San Juan Skyway - The Most Scenic Drives in America: 120 Spectacular Road Trips - page 432

When the San Juan mountains are behind you on the drive from Ouray to Ridgway, a broad valley opens up. Hot-air
balloons during the Ridgway balloon festival in the spring provide brightly colored contrasts to the rugged mountains
that ring the valley.
5. Ouray
As the highway snakes its way down to Ouray, it noses through a tunnel blasted through
solid rock, skirts the spectral remains of old mines, and breezes past waterfalls crashing
down from invisible heights.
Nestled in a narrow, steeply walled valley, Ouray and its environs have been called the
“SwitzerlandofAmerica.”ItssteepstreetsarelinedwithlovinglyrestoredVictorianhomes
and hotels and unique, locally-owned restauraunts and shops. Ouray's public and private
sulfur-free hot springs are especially appealing in the fall and winter seasons when billows
of steam float into the air as guests who have come to “take the cure” gaze up at snow-
capped peaks.
At Box Cañon Falls and Park, the turbulent waters of Canyon Creek thunder 285 feet
downanarrowgorge.Aneasytrail takesvisitors righttothebaseofthefalls,andanupper