miners used to hang a drinking cup on a string over the side of the cliff for dipping into the water.
Photo Opp: Drive your vehicle to the pull off at Drinking Cup, and point it across the canyon (the best photo happens when you pull up precariously close to the edge of the cliff, so be careful!). Have someone in your party run back down the road and take your photo perched on the edge, with the canyon hundreds of feet below.
At around 4.6 miles you’ll see the remains of Camp Bird Mine on your left. After the mine you will pass under Hanging Rock.
Photo Opp: Jump out and take a photo of your vehicle under Hanging Rock. The photo turns out awesome!
At around 6 miles you’ll pass the turnoff for Imogene Pass, which goes up and over to Telluride. You will begin to notice some old homesteads and mines in the trees now, and this is the old townsite of Sneffels. Soon you will see the turnoff for Governor Basin. Now it starts to get fun! On the left, the views open up and you can see Twin Falls, which were featured in the old Coors commericals of the 1970s.
Photo Opp: Be sure to wlak down the trail to Twin Falls. They are amazing, have a beautiful backdrop, and in July, wildflowers cover the ground in abundance!
You can take road all the way to the top of the Basin, where you’ll find a parking lot for the trailhead to Blue Lakes hiking trail, which will take you to the summit of Mount Sneffles if you are in good enough shape!
This is an up-and-back road (unless you take Imogene Pass to Telluride), so turn around and go back the way you came!
Hi…Jeepstergal……I have a question for you, now that you are a resident of Colo…..first…I’ve been going to Colorado off & on since ’55…..lol….yep 1955……lol…….last few years I’ve been going to Colorado & Utah in my Jeep Wrangler TJ and just bought a dual sport motorcycle for “out west”……I also love the high desert area’s of Moab and the canyonlands of Utah. (you should go to Moab if you haven’t been…you would love it). The other day I was watching a video of Yankee Boy or Clear lake and I saw one of your reply comment to another commenter….about camping around Silverton and you said there were allot of places to camp without going to “campgrounds”…….this has been a major dilemma for me for years…..I have only “stealth camped” a couple of times….I loved it but always worried about “getting caught” camping where I’m not supposed to be……my question to you is……how do you determine where you could or couldn’t camp…..BLM….state forest…..non-private for sure….how do you know where…?? I was surfing google earth on forest road 2 from Silverton to Clear Lake the other day and found several vehicles parked and tents set up prior to and past South Mineral campground……it was obvious that people had just found a place to camp in some elusive spot off road and usually back in the trees to be less “noticeable”……I was wondering if you can shed some light on how I can determine what is legal and what isn’t……your thoughts as a local resident would be appreciated……I don’t really “hate” camp grounds……but they’re just so crowded and noisey in the summer time……I may just have a pipe dream and dreaming of days gone by….but back in the fifties no one thought a thing about pitchin a tent in any level out of the way place….!!! It’s pretty easy to “stealth camp” when traveling on a motorcycle……more difficult with truck and trailer (which is how I would take the bike) !! Thanks in advance & love your video’s…..you’re a great editor and pick great music as well !!