What to Do in Ouray, Colorado's Wildest Adventure Destination

I’m halfway up the first pitch of the Gold Mountain Via Ferrata in the town of Ouray—a spectacular pocket of southwestern Colorado appropriately nicknamed America’s Switzerland, featuring peaks so steep they look like they could pierce the clouds. The 100-foot tall exposed sandstone rock face I’m currently clinging to ranks high on the must-do charts in one of the most magnetic mountain towns for adventure-seekers in a state full of them.

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Not only is this dizzying traverse literally high among the best things to do in Ouray, but it’s also considered the “entrance exam” to one of the town's top via ferrata routes, led by Mountain Trip guide Spencer Purvis—whose 30 years of climbing experience are reassuring in spite of the rather extreme-looking intro test ahead of me. Sensing that I’m more nervous than a room full of SAT takers, he takes matters into his own hands—playing “The Piña Colada Song” from a speaker attached to his carabiner. Altering the lyrics for some timely comic relief, he croons, “Do you like viaaaa ferratas?”

Purvis’ clever remix, combined with his reassurance that all of the metal rungs are strategically placed right where I need them to be, helps me relax. Soon I’m able to peer down and take in the views. Via ferratas (Italian for “iron path”) helped troops during World War I navigate the Dolomites. Now, the system of rungs and ladders with a fixed metal cable to clip into provides alpine adventures that don’t require technical climbing skills.

The Gold Mountain Via Ferrata that I’m on is owned and operated by BaseCamp Ouray. It climbs 1,300 vertical feet, with a tightrope-like cable suspension bridge at the top overlooking the valley, which is pocked with autumnal colors this time of year. But one of the route’s highlights arrives mid-mountain at the abandoned Memphis Mine and blacksmith shop that you can meander through.

Miners arrived in Ouray in the 1870s, hoping to strike it rich with gold. I’ve made the six-hour journey from Denver, also lured by the promise of gold—but in the form of fall foliage. Autumn is spectacular in Colorado, with stands of Aspens so intensely gold it seems like they’re glowing. But it's clear Mother Nature played favorites with Ouray. This former mining hub turned adventure boomtown perched at just under 8,000 feet is the optimal spot for those who want to spike their leaf peeping with outdoor adrenaline.

People come from much farther away than I have to drive the iconic Million Dollar Highway linking Ouray with Silverton, another mountain town that sprung up practically overnight when prospectors descended upon this rugged and remote area in search of precious minerals.

Natural amenities are central to Ouray’s appeal. After a day of adventure (or craning your neck to see the leaves), you can sink into mineral-rich hot springs and soothe your weary muscles. Options are plenty, from the Ouray Hot Springs pools to Twin Peaks Lodge and Hot Springs and the local-favored spots like Wiesbaden Hot Springs Spa & Lodging and nearby Orvis Hot Springs, which is clothing-optional.

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New this season is a stylish hotel: The Western, a restored 16-room hotel with handsome leather furnishings, stained-glass windows, and original taxidermy. Sitting just off of Main Street, it's one of Colorado’s last remaining wood-frame hotels. After a day of adventure, sip an old fashioned in the hotel’s dim-lit saloon, then savor a steak dinner with butter-drenched blue corn bread at the chef’s table—where you’ll feel the heat from the wood-fired kitchen.

From skirting cliffs and off-roading through ghost towns to driving my state’s most scenic highway and savoring the best little mountain town in Colorado's deep southwest, here’s how I spent an adventure-fueled couple of days in spectacular Ouray in early October.

Hike Box Cañon and Witness its Mighty Waterfall

After a long drive into Ouray, I’m eager to stretch my legs, so I head to Box Cañon. It’s easy to find; the marquee sign in boxy letters was installed on the cliffside in the early 1900s, towering over Ouray’s downtown and predating Hollywood’s more Instagram-famous sign.

