Ouray RV Park and Cabins
Ouray, CO
For this stop this week we left Pagosa Springs and drove up the mountain to Ouray. This was our first trip to Ouray and it was interesting. Our route was Highway 160 to Highway 550. It's 550 that takes off up the mountains. We knew that 550 was going to have some challenges, with steep grades up and down, and sheer drop offs in some areas with no guardrails. About 5 minutes after turning onto 550, we were climbing steadily on two lane roads, with occasional passing lanes built in. I was cruising about 60 mph with the cruise control set. Up ahead as we rounded a curve there was a series of vehicles heading down the grade. The furthest one was a bright red semi pulling a loaded flat bed trailer. As soon as it came into view I could see smoke coming from the wheels. There was a Jeep pulling a travel trailer and a motor cycle driving in front of the semi. I opined that the smoke was the trucks brakes and that he was in trouble. He was gaining fast on the vehicles in front of him. As he got closer the smoke from the wheels was clearer, and as he passed me his electronic horn was blaring. Not his air horn. The group disappeared around the curve I just came around and out of view. Last I saw of him he was straddling the middle of the road trying to avoid several vehicles in front of him. I don't know how it resolved, but we pray no one was hurt. That part of the 550 grade we were on was about 8 miles long, and there were no runaway truck ramps on it. It kinda made for a spooky ride the rest of the way to Ouray. The distance from Durango to Ouray is about 70 miles, but it's nearly a 2 hour drive in the RV.
This park was the best rated park in the area and is right on the edge of town. The upsides about the park are that the surrounding views are spectacular, vertical cliffs and trees on the north side of the park, and the Umcompahgre River to the south, right behind some of the RV sites. A 1.8 mile river walk runs along the edge of the river and is easy access. The staff is very friendly and helpful, and they keep the park neat and clean. There is the Ouray Cafe on site and it's open and serving food. There is a game room which is closed, and a laundry is available with Covid restrictions. The bathrooms are open and available with restrictions, but are not handicapped accessible due to small doors on the stalls, and raised steps on the narrow shower stalls. They did appear clean and serviceable.
The downside to the park is that it is basically a gravel parking lot with hook ups. Our riverfront site was very narrow, and the rig next door was within 10' of our slide. That meant that you heard all of your neighbors conversations, sometimes sounding like they were inside with you. One day our drivers side neighbor decided to “smoke” his dinner for several hours. The smoker was right under our window, so we had to close up and run the AC all day, or get smoked out.
We paid $60 a night for our site #41, but was really too much considering the close quarters. There were some wider sites to our right, #30 – #36, but the price jumped to $80 a night, but they looked exactly the same. At least the whole park was heavily graveled so dust was kept to a minimum. Our last 2 nights they rented the site on our passenger side to a guy in a SUV pulling a Razor. No living quarters. So that meant that when him and his buddy were not sleeping in the back, they were leaning on the car, looking at our rig 6' away. Not great.
The park offered Wifi, but it was fairly slow and crowded. I did manage to get signal from town on our router, but the only carrier that would work was Verizon, and it was equally slow. I exhausted my GB total in my plan the last day and got throttled to .6 MB. Barely able to check email. The park was always nearly full though, as it is better than the others nearby. There were 3 OTA channels available, 2 PBS and a kids channel. Bring DVD's if you don't have satellite TV!
There is a lot to see and do in the area, and we toured quite a bit. Diane's blog is up and has lots of pics of the places we went.
One Million Dollars!!! - Aug 2, 2020 - Ouray, Colorado, United States
From here we head into Utah for some different scenery. It's going to be warmer though!
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