The Box Cañon Falls Park & Nature Center provides a nice orientation to the area. You can take a quick, steep half-mile hike that puts you 200 feet closer to the clouds—offering a bird’s-eye view of central Ouray. At night, gaze up the canyon walls from downtown and see the boxy letters glowing with LED lights.

The must-see while you’re in the park is a powerful 285-foot waterfall shooting through a narrow quartzite gorge. The force of the falls is so strong it could provide power for most of Ouray. In the spring, it’ll give you a good shower if you’re standing on the observation lookout, but it provides a nice mist in the fall, too.

Million Dollar Views and Ghost Towns

Departing my hotel in the early-morning golden hour, I drive the harrowingly beautiful 25-mile stretch of the Million Dollar Highway along U.S. 550 to Silverton. In early-ish October, the leaves are just hitting their peak, framed with snow-capped mountains in the backdrop. Not surprisingly, photographers from near and far are out early, setting up tripods along highway pull-offs.

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There are various legends as to why this highlight section of the San Juan Skyway Scenic Byway is tagged with the “Million Dollar” moniker. Some say it cost a million bucks per mile to build the winding roadway. Others believe there's millions worth in gold ore under the pavement. Most simply agree that views are worth a million bucks at any time of year—but especially in the fall. With each turn, I’m wowed by the autumnal colors unfolding before me.

I’m en route to Silverton to pick up my rental: a Polaris RZR XP that I’ll be off-roading to a ghost town. As a long-time Coloradan who grew up asking my dad to take me panning for gold in mountain rivers on the weekends, I’m psyched for this excursion. Pirate Backcountry Adventures gives me a safety overview and a map. Soon enough, I'm kicking up dust on my way to Animas Forks, with not another soul on the road this early in the morning.

I’m rumbling along just under 10 miles per hour, slowing down to take in the views, like a turquoise stream striping the valley below me and snow dusting the pine trees. It takes about 40 minutes to reach the ghost town that’s deep in the mountains and that I remember reading about in Colorado history books.

At an elevation of 11,200 feet, Animas Forks went through boom-and-bust cycles until the early 1920s when metal prices plunged and it slipped into ghost town status. At its peak in the 1880s, the town’s population numbered 400—just enough folks to support a school district, a jail, and a local printing plant, while putting out a local newspaper called the Animas Forks Pioneer from its high-altitude printing plant.

You can wander through the Animas Forks settlers’ abandoned cabins and read about how they survived winters, building snow tunnels to access their homes underneath 27 feet of snow and schussing through the snow on large skis as a “chief source of amusement.”

Climb the Via Ferrata

One of the most unique vantage points for fall foliage is, most certainly, along Ouray’s new via ferrata route, which doesn’t require technical climbing skills but is more exciting than hiking.

Logan Tyler, who grew up in the mountains of Ouray and started climbing when he was 7, got buy-in from a local landowner to build the Gold Mountain Via Ferrata route on a private mountain. Tyler—the owner of BaseCamp Ouray who designed and built the course—installed nearly 1,000 rungs along the route. He thoughtfully placed them in a way that helps you get into a natural climbing flow, and he consulted an 1800s miner’s encyclopedia to name each of the route’s dozen pitches.

“I wanted to build the most Ouray experience I could—so, what does that look like?” Tyler says. “We thought, well, let’s combine Ouray’s rich mining history with its climbing culture. That’s the Gold Mountain Via Ferrata.”

To guide trips on the Gold Mountain Via Ferrata, BaseCamp Ouray collaborates with Mountain Trip, bringing two of the region’s leading guide services together to expand exclusive adventures in the San Juan Mountains for adventurous leaf peepers as well as late spring and summertime visitors.

The pinnacle of the course is the 273-foot long steel cable bridge. It's the second longest of its kind in the country, overlooking a stunning golden valley. To be sure, it’s a victory walk when I finish this course—plus the leftover mining relics scattered on the mountain are pretty dang cool, too. After two spectacular days in and around amazing Ouray, I've made plenty of new discoveries—including that, indeed, I do like viaaaa ferratas